Proac D30R vs Devore O93

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?

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.