Devore O/96 with high powered amplifiers


Just picked up a used pair of Devore O/96 and am awaiting delivery. Still have a pair of McIntosh MC501s (500W) and a pair of Quicksilver V4s (170W) that I used with my previous speakers.

Before I sell the amplifiers for something with less power, I plan to at least try them with the O/96s.

What can I expect to hear? What issues might I encounter?

 

 

allison2

The above video about John’s foray with amps was fun but it sounded to me like like even he was uncertain why some of the higher power amps worked better than other with the O/96.

I’ve veered away from the low powered gear for a while but seem to listen more when I’m in that camp. Nice to have multiple amps if you can swing it, multiple speakers ,dacs and tonearms too lol.

There's also the fact that maybe you like the way some amps control speakers more than others. It's a very different presentation and to each his own. I had a Coda driving a pair of Cornwall 4's and it smoked the Leben. However with other speakers I liked the Leben better.

@atmasphere 

could there be other factors than damping factor? 

john liked the devores sound with a parasound  a21 but not with a parasound jc5.  both have a damping factor around 1000.  

could there be other factors than damping factor? 

@avanti1960 Yes. The differences we are used to hearing between amplifiers is mostly the distortion signature of that amp. 

Our ears use harmonics to tell the difference between the tone colors of various instruments and in the same way harmonics generated by amplifiers cause those amps to sound different from each other. Damping factor, once its over about 20:1 has no effect on sound quality.