Proac D30R vs Devore O93

I own the Proac D30RS remarkable speakers their sound is magical , effortless sound and the best bass I ever heard I am almost sure that this my last speakers I would ever buy.
Didn't hear the Devore O93 so can't comment  about them.

I bought a demo pair of Proac D30R speakers (not RS) in Feb 2018.  I had been using B&W speakers since 1996 (P4, 804 Matrix) and wanted a change.  The D30R's significantly outperform the B&W's in accuracy and musicality.  I am amazed every time I listen.  I will say that equipment matching is important but isn't that the case with most speakers.  I feel that the most important thing to get the most out of the Proacs is room placement.  Too near a corner or near the  rear wall and the bass will overwhelm!  I have not heard the Devore's so I cannot say which I prefer.  Home audition would be the best way to decide.

I haven't heard that particular Proac model, but doing my best to add anything:

Every Proac I've heard (and I auditioned the Proac D20R) has a similar sonic signature:  it sounds definitely "sculpted" to me, a sort of richness in the lower mids, then a dip near the upper, and a rise in upper frequencies.  So you get this combination of richness lower down, soundstage depth (dip) and some sparkle on top.

It's a very nice sound to be sure.   Though I didn't get along at all with the D20R, where I found the ribbon tweeter didn't mesh well enough, and left a somewhat steely character compared to the mids.

In contrast, the Devore 93s, which I auditioned numerous times, give a subjective sense of richness throughout the whole sonic range.  They just have a bigger, fatter, meatier sound, instruments more life-sized where the Proac is more reductive.  I found the Devore's top end sounded really great too in terms of sounding open with good shimmer for cymbals etc.


For me I choose the Devores in a heartbeat over the Proacs.  The Proacs for me always sound like "very nice speakers" where the Devores seem to feel a bit more like a live performance.
I'm quite sure you'll hear a different take from Proac owners.


But...hey...that's me. 


I've been wanting to hear the Super 9's too!

mpomerantz, have you auditioned any of the speakers you mentioned?

I lived with a Leben CS 600 for many years, first with ProAc Tablettes and then with Devore O93s. Before getting the Devores, I tried the Leben with ProAc D2s (a lauded combination at the time).

Obviously, I preferred the Devores over the ProAcs. But rather than simply assert “O93 roolz”: the first thing I would say is that the Leben is not a “tubey” tube amp — it’s not rounded, dark, “caramel” etc; in fact, it’s quite lit up. I think Prof observes the ProAc house sound very well — I would certainly not describe it as analytical, and those coming from e.g. B&W are likely to describe it as “musical”. But it is also quite lit up. If your priorities are soundstaging, detail, and picking out musical lines, then you will like it. For me, with the Leben, the ProAcs were too much, and the combination lacked things I value greatly: tone color, texture, and body. The Devores, by contrast, major in those areas; others might find them lacking in soundstaging and other “hi fi” characteristics. (The Devore X gives you more of the latter at the expense of some richness and body.)

I hope that helps. Of course, the usual comments about room, sources, and ancillary components apply. (I think A23 cables are at least a compulsory audition to hear the Os as they were designed, for example.)

Thanks for your thoughts.  I do plan to audition the Proac with my amplifier before making a decision.
M

@prof is giving review on the D20 in comparison to the Devore 93 but this is not what the OP asked for . I heard the D20 and I wasn’t impressed too they are good speakers but I can’t consider them as high-end ,however the D30 is in a completely different league than the D20 much much better speakers at every aspect so it’s really unfair to rule out the Proac based on the compression with D20 and not the D30.
I also don’t agree about Proac ribbon twitter it is so revealing ,sharp and accurate that if you aren’t used to such s suppirier twitters you can conclude by mistake that it has "steely character" but actually they are well design and integrated well with the drivers and are much better than the banal traditional dome twitters.

itzhak,

Fair enough if in fact the D30 is a "completely different" speaker. I haven’t heard it. But Proac does have a house sound.

As for the ribbon tweeter, sorry but I don’t buy your take on this. It’s not that I’m "not used" to "superior" tweeters. Like many audiophiles I’ve experience, auditioned, listened to tons of speakers with highly lauded tweeter technologies, and plenty of those using ribbons.  (And among the speakers I own are MBL speakers - I agree with TAS's Jonathan Valin that they are among the best tweeters in the world.  I've rarely heard such fine detail rendered so effortlessly and naturally, and I've auditioned speakers with the latest diamond/beryllium/ribbon tweeters).

I didn’t mistake superior high frequencies for a steely sound. That’s not what superior high frequencies sound like. It’s simply the type of character that came to mind when I heard it - I found the integration of the tweeter to be unconvincing, and gave a "cold top end" added on top to the sound of the speaker. I’ve heard a great many "banal" traditional dome tweeters that integrated more coherently and did not throw off the sound.

If proac did a better job with the larger speaker, that’s good.

Let me throw my hat into the arena. I currently have the D-30R andauditioned the D-20R and D-48R. The D-20R is a different animal thanthe D-30R/RS. Its leans slightly to the darker, richer side of the musicalspectrum. It excels with vocals and the imaging is some of the best I've heard in a demo. The D-30R/RS is more of a mini D-48R. More extensionand control in the bass, more transparent mid-range and better dynamics. Given how similar they look its surprising how different they sound.

My experiences with the ribbon tweeter have all been for the positive. Heck, I'll go on and say it was one of the features that sold me on it. I've found them to be smooth,extended and refined. Of all the speakers I auditioned the Proac's top end was the best I've heard. 

Good luck on your quest.

Yes I agree The D-30R/RS is more of a mini D-48R ,The D48 suitable for medium/large space and the D30S for medium/small one but basically they are the same speakers.

OP,I have heard both the speakers you mention.I heard a Devore O/9? in February 2014 at Audio Concepts, Dallas. They sounded good. Not sure if it was 93 or 96.But it was the ProAc D30RS that ticked all the boxes I was looking for. They went deep and tight in a medium room. I was so much impressed that I decided to get the D48R for my room. ProAcs are pretty musical and my dealer wants me to upgrade to a tube amplification for them to sound the best. Of course I disagree, because I love what I am hearing.Since you already have tubes, you owe it to yourself to listen to the ProAcs with them, at least once. Good luck!