Devore Gibbon 3XLs: anyone have these?

I believe I need to weigh back in on my original post so that no one, especially John DeVore, believes that I meant to imply that the 3XLs are better in any way than the Silverbacks, because IMHO they are not. In terms of overall musical presentation and the capacity to reproduce all types of music (at least the ones I care about) with tremendous realism, I have not heard anything I like as much, let alone more, than the Silverbacks until we start to get well north of $30K.

One final comment on the 3XLs - they are the best monitor speaker I have heard at or below their price point.

thanks for the post, 4Musica. Am thinking these would be a perfect study speaker in a small room. Did you use the matching stands?

Matro5 - My pleasure. I love talking about John's speakers. Every time I have heard the 3XLs they were on the matching stands. IMHO the stands make these gorgeous looking speakers look even better. Almost as if an interior designer was involved with the design process. And as I recall, there are now at least two finishes for the bamboo. These speakers and stands got a BIG thumbs up from my wife, musically and esthetically, as far as the WAF consideration goes. ;->

What are the dimensions of your room? What pre/amp or integrated would you be using?

Very nice nearfield monitors. I would describe the sound as smooth and heavily weighted around vocals. In the price consideration area, other speakers I have heard and really like are Verity Finns out of Canada and Zu Souls out of Utah. I would recommend all three speakers if you have tube amps. All three will have the WAF.

If you want a more clinical and analytical sound, I would recommend ATC speakers. These are professional reference speakers. You can pick up their model 19 for the same price and with 100 watts of solid state power, will likely trump the Gibbons.

In Living Stereo in NYC is a wonderful place to audition these. I just did this in the city recently, where I heard these exact speakers driven by a Leben 300 SX tube amp. Amazingly organic and sweet sounding experience. I demoed Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley and Radiohead. Really a pleasure to listen to these. I also listened to the Verity Finns hooked up to the same amp.

Very few speakers position well in small rooms. These are one of them. The stands match perfectly and they would rock in a den or bedroom setting. I love Devores that they are actually made onshore in Brooklyn, next to NYC, and believe they have this urban nearfield feel locked in better than most speakers. BTW, the ENTIRE Devore line has the best woodworking I have ever seen in a speaker line. Their flamed cherry is the single most beautiful speaker I have seen and is featured in the Nines and Eights. I call this the "drool" factor.

If your tastes run toward classical, the speaker with the closest sound profile to Devore are Opera speakers out of Italy. They are oftened partnered with Unico amps and I would imagine that these would also pair well. I can also recommend Luxman (N100 tube amp or the 550 class A solid state).