Listened to some speakers this weekend - Audio Physic and Devore

Do you get to try at home? 

yeti42 posted:

Do you get to try at home? 

Yes I can try any/all at home as they are so very close to me.

I have the AP Virgo 25+.

With your current set up Bart I would propose to audition the Avantera +.

Have heard them with 252/300 ...very nice..

Unfortunately DeVores are not available in my country and i cannot compare.

AP are not "fat" sounding, they are fast, clean and uncoloring. 

I've listened to DeVores driven by VTL amps and Audio Physics driven by MacIntosh amps.

In both instances, the sound was exceptional - lively, detailed and engaging.

As DRPO mentioned earlier, APs are very fast, very pacy. The DeVores I thought might be better suited to tube amps.

Guitarplayer posted:

I've listened to DeVores driven by VTL amps and Audio Physics driven by MacIntosh amps.

In both instances, the sound was exceptional - lively, detailed and engaging.

As DRPO mentioned earlier, APs are very fast, very pacy. The DeVores I thought might be better suited to tube amps.

My dealer does like AP, and the sales manager has AP in his home.  He remarked at their PRAT loving nature; he doesn't own Naim.

Devore Gibbons really is a good match for Naim and has been matched that way at audio shows. The Gibbons are quite efficient, and can match well with tubes, but a good match with Naim as well. His Orangutan models are well known for being great matches with tubes and he shows them with smallish tube amps a lot. The O's are particularly efficient.

It really is a 'tough' choice.  The in-home listens I'm sure will be revealing. 

DrPo posted:

I have the AP Virgo 25+.

With your current set up Bart I would propose to audition the Avantera +.

Have heard them with 252/300 ...very nice..

Unfortunately DeVores are not available in my country and i cannot compare.

AP are not "fat" sounding, they are fast, clean and uncoloring. 

Avantera are even taller than the Tens, and my room is somewhat small (13' in the direction in which I listen; 22' the long way).  I think that the Avanteras would dominate the room a bit too much.  That's my main concern with them!

Bart posted:

  .  Set up a N172 into a 250DR.

 

Have you considered a better source ?

the Avanteras have two midrange drivers vs one of Virgo and double the # of side woofers. I am not bass-heavy so perfectly happy with the bass of the Virgos but suggest you try both at home to check the midrange. I dont think the bass of the Avantera will be overwhelming. Especially with NAIM amplification it comes very punchy and tight.

Perol posted:

Bart posted:

  .  Set up a N172 into a 250DR.

 

Have you considered a better source ?

My source at home is better, but this is the best Naim the dealer has.  They keep relatively little Naim on display; it's not their big thing.  But I think for demo purposes to hear comparisons in their room it's probably ok. I dont feel like bringing my 252 and Supercap into their shop.

DrPo posted:

the Avanteras have two midrange drivers vs one of Virgo and double the # of side woofers. I am not bass-heavy so perfectly happy with the bass of the Virgos but suggest you try both at home to check the midrange. I dont think the bass of the Avantera will be overwhelming. Especially with NAIM amplification it comes very punchy and tight.

Im just worried about the physical size of the boxes in my room.  The Devore Nines - simple cherry boxes that are 40" tall including feet have a lot of WAF.  Avanteras are about 5-6" taller. But yes I'll listen to 'em!

Maybe you can try also the 093 and 096 .

Bart posted:

Perol posted:

Bart posted:

  .  Set up a N172 into a 250DR.

 

Have you considered a better source ?

My source at home is better, but this is the best Naim the dealer has.  They keep relatively little Naim on display; it's not their big thing.  But I think for demo purposes to hear comparisons in their room it's probably ok. I dont feel like bringing my 252 and Supercap into their shop.

Hah !

There you go, my faulth reading it as your own source, apologies for that

Still, I wouldn't buy such expensive speakers without a homedem - have you considered listening at Titans ?

Perol posted:

Still, I wouldn't buy such expensive speakers without a homedem - have you considered listening at Titans ?

To listen to Titans I would need to have them shipped to me from 1000 miles away.  It's just not as easy as what I am doing now - listening to speakers at a dealer 2 miles from my home.  I'd like to listen to the T606's.

Hi Bart,

A fellow Naim/Devore devotee here... I'm curious if you've ever tried the Nines with the (mirror-imaged) tweeters "on the inside," rather than the Devore-suggested configuration. A rather well-esteemed dealer encouraged me to try it and I've never gone back!

