And the answer is...
drum roll please
[Skip to the bottom to get the final answer, otherwise, read on!]
Thank you again to this forum for your advice, insight and good-natured (I hope) advice to seek other marital accomodations ;-)
The final, winner take all match was the Harbeth 30.1 vs the Devore Gibbon 88 floorstanders in ebony. Both beautiful, both with high Wife Acceptance factors.
Full system:
1. Harbeth 30.1/Hegel H80 integrated amplifier/DNM speaker wires/Macbook air lossless compression
2. Devore Gibbon 88/Hegel H80 integrated amplifier/DNM speaker wires/Macbook air lossless compression
The play list included
Jennifer Warnes - Bird on a Wire
Yo yo Ma/Emmanuel Axe - Beethoven Piano & Cello Concerto #1
Emmylou Harris - Spanish Dancer
David Francy - The Waking Hour
Up first were the Harbeth 30.1. They did *everything* well. It's like wearing rose colored glasses: first they make you smile, then the world smiles with you. Truly, I could find no faults.
Next up were the Devore Gibbon 88s with only 20 hours of playing time on them. My first impression was "bright", "harsh". After the Harbeths, they took some adjustment. Then I started to listen more closely.
Jennifer Warnes sounded somehow more persuasive on "Bird on a Wire". I let the CD roll on to "Joan of Arc" - the sonics had more punch, Jennifer was even more devastatingly plaintive and Leonard Cohen sounded even more seedy. Ok now I'm starting to get interested. Score: 1 Devore, 0 Harbeth.
I put on the Yo yo Ma/Emanuel Ax Beethoven concerto. I'll be darned it was a toss up. Ma's cello was more majestic on the Devore's, while the higher level of detail made Ax's piano more plinky. As a pianist, I totally sympathize with the difficulty of deciding whether the piano is fundamentally a melodic or percussive instrument. Let's call that one a draw. Score: 1.5 Devore, 0.5 Harbeth.
Next up is Emmylou Harris singing Spanish Dancer by Patty Scialfa on her album with Rodney Crowell. I will gladly wait while you run not walk to buy her album with Rodney and more importantly the Patty Scialfa Rumble Doll album (better album, worse acoustics - ain't that the way the world goes).
I'm sorry but this is where I lose all pretense of objectively. You have to understand that to me there is Emmylou up on top of the mountain and all other musicians are clustered around the lower peaks.
The Devores - for all their harsh brightness and only 20 hours of breaking in and my firm although completely unfounded belief that they will mellow over time - I'm sorry but the Devore's totally kicked butt here.
I have heard Emmylou in concert at least 10 times. She has a very weird voice that I could very much understand a speaker having trouble with.
On the Harbeths, she sounded beautiful.
On the Devores, she sounded like Emmylou. The whole point of Emmylou is that she is not *just* beautiful, she is beautiful despite all the pain and disappointment that she is expressing in her songs. That is what the Devores were able to tell me that no other speaker expressed equally well.
Friday morning at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in San Francisco, Emmylou Harris does a sound check on the Banjo stage at 9am. That is the Emmylou I heard through the Devore Gibbon 88 speakers.
That is an incredible thing to hear reproduced.
That is why I bought the Devores.
Thank you all for helping me on this journey, and may all your audiophile searches be equally fruitful.
ps. yes I owe you pictures. My dealer says John Devore is at CES 2014 right now. In a month or so, I will post my pictures to prove it really happened ;-)
