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Devore Fidelity Orangutan O/96

My neighbor had to move some heavy furniture from one room to another so he asked me for help earlier today. Although, we've been neighbors for almost two years I had never been inside his house up until this afternoon. As I walked through the foyer and into his family room, I saw the speakers hooked up to some McIntosh separates. I have to admit that these were one of the most beautiful speakers I had ever seen. He offered to play some music and of course I was not going to say no. They sounded quite decent, although the sound was not as hefty or lush as I was expecting. Don't know if it was his equipment or room (wood floor, no rug, lots of windows), or maybe the Devore's are not quite going after those big, lush, and slightly warmer sound characteristics.

I'm actually saving up money to buy Harbeth SHL5+, or used 40.1, sometime next year. But boy did the Devore Orangutans caught my attention. And yes I know I shouldn't be basing my decision on looks alone, but if they're comparable to Harbeth in terms of sound quality, I'm definitely interested in exploring.

Just wondering if someone has had a chance to compare them directly to the Harbeth speakers I'm considering. Anyone moved from Harbeth to Devore O/6 or vice versa? This will be a system that I'll be building from scratch so I do have the luxury of building the system around my speakers -- total budget is around $15000. I usually buy used equipment whenever I can.

Please note that I'm not soliciting advice for other speakers at this time. Mostly interested in hearing about real world comparisons between the Devore Fidelity Orangutans and Harbeth SHL5+ or 40.1/2.
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Showing 1 response by masi61

masi61
97 posts
 

I have only read the reviews of the DeVore Orangutan’s. I would love to listen to a set but living in Dayton, Ohio I am not sure if there are any dealers nearby me.

But I just wanted to comment that I thought I read that the DeVore speakers are high efficiency, therefore easy to drive with a variety of different amplifiers. The thing is, I believe that you do have to find a speaker/amp compatibility that is complementary and to your taste. You say you heard them with Macintosh separates but didn’t specify model numbers or if they are newer, older, tube or solid state, etc...

When I purchased my Thiel CS 3.6 speakers (a lower efficiency design that requires lots of solid state power to open up) they had them set up with a Macintosh integrated amp. The demo was just "so so". I ended up purchasing the speakers and took them home and reignited the audiophile hobby, chapter 2 or 3 for me. Sort of a mid-life plunge into the audiophile hobby if you will. I first hooked the Thiels up to my big NAD 2200 power amp and Sony CD player. I was quickly being reminded of the concepts of harshness, compression and fatiguing. I ended up purchasing Bryston components. A 4B2 power amp driving the full range Thiels. These speakers reward the listener with a type of transparency that allows you to "voice" different parts of your system to your liking.

I’m not advocating that you try Thiels. I just put it out there based on my experience and awareness of the synergy between amps and speakers. The speaker wires and the room setup and also speaker stands selected can all make a huge contribution.

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