My Devore Fidelity experience!
Let me first say that I love my 170 classics. I think I'd have to spend quite a bit more than their piddly cost to gain an improvement in the important areas of their performance. I plan on the SE upgrade as funds allow.
Now, I know there are speakers out there that outperform the Ascends, but at what cost? I was surfing the net one day and was intrigued by the Rega speaker line. There is a Rega dealer about 15-20 minutes from me, so I called their shop. The owner runs his business from his large, 2-story apartment conducting auditions in the 3rd story attic by appointment only. Instead of Regas, he had several Dali Ikon models and all of the Devore Fidelity line on hand. The Dali's were in the price range I figured that would be needed to make a good upgrade. The model he had in the room was a slender floorstander that were $1,300/pr.. The other brand he mentioned on the phone was Devore Fidelity. Having never heard of them I commenced my internet search and destroy mission. Their smallest bookshelf model, the Gibbon 3, were $2,000/pr.....ouch! So I set up a time to stop by the next evening for a listen.
The audition room was a large space, with roofline angles and many wall corners as a result of the window dormers cutting into the roofline. He said at one point there was a 30ft. span accross the room. The ceiling was quite high as well. The equipment rack for the auditions was set 45 degrees to the far corner and well out into the room, with the speakers placed 4-5ft. in front of that well away from room boundaries. The equipment rack contained tens of thousands of dollars of highend equipment.
First he played the tiny Devore Gibbon 3's. These are about the same height and depth as the 170's, but much narrower with a smaller, treated paper cone woofer. He fired up the Hsu test CD I had brought and played the female jazz vocalist track. WOW!! I thought he had a sub playing in the room. These tiny speakers filled this huge space with a bottom end that had me shaking my head in disbelief. I think the woofer is like 4" or so. It has a similar rear port as the 170, but holy crap! The overall sound was balanced, with no nasty harshness or boominess. The speakers gave a huge soundstage and disappeared. You could pick out details and the sound was layered. Very nice.
Next up, he played the Dali's. These had two small woofers, a dome and ribbon tweeter, and a front firing port. I think it was the model 5. It had a bigger presentation, lots of air in the treble and extended deeper in the bass. Good detail and punch. The midbass is where the Devore's walked away from these. Things became a bit congested when the music got busy. Never happened with the Devore Gibbons. I'd say the Devore's are simply a more refined speaker from top to bottom and the sound bears that out.
If I had the scratch, the Devores would be very tempting. You could seriously use these without a sub for music. The Dali's are not bad at all and are worthy of consideration, especially at their price compared to the Devores. The Devores are not $700 better than the Dalis, but they are better.
Which brings us back to the 170's. I have not heard the SE version, so I am basing this on the classics. In my mind, after hearing these worthy contenders, is that I'd want the Devores if I replaced the Ascends. At $2000, that is quite a compliment to the 170's. At nearly 6 times the cost they should be better. Top quality components and cabinet build should equal top quality performance. Are they 6X as good? No. They are at least 2X better though.
Now the question begs to be asked: David, What would it cost for Ascend to build a bookshelf model that approached that level of performance?
Re: My Devore Fidelity experience!
Hey Mag_Neato, have you had a chance to compare those Devore speakers with the Sierra-1s now that they are out? Anyone else done a side-by-side comparison with Devores? Just curious as Sierras and Devores are the only solid bamboo speakers I know of.
Re: My Devore Fidelity experience!
Quote:
Originally Posted by
space case
Hey Mag_Neato, have you had a chance to compare those Devore speakers with the Sierra-1s now that they are out? Anyone else done a side-by-side comparison with Devores? Just curious as Sierras and Devores are the only solid bamboo speakers I know of.
Wow! Talk about a thread from the past!
No, I have not listened to those Devore speakers since that one time. I got the Sierra-1's when they were introduced in 2007, and upgraded them to NrT's when that came out. I've been so satisfied with them that the only upgrade I plan on is the Sierra-2!
Re: My Devore Fidelity experience!
What's this, a Sierra-2?
That's a whole other kettle of fish.
The Devores are too rich for my blood anyway.
Thanks for the tip Mag_Neato!
