Devore Reference

[wil]

Has anyone listened to these? https://devorefidelity.com/oref/

 

[tsaett]

I heard them in Munich in 2019 and thought they were my personal pick of the show.
They lead me to purchase a pair of 0/96 right after the show, which unfortunately didn't work out too well in my room. My current speakers that I had side by side to them were an overall much better fit.
Anyway, the O/ref gets a big endorsement from me (and I only heard them under show conditions...)

 

[wil]

Was there a fundamental difference between what you heard from the O/Ref set and what you heard from the O/96 at home? I ask, because I can only assume you were expecting a lot of what you liked from the Ref to pass on with the 96 (albeit with two less woofers and different drivers, etc) Thanks

 

[bonzo75]

I didn't like the reference in Munich at all and thought they were not well set up.

Tsaett, did you pull out the O96 from the walls? They need space from the front wall as the sides. Also, what amp did you drive them with?

 

[jturbo]

O/ref was paired with luxman at the last dc audio show. It was one of my favorites of the show. A spectacular looking speaker.

 

[tsaett]

Was there a fundamental difference between what you heard from the O/Ref set and what you heard from the O/96 at home? I ask, because I can only assume you were expecting a lot of what you liked from the Ref to pass on with the 96 (albeit with two less woofers and different drivers, etc) Thanks

In my opinion there was no fundamental difference. The overall gestalt is similar and the trick that the O series pulls off comes through with both designs, i.e. they immerse you and let you forget about everything except the music. This is what I got in Munich, but also at home. Of course you do get more of everything with the O/Ref, bandwidth, dynamics, tone, control, etc. I love the bronze details of the O/Ref, I think it is a fantastic material for audio in the right applications.

Ultimately I just could not get the O/96 to really work with my room, I had them about 1,5m from the front wall but only 0,5m from the side walls. The ports on the back would regularly overload my room on certain program. Plus, on complex music the separation would losen up pretty fast and you'd end up with a still pleasant sounding, but somewhat blurry sound bubble. Of course this is no deal breaker for anyone interested in such a design, you are not buying an O series for analyzing but for enjoying. It were the room issues that ultimately lead me to look elsewhere.

As a side note, in the time when I had them, the O/96 made me become absolutely addicted to early bossa nova, there was something in the way they portrayed this style of music that was absolutely mesmerizing, I couldn't stop lol.

Ked, I had them with my Wavac EC300b with WE435a, RCA6l6GC and Elrog300b, a great match. I moved them around in my room in every single way possible, easy job considering their weight.

FWIW, at the moment I am having an Angstrom Audio poweramp here (EL34), seems to be a slightly better match to my current speakers.

Chris

 

[spiritofmusic]

It's surely going to be nigh on impossible to run these effectively "double width" spkrs with plenty of freedom to side walls.

I'm running more conventional 12" wide spkrs, and anything less than 18" to side walls was audibly negative (I have the luxury of 48").

It just sounds like they were too cramped in your space, and need at least 20' of room width.

 

[tsaett]

It's surely going to be nigh on impossible to run these effectively "double width" spkrs with plenty of freedom to side walls.

I'm running more conventional 12" wide spkrs, and anything less than 18" to side walls was audibly negative (I have the luxury of 48").

It just sounds like they were too cramped in your space, and need at least 20' of room width.

Indeed, that was my takeaway as well. Overall they still were lovely speakers and I am absolutely sure their shortcomings with complex material will be much better with the O/Ref due to better drivers and cabinet construction.

By the way, John Devore recently started his YouTube channel, I already got lots of fantastic music recommendations from him, especially Curtis Mayfield - great record.

 

[bonzo75]

Like you said, " let you forget about everything except the music"

I don't know Bossa Nova much though I hang out with Brazilians. I like these for classical and in his review Art Dudley said Bonzo as amazing on these.

I liked them best with NAF 2a3 followed by airtight, and the wavac you used seems to be of a similar wattage. The sound I heard with NAF was clean and transparent. The set up was highly transparent to recordings letting concerts flow through, each one different.

The only reason I prefer vintage tannoy to devore in this category is that tannoy are room friendly while devore need to be pulled out and need almost as much space as more expensive horns.

I personally don't see the point of buying the reference because at that space and price you will get good horns like universum, Anima, or trios depending on personal choice.

 

[DeadWax]

They lead me to purchase a pair of 0/96 right after the show, which unfortunately didn't work out too well in my room.

How long did you let them run in? There is a massive difference between brand new O/96's and those with 600+ hrs on them. Out of the box my O/96's sounded nothing like the ones John takes to shows. But with time for the beefy surrounds to loosen up they become sublime. And I do understand that proper run in won't fix a room configuration issue.

 

[wil]

How do you like the bass response on the O's, given having enough room around the speakers? I've read they can be a bit thick in that department. (I definitely prefer clean, well articulated bass.)

The subs for the O/Ref are designed to be more flexible as far as room placement with continuously variable phase and eq.

 

[KeithR]

The O96 has somewhat fleshy bass. it's certainly not of the hard and tight variety. The Gibbon X is more in that direction, but isn't going to set records in bass articulation. That's not what John was aiming for. He likes a tailored bass quality as the Stereophile review stated last year.

The O Reference is different as the bass modules are active, have a passive radiator due to force, and 2 bronze ports. In a limited demo of the Ref I didn't hear the same bass characteristics.

 

[tsaett]

How long did you let them run in? There is a massive difference between brand new O/96's and those with 600+ hrs on them. Out of the box my O/96's sounded nothing like the ones John takes to shows. But with time for the beefy surrounds to loosen up they become sublime. And I do understand that proper run in won't fix a room configuration issue.

Bought them second hand, well run in!