Davone Grande speakers

Tallan posted:

any input from anyone?

Yes. What size is your listening room and what factors are making you want to replace the Silverbacks? I have a chance to put DeVore speakers on my demo list.

Also, is your dealer offering you a home demo on the Davone Grandes in which case all questions should be answered with little risk.

There's nothing bad or wrong with the DeVore Silverbacks (they have been replaced in the lineup by the new Gibbon X which I have not heard), it's just that after ten years (my dealer says it's more like 12) I'd like to take a step up, and the demo price on the Davones is a really attractive 1/3 off.

As for my room it's a bit hard to describe as it is sort of a great room that is open to the rest of the house on one end.  The room has a barrel ceiling which varies from 9 feet to 12 at the apex, basic dimensions are 24' x 20' (w by l).

As for home demo, it's not in the cards as the dealer has to drive 7 hours one way to deliver the goods.  I'm sure if I absolutely HATE the sound I could say "no" to the deal, but that's very unlikely as we've been doing business for 15 years and he has an excellent idea of my taste and I have a lot of trust in his ears.

I'd love to hear from anyone who has personal experience with the Grandes as Davone isn't a brand that gets a lot of press or review coverage.

i had a quick look at your profile -- the Davones might need a bit more grunt than your Nait would provide. would you swap around the amplification in your systems?

BTW, i think we have the same dealer! (i got their e-mail, too...) i also bought some Devore speakers from them, though mine are the lowly Gibbon 8.

Are Devore and Devone related in any way, like brother and sister - I'm sure a brother wouldn't mind being called big, although I wouldn't want to call my sister a monkey, or is that the other way round ?

TOBYJUG posted:

Are Devore and Devone related in any way, like brother and sister - I'm sure a brother wouldn't mind being called big, although I wouldn't want to call my sister a monkey, or is that the other way round ?

Not so much.  DeVore is John DeVore who lives in and makes his speakers in NYC; Davone speakers are designed by Paul Schenkel and are headquartered and manufactured in Denmark.

joe9407 posted:

i had a quick look at your profile -- the Davones might need a bit more grunt than your Nait would provide. would you swap around the amplification in your systems?

BTW, i think we have the same dealer! (i got their e-mail, too...) i also bought some Devore speakers from them, though mine are the lowly Gibbon 8.

Actually I only use the Nait as a pre-amp, the amp will be my NAP 200 (non DR).  Steve set the equivilant system up at his store and says it sang sweetly with plenty of grunt.  My hope is to replace the Nait with a NAC 282 before Christmas and later if really needed I would consider going to a 250DR.

There's nothing lowly about the Gibbon 8s - they were the first pair of DeVores I tried, and are still singing sweetly at a good friend's home in Asheville, NC!  After that I have had Gibbon 3s (in an RV!), 3XLs, The Nines, and the Silverbacks; the only ones that didn't really "gel" for me were the Nines and that was probably caused more by restricted room placement at the time than anything else.

Have you tried these lovely Devore Orangutan 98?

I have not heard O98 or Davone Grande driven by 200 but either case, what I would be concerned is amp's ability to control larger woofers.

200 is one of my favourite Naim amp in the range, but it's not the most muscular amp. sIt gave up a ghost fairly quickly if going gets tough in my open medium size living room. So you might have to budget for a 250DR regardless. ( depends on your room size and listening level but it's always nice to have an extra headroom )

They are good looking, no doubt, and have been very positively reviewed.  My dealer sells them also but did not suggest them as an upgrade to the Silverbacks, perhaps as the foundation of their design is to play well with low power tube amplification which is not really an issue with the NAP 200's rather muscular 70 watts (more like 90+ by actual measurement, and close to 200 into 4 ohms).  While greater cost does not always equate to greater performance I tend to believe that the Davone Grandes at roughly twice the price are going to be bringing much more to the table.

Your profile is somewhat confusing with at least two systems, but assuming that you are considering using the speakers with the first, I'd ask this: how on earth can you think that using  $20,000 speakers with a Nait XS is a good idea? You'd be much better keeping the existing speakers and using them with a 282/supercap/250DR, or possibly a 252/300. A 555PS on the nDac wouldn't go amiss either. 

As I mentioned above the Nait XS 2 (plus HC) is only being used as a pre-amp and a placeholder one at that.  Perfection takes time (and money)!

My bedroom system is extremely well balanced to my ears right now, and I contemplate no changes except possible upgrades to the interconnects.  Much of the living room system is an amalgam of kit I already had on hand and I hope one day to be able to contemplate some of the gear you mention.  A work in progress if you will.  Hopefully the Davone Grandes are a first step toward that audio nirvana.

