DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96 Loudspeaker Review: Part 2

What’s So Special About These Monkeys?

In his 2014 Axpona show report Miles Astor said this about the DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/96 speakers, “Wha’ts more, these speakers are truly the bumblebees of high-end audio. Given their relatively diminutive size, the Orangatan 96s should not sound as big as they do. Yet I continue to marvel at their ability to cast not only a wide and deep stage but also one with height! There are far bigger speakers that don’t have the image height of these apes! And most of all, John always seem to get it right where it counts: the midrange.”

I concur, there is no way a two way with a 10 inch woofer and a one inch tweeter should sound like these speakers. How do they sound so coherent, how do they sound so big, how do they sound so alive? I don’t know, but I do love it even if I can’t explain it.

Part of what’s so special about them is what they aren’t. They’re not typical audiophile speakers, they aren’t the very last word in detail, speed, transparency, nor are they the last word in bass slam. Rereading that sentence I’m tempted to take it out, but in a way that’s exactly what is so special about them. They balance all of the above in such a way that is very beguiling. They have a significantly rich sound. They do this differently from the Linn Audio Loudspeaker’s Athenaeums whose richness seemed to add a sameness to the sound from one recording to another. This is not the case with the O/96s, through which each recording sounds significantly different from all others, just a richer and smoother. The O/96s also handle less than good recordings better than most speakers without that sameness of the Linns which covered up a multitude of sins. The richness and smoothness of the O/96s helps in letting poorer recordings be more fun to listen to, but not by covering up their mistakes.

The O/96s are also play music with great dynamics and micro-dynamics in such a beautifully relaxed way, but not so relaxed as to rob the music of it’s great emotion. The O/96s do a better job at revealing tonal colors than any modern speaker I have heard. Still the O/96s, like many of the vintage speakers including Altecs and Lowther,s have a sense of immediacy which results in them simply sounding more alive than modern speaker designs. They also have a way of letting you hear the air around and within instruments that is so important to adding to the realism of listening to recorded music. They also have the ability to develop the harmonics and timbre of the instruments and voices; they do this even better than the Audio Note E SECs, one of the best speakers at playing harmonics that I had heard until now.

The Audio Note E HE models are perhaps the most obvious comparison to the O/96s. Both are two way, rear vented, stand mounted, floor standing speakers with wide baffles. They are both high efficiency speakers most often used with low power SET tube amps. Even in an all out Level 5 Audio Note system that I have heard in more than one location the sound of the Audio Notes is slightly veiled and not quite as alive as the O/96s.

The Audio Notes, when placed in the corner as they are designed to be, load the room in a way that gives you real scale and very punchy bass. By comparison, the O/96s are richer sounding and play deeper bass in my room than I have heard from any Audio Note system. Mostly the Orangutans sound more alive from the lowest bass well into the treble area better than most speakers. In my room they produce a even bigger sound than the Audio Notes located in the corners. They also have a superior soundstage to the Audio Notes; no doubt partially due to the fact that they are not in the corner. The soundstage is very coherent and big, none of this instruments and voices floating on some imaginary black background. My oldest son, Brant, is especially critical of speakers that do not have good vertical soundstaