Devore Fidelity Orangutan O/96


My neighbor had to move some heavy furniture from one room to another so he asked me for help earlier today. Although, we've been neighbors for almost two years I had never been inside his house up until this afternoon. As I walked through the foyer and into his family room, I saw the speakers hooked up to some McIntosh separates. I have to admit that these were one of the most beautiful speakers I had ever seen. He offered to play some music and of course I was not going to say no. They sounded quite decent, although the sound was not as hefty or lush as I was expecting. Don't know if it was his equipment or room (wood floor, no rug, lots of windows), or maybe the Devore's are not quite going after those big, lush, and slightly warmer sound characteristics.

I'm actually saving up money to buy Harbeth SHL5+, or used 40.1, sometime next year. But boy did the Devore Orangutans caught my attention. And yes I know I shouldn't be basing my decision on looks alone, but if they're comparable to Harbeth in terms of sound quality, I'm definitely interested in exploring.

Just wondering if someone has had a chance to compare them directly to the Harbeth speakers I'm considering. Anyone moved from Harbeth to Devore O/6 or vice versa? This will be a system that I'll be building from scratch so I do have the luxury of building the system around my speakers -- total budget is around $15000. I usually buy used equipment whenever I can.

Please note that I'm not soliciting advice for other speakers at this time. Mostly interested in hearing about real world comparisons between the Devore Fidelity Orangutans and Harbeth SHL5+ or 40.1/2.
128x128arafiq

Showing 4 responses by jjss49

@jjss49

Give John Devore a call and ask him if he could rename at least one pair of speakers just for you....I think the name " jjss49" sounds good. Or perhaps the jjss49 Experimental might even sell better...lol


haha maybe a san francisco 49er's special edition, red oak cabinets and gold driver surrounds??? 
@arafiq

i have d30r’s - lovely speaker... but very different presentation than harbeth shl5 - proac needs good tubes to calm the hotter treble and give full ness to the lean mid bass... so actually kind of inverse tonally of the harbeths

but once system is tuned to the proacs, they are an absolutely brilliant alternative to harbeths

in my main rig i alternate between:

harbeth c7 or super 5 -- driven by hegel h390
proac d30 r -- driven by cj et5 linestage into arc vt50 or vt100-2

you should know alan shaw voices harbeths with hegel amps
whereas stewart tyler voices proacs with arc tube gear

(your guy with d48r’s driven by class d is deaf - lugging his ferrari thru the burger king drive through on 87 octane)
@arafiq

shl5’s should be fine for that room... just know that no harbeth is a true rock and roll speaker... other makes definitely better suited for very high spl’s super high slam bang music

your room is big but what really matters is your listening triangle and how far you will be from the speakers in your prime listening position

the other option of course is the gigantic monitor 40... it will definitely fill your room, but it has its disadvantages, the main one being its somewhat ridiculous form factor... sound is impeccable though
i don't think i could own a speaker called the orangutan

maybe if i heard them LOL