It may seem counterintuitive to have optimized the "second" system first but financially it was within reach at the time and the ideal main system was not.  I tend to listen to both about equally but currently definitely enjoy the second system the most.

I've updated my equipment profile and hopefully it is now more sensical and complete.

So I take it nobody on here has actually heard the Grandes?

Hopefully starting this Monday I'll have them on "extended demo" meaning I'm buying them for about 10% over cost and shouldn't be hurt too much if I decide to sell them on.  But my dealer, except for his admiration (some would say weakness) for tube gear has never steered me wrong yet, so I'm not worried.  I'll post some impressions of the Grandes when the time is ripe.

kuma posted:

Have you tried these lovely Devore Orangutan 98?

I have not heard O98 or Davone Grande driven by 200 but either case, what I would be concerned is amp's ability to control larger woofers.

200 is one of my favourite Naim amp in the range, but it's not the most muscular amp. sIt gave up a ghost fairly quickly if going gets tough in my open medium size living room. So you might have to budget for a 250DR regardless. ( depends on your room size and listening level but it's always nice to have an extra headroom )

Those O96's are a very different speaker; very very high sensitivity, and often appearing at the end of a smallish tube amp.  10 ohm impedance that never drops below 8 ohms.

yes. They are voiced different from their Silverbacks ( maybe perhaps, that's why I like 'em ) yet the designer told me that they work well with a Naim amp. ( he runs them with a Nait ) Very midrange-centric and similar looking to Audio Note's AN-Es.

kuma posted:

yes. They are voiced different from their Silverbacks ( maybe perhaps, that's why I like 'em ) yet the designer told me that they work well with a Naim amp. ( he runs them with a Nait ) Very midrange-centric and similar looking to Audio Note's AN-Es.

John Devore has been heard to say that his speakers work well with Naim!  My Devore Nines certainly do.  But my local dealer isn't bringing in the Tens

Those 098 look lovely. Wouldn't mind a pair of them in my living room!

gary yeowell posted:

Those 098 look lovely. Wouldn't mind a pair of them in my living room!

Agreed. I'd pair them with perhaps a Line Magnetic integrated. 

I'd like to report a hijacking!

Just kidding.  Actually my NYC dealer tells me that he's selling far more of DeVore's Orangutan line than the Gibbons, for whatever that is worth.  But for my application (not tubes, not low power) the Davones are a very significant step up as they should be for their price.

In any event I've had the Davone Grandes for two weeks now and I can state without fear of contradiction (because nobody else here seems to have ever heard them) that they are the best speakers I have EVER heard.

Of course in reality I haven't heard many truly top end speakers in my life.  Back in the day when I managed a hifi shop we stocked and sold Klipsch, including the Klipschhorns (I even met Paul Klipsch once), the original Yamaha NS 1000, and I owned a pair of Allison Ones for many years.  Those were some of the top end offerings in that day, but I've never heard the modern "statement" speakers like Wilsons or YG so take my "best I've ever heard" with a chunk of salt.

Given all that I can say that the Grandes are a huge step up from my DeVore Silverbacks in every possible way.

To begin there was some concern that my NAP 200 would not have enough testiticular fortitude to control these large 4 ohm speaks, but I can put that idea completely to rest.  While I lost a couple of decibels in efficiency I gained basically the same back again with the NAP 200 putting out close to 200 watts into those same 4 ohms.  Bass is very present, much tighter and better controlled than through the Silverbacks which gave more of a "thump" at the low end than a true musical note which the Grandes provide clearly and cleanly down into the low 20 cycles.

Soundstage is also much improved, as is continuity, dynamics, realism and high end extension.  One thing I had always noticed with the DeVores was that as the instrument count went up from two or three the realism of the music would suffer: listening to a solo violin or piano was a joy, listening to a whole orchestra somewhat less so.

Also compared to the Grandes the crossovers on the DeVores were problematic to say the least; next to my Dynaudio C1s the Grandes are the smoothest speaker I've ever heard, and the C1s are only a two-way design with a truly invisible (inaudible) passive crossover.

I could go on and on but if you've read this far you have the idea: if you're looking into speakers in their price range the Davone Grandes should be on your short list even if they are hard to find and audition.

One thing became crystal clear after a few days with the Grandes: using my Nait XS2 as a pre-amp wasn't cutting it.  Not that it was bad, but the Grandes just pointed out ever more starkly that a real pre-amp had become a necessity, and so last week I took delivery of a new NAC 282 and HiCap DR: more on that in a separate thread.