Proac D30R vs Devore O93

I haven't heard that particular Proac model, but doing my best to add anything:

Every Proac I've heard (and I auditioned the Proac D20R) has a similar sonic signature:  it sounds definitely "sculpted" to me, a sort of richness in the lower mids, then a dip near the upper, and a rise in upper frequencies.  So you get this combination of richness lower down, soundstage depth (dip) and some sparkle on top.

It's a very nice sound to be sure.   Though I didn't get along at all with the D20R, where I found the ribbon tweeter didn't mesh well enough, and left a somewhat steely character compared to the mids.

In contrast, the Devore 93s, which I auditioned numerous times, give a subjective sense of richness throughout the whole sonic range.  They just have a bigger, fatter, meatier sound, instruments more life-sized where the Proac is more reductive.  I found the Devore's top end sounded really great too in terms of sounding open with good shimmer for cymbals etc.


For me I choose the Devores in a heartbeat over the Proacs.  The Proacs for me always sound like "very nice speakers" where the Devores seem to feel a bit more like a live performance.
I'm quite sure you'll hear a different take from Proac owners.


But...hey...that's me. 


I've been wanting to hear the Super 9's too!

mpomerantz, have you auditioned any of the speakers you mentioned?

I lived with a Leben CS 600 for many years, first with ProAc Tablettes and then with Devore O93s. Before getting the Devores, I tried the Leben with ProAc D2s (a lauded combination at the time).

Obviously, I preferred the Devores over the ProAcs. But rather than simply assert “O93 roolz”: the first thing I would say is that the Leben is not a “tubey” tube amp — it’s not rounded, dark, “caramel” etc; in fact, it’s quite lit up. I think Prof observes the ProAc house sound very well — I would certainly not describe it as analytical, and those coming from e.g. B&W are likely to describe it as “musical”. But it is also quite lit up. If your priorities are soundstaging, detail, and picking out musical lines, then you will like it. For me, with the Leben, the ProAcs were too much, and the combination lacked things I value greatly: tone color, texture, and body. The Devores, by contrast, major in those areas; others might find them lacking in soundstaging and other “hi fi” characteristics. (The Devore X gives you more of the latter at the expense of some richness and body.)

I hope that helps. Of course, the usual comments about room, sources, and ancillary components apply. (I think A23 cables are at least a compulsory audition to hear the Os as they were designed, for example.)

Thanks for your thoughts.  I do plan to audition the Proac with my amplifier before making a decision.
M

@prof is giving review on the D20 in comparison to the Devore 93 but this is not what the OP asked for . I heard the D20 and I wasn’t impressed too they are good speakers but I can’t consider them as high-end ,however the D30 is in a completely different league than the D20 much much better speakers at every aspect so it’s really unfair to rule out the Proac based on the compression with D20 and not the D30.
I also don’t agree about Proac ribbon twitter it is so revealing ,sharp and accurate that if you aren’t used to such s suppirier twitters you can conclude by mistake that it has "steely character" but actually they are well design and integrated well with the drivers and are much better than the banal traditional dome twitters.

itzhak,

Fair enough if in fact the D30 is a "completely different" speaker. I haven’t heard it. But Proac does have a house sound.

As for the ribbon tweeter, sorry but I don’t buy your take on this. It’s not that I’m "not used" to "superior" tweeters. Like many audiophiles I’ve experience, auditioned, listened to tons of speakers with highly lauded tweeter technologies, and plenty of those using ribbons.  (And among the speakers I own are MBL speakers - I agree with TAS's Jonathan Valin that they are among the best tweeters in the world.  I've rarely heard such fine detail rendered so effortlessly and naturally, and I've auditioned speakers with the latest diamond/beryllium/ribbon tweeters).

I didn’t mistake superior high frequencies for a steely sound. That’s not what superior high frequencies sound like. It’s simply the type of character that came to mind when I heard it - I found the integration of the tweeter to be unconvincing, and gave a "cold top end" added on top to the sound of the speaker. I’ve heard a great many "banal" traditional dome tweeters that integrated more coherently and did not throw off the sound.

If proac did a better job with the larger speaker, that’s good.