I have a good chance of getting a used and excellent condition Devore the Nines for my Nova.
In the next few days I will be able to audition them.
Does anyone have any experience with them or the Devore brand with Naim? since here I did not find very little
Thank you
IIRC, @Bart used to run Devore speakers with his Naim setup. Have a search on his username, or perhaps if he sees this, he may be able to provide some more info.
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I went to a demo of Super Nines that was powered by an Atom - which of course doesn’t make much sense from a source first perspective.
Arguably, DeVores are designed to be easy to drive, so I would have expected at least decent performance from the combo. It didn’t get to that level, with fairly disjointed bass. Maybe a Nova would be able to control it, but what I heard didn’t lead me to want to further experiment with them.
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That sure seems like a mis-match to me. I’d not have expected a lot of coherent bass from that combo.
@mpaltadonna - when I first started down the hi fi path over 10 years ago, I started with Devore The Nines and a Nait XS2. It was a lovely combination and I would think that a Nova would pair up with the Nines quite well. I later traded the Nait towards a Supernait2 and ran that with the Devores as well; very enjoyable.
As I moved higher up into the Naim classic series I eventually wanted ‘more’ speaker and outgrew the Nines. But again I’d anticipate them pairing well with a Nova. As always it’s hard to buy unheard and hopefully you can demo the speakers at home.
Thanks for the shout-out @james_n
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@restock runs Devore speakers too, see this post:
They look fabulous, on looks alone I wouldn’t hesitate! Though I’d obviously have to listen first, and move to a larger house X)
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I had a pair of Nines with a SuperNait3 and a they were great together. I would imagine a Nova would be a great match too. I had two pairs of DeVores and wanted a third, but they are hard to get in the UK now and I wasn’t prepared to order without some kind of demonstration. I love my ATCs now, but I suspect had I had the chance to listen to the DeVores, I’d have bought a pair.
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I’d love to try out their range at some point like O93, O96 or the new Obaby. Beautiful speakers. Also very much sympathise with John Devore himself.
the atom is too small for super nines
Thanks for sharing your experience. encourages me. I’m going to audition them in the room of the person who sells them and if possible later in my room. I’m curious and doubtful about those woofers on the side
ATC is another variable I consider, although I suppose there is a difference in Devore towards some warmth
Bearing in mind the Nines work well with 12-15 watt amps and sound great with Leben amps around 30 watts per channel, I wouldn’t completely discount the Atom, but a Nova will be better I imagine!
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I have Active ATC 50s and the presentation is more muscular, although with its silk dome tweeter and beautiful mid-range driver it sounds very seductive indeed with the right material. DeVores sound less powerful and seem to fill the room with sound in a slightly different way and probably a little less punch in the bass. Both are magnificent I would say, but if you heard both, I’m sure one would just charm/excite you more.
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They do work; stereo imaging was quite good. I would recommend not having the equipment rack or anything else bulky between them however.
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I’m sure you read the full sentence on my post, but yep, I agree.
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Some impressions from running the Devore O/96 with my Naim Olive 52/SC/250. The Devore a pretty high efficiency, very lively, energetic sounds with lot of realism - the Naim complements that well, still adding a nice rich tonality with lot of PRAT and life. Bass is tighter and very tuneful with the Naim. The combination works surprisingly well even on classical music. And jazz drums on my Blue Notes come out natural and with realism - as you would expect given John Devore’s drumming background…
For some, the combination of O/96 with Naim could be a bit too forward. My Accuphase E800 adds a bit more refinement, definition and sweetness to the sound in comparison. Also the Naim really is not designed for high efficiency speakers - on the Nac 52 I barely make to about 8 on the volume control. On the Devore O/96, the Accuphase is still my favourite overall, matching the Naim on PRAT and energy, but also adding more refinement and even more detail.
I had been building the Naim Olive as a pandemic project (including restoration by Naim Focal Canada) to add to my Linn LP12 - the Naim will end up in our second place driving a pair of Falcon LS3/5a which are fantastic with the Naim Olive and NAP250.
The Nines (or the current X) would likely be a better match on paper for Naim, slightly less efficiency than the O/96, slightly more standard 8 Ohm impedance. I know the Nines and Super 8 can be a bit more difficult to setup in a room, especially to the get the bass right so some of the above comments may stem from that.
I do remember that John Devore has in the past showcased the Devore X with a Naim XS to great success at a hifi show:
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thanks for the comment. Why do you say that “Naim is not designed for high efficiency loudspeakers”? I had not heard it and I would be interested in knowing the technical explanation. Thank you
I have a sn3 and an old 30w olive and they both works perfectly with devore gibon 3xl…fantastic sound.
I have atc 19 as well and the sound is really completely different, fantastic as well but different. Atc doesnt work at all with 30w.
Regarding devores I think that the statement that they do not work with hi power is a legend. Gibbons love power and current, orangutan need to be controlled with feedback if you want a realistic sound. The UK importer of devore is a producer of fine Single ended amp but he produced a solid state line to be used with orangutan. In pinkfish media he explained why
Ciao
Pietro
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I’ve seen O’96 driven by Mcintosh mono blocks. And I don’t see why Naim would be an issue with high sensitive speakers. I would argue the challenge is more Naim and low sensitive speakers. My tannoys are 89dB. Zero issues. The Devore the Nines are 91dB so I wouldn’t be worried at all about that.
High sensitivity is usually above 95dB - My comment for Naim is for speakers above 95dB sensitivity like the O/96:
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Naim has too much gain in the system, which expresses itself with very little volume control range on the preamp. 96dB speaker leave a usable range between 7 and 8 o’clock setting before it is too loud.
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Also too much noise and RFI sensitivity (somewhat resulting from the high gain) - the Accuphase is much quieter by comparison. If you go truly high sensitivity above 100dB the noise would be a real problem.
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Naim speakers (which Olive amps were designed for) have a sensitivity more in the 86-88dB range
Super Nine and the Gibbon range have a much more standard sensitivity of around 90-91dB so should work a lot better from that perspective.
Also I do agree Gibbon do work well with slightly higher solid state power and are not just for low tube watts.
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what is PRAT?