Hi Tom, you are definitely on the right track to meet your goals. I previously owned the Devore 9 (5 years) and now own the O/96 and they are very responsive to quality tube amplifcation. I got a chance to audition the 0/96 and the Gibbon X side by side, and I actually preferred the 0/96, but I think it would come down to personal tastes. Both are full range (at least enough for me), coherent and have that hard-to-describe sense of "humanity" to their presentation. The Devore 9 is not full range, but the 0/96 and the X both have terrific slam, depth and definition in the bottom octaves. Now, I have not heard Acoustic Zen speakers but I have always wanted to, and I suspect the Crescendo would also be a great choice. I have not heard the Daedalus line either, but they have many fans among tube users. I have owned at least 20 different brands of speakers through the years and until the Devores, my favorites were ProAc and Verity. I am convinced that for a tube lover, speaker choice should be guided as much by the speaker's impedance characteristics as much as anything, and the Devore speakers are ideal in this regard. Best of luck, I don't think you can go wrong with either of your top choices.
$16K new/used speaker question?
Opinions on options for full range, 8ohm, 90db or above speakers. So far I have heard and liked both Devore GibbonX, and Acoustic Zen Crescendo's and really like them both a lot. I'm using an all BAT tube system with the VK-150se tube amps. Any thing else I should be listening to? I've heard the Wilsons sound great with BAT gear, but on paper they look like they would be really rough on my amps.