Also, I'm curious if you can arrange to hear either of the Orangs at home -- yes, they're usually paired with tubes, but you never know. Could be good.

ATB,

Joe

Interesting!!  A bit more bass that way and an even wider soundstage. Maybe the soundstage is a tiny bit shorter.??  What did you find?

The speakers totally disappear in the soundstage

I found that moving the tweeters to the inside filled in the central image quite a bit and gave an altogether more satisfying listen (though for domestic harmony purposes, my speakers are farther apart than the ideal: about 8 feet apart, firing across the shorter dimension of a 12- by 18-foot room). At any rate, it was a significant enough improvement even to these "cloth ears" that I figured it might be of interest to you.

The Devores are made across the East River from me in NYC (they're in the Brooklyn Navy Yard; I'm on the Lower East Side) and they work with a nearby furniture maker to veneer the cabinets so nicely. This has put me in an odd position: I'm curious about trying other speakers, but I'm not sure any of them are good-looking enough to make the cut! The Kudos Titan series have a pleasing shape, but like you I don't know how I'd go about getting a home demo of them where I live.

So ladies and germs, let this be a lesson to you: don't get nice-looking speakers, or you might just get stuck with them.

that furniture shop would be "Box Furniture", right? The may a beautiful simple rack I would really like to have (but cannot easily ship to EU) :-(

DrPo posted:

that furniture shop would be "Box Furniture", right? The may a beautiful simple rack I would really like to have (but cannot easily ship to EU) :-(

Greg if of interest I'd be happy to arrange for the purchase and shipping logistics.

joe9407 posted:

I found that moving the tweeters to the inside filled in the central image quite a bit and gave an altogether more satisfying listen (though for domestic harmony purposes, my speakers are farther apart than the ideal: about 8 feet apart, firing across the shorter dimension of a 12- by 18-foot room). At any rate, it was a significant enough improvement even to these "cloth ears" that I figured it might be of interest to you.

The Devores are made across the East River from me in NYC (they're in the Brooklyn Navy Yard; I'm on the Lower East Side) and they work with a nearby furniture maker to veneer the cabinets so nicely. This has put me in an odd position: I'm curious about trying other speakers, but I'm not sure any of them are good-looking enough to make the cut! The Kudos Titan series have a pleasing shape, but like you I don't know how I'd go about getting a home demo of them where I live.

So ladies and germs, let this be a lesson to you: don't get nice-looking speakers, or you might just get stuck with them.

 

Our rooms are similarly sized.  We should plan a field trip to John's shop if he entertains visitors!

Have you heard the Tens (X)?  The good thing is that there is a very decent market for my Nines if I want to trade them in.  They do have a following and not that many pop up on the used market.

I don't know why I hear THAT much more bass now; the imaging I can understand from the new placement of the drivers vs. my ears.  As to the bass, the sidefiring woofers are now pointed outwards; obviously different.  But John has showed them many times in the conventional configuration; it's not like its a mistake to have the woofers pointed towards each other.

joe9407 posted:

 

So ladies and germs, let this be a lesson to you: don't get nice-looking speakers, or you might just get stuck with them.

 

Plain, nicely finished right rectangular solid-shaped speakers are refreshing.  No funny angles, tweeters mounted like a controller for the Starship Enterprise, or feet extending like the legs of the Lunar Lander (the design feature of the Audio Physics that I'm not enamoured with).

interesting as both AP and DeVore then use side-mounted woofers. Conventional wisdom holds that the bass in this config is not optimum (in fact AP has the Avanti and Codex models with "central" woofers which are more room-friendly configurations) but perhaps explains why you liked both brands :-) [and thanks for the BoxF offer, I will send you a PM)

Bart posted:

joe9407 posted:

 

So ladies and germs, let this be a lesson to you: don't get nice-looking speakers, or you might just get stuck with them.

 

Plain, nicely finished right rectangular solid-shaped speakers are refreshing.  No funny angles, tweeters mounted like a controller for the Starship Enterprise, or feet extending like the legs of the Lunar Lander (the design feature of the Audio Physics that I'm not enamoured with).

The problem with rectangular boxes is that they become stands for plants.  I couldn't persuade my wife not to put plants on top of the speakers - which ended up with water rings on them  (these were Naim 702, nice teak finish, once upon a time).  Her sister does the same with her husband's speakers.  Can't stop her.  Any flat surface has the sole purpose of holding plants or ornaments.  No flat surface left unpopulated.  Fortunately it is not possible to put things on top of my Ovator S600s