Devore or Harbeths to replace my ESL63s?


I'm on the last stages of a speaker quest that has been quite difficult. For the last year I've had ESL 63s in a smallish room (14'8 x 11'10). I've got them to work extremely well for small scale ensembles, particularly jazz, and they also sound great with electronic music. But I can't give them enough space to image an orchestra, and they don't really rock (at least without Gradient sub-woofers, but that's another story...)

So after a long search, it's come down to either Harbeth or Devore for replacements. These have been my favourite contemporary speakers for years, so basically I've just spent a long time finding out what I already knew.

I previously owned Compact 7ES3 and enjoyed them, but found them unrefined in the soprano regio, and slightly muddy around the port output. The Monitor 30.1 is considerably smoother in the high frequencies and I find it a beautifully balanced speaker. It is the perfect size for my room, with one failing. It lacks the half octave of bass needed to give kick drums any force. I tried the new SHL5+ in my room but they are just too big for my room, sadly.

A friend of mine owns some Devore Nines. Very few people have Devores in the UK, but he has a fantastic system with VTL 2.5/150. It used to be that when I heard his system I would find the Compact 7s unlistenable for a couple of days. That changed with the ESL63s, but the Quads have an uneven combination of great strengths and severe limits in a small room.

So it's come down to either Harbeth M30.1, Devore Super 8, or Devore 88.

I have a second hand pair of the Super 8s at home at the moment. They are beautifully organic and draw you in to their world gradually. Other speakers I have at home have more immediate and crisp micro-detail (Harbeth P3ESR for example), but the Super 8s seem to put a root into the ground and claim the room as the proper place for their music making. Relax, they say, don't worry about the details, we will sort out your musical life.

I have only two reservations; first, they are quite lean in the mid-bass, especially in comparison to my friend's Nines, and this presents some limits with rock and electronic. Second, my system is optimised for Harbeths (and then for ESLs), and Devores would probably work better with lower powered, very refined valve amps. I don't get the same clarity that I get with Harbeths in my system.

I also have an option on some second hand 88s, but I have never heard them and I would have to buy blind. That is generally against my religion.

I guess the key question is; do I go with what I know (Monitor 30.1) or look to optimise my system gradually for the newcomers (Devore Super 8 or 88).

I'd be grateful for any thoughts from anyone who has compared the M30.1 with Devores in the same room, since that is what I can't do at the moment.

(My system details: the amps are Unison Research Unico Pre/DM. The sources are a Fletcher Omega Point 5/Audio Note Arm/Nagaoka MP500, Trichord Diablo/NCPSU). Audio Synthesis DAX Discrete with AS modded CD Transport.)
andreweast
Yogiboy, regarding the Jansens - I heard these at a show about 18 months ago and thought they were very promising, but dismissed on the grounds of price. However I didn't know they had produced a smaller and more affordable version until you mentioned it. Thanks for this. I'll let you know what I think when I get to hear them.

I heard a very good system this weekend with ANE/SPe and some nice 300B mono blocks. It did pretty much everything right and worked well in a small room. It had a wonderful airiness and clarity - very revealing in the most natural way, and it was an extremely flexible system that could play all kinds of music. Curiously, though, I'm not sure it is the path for me. Perhaps at a later date. My 63s, in comparison, sound thicker and more opaque, not the traits we would normally associate with ESLs, but this weekend, I am loving them.
The AN E speakers have a discontinuity between the drivers that I find annoying and distracting. It's a shame because they have many other very nice qualities. I've noticed that some people are bothered by the discontinuity and others are not. This may account for the different reactions to AN speakers.
Can you explain how you've heard that and in what circumstances? With which versions of AN-E? How Is the discontinuity manifested musically?
I have owned Harbeths in the past and really enjoyed them. No one has mentioned Merlin speakers. Both the VSM's & TSM's are in the same league with the Harbeth's. The TSM is a sealed box. Have you listened to these?
Andrew,

I have heard AN-E speakers numerous times at a nearby dealer. At various times he's had the hemp woofer model, a less expensive version, and a ridiculously expensive version with outboard crossovers and silver wiring. I didn't keep track of the specific model numbers. I have also heard them at a number of RMAF and CAF shows including AN's own rooms.

As for what I mean by "discontinuity" I hear the transition from the woofer to the tweeter. It's not a smooth handoff from one to the other. There is also a recessed area, like a suck-out, in the transition area that diminishes the liveliness of the speaker.

As I said this apparently doesn't bother everybody since lots of people like and own AN speakers, but it would bother me if I owned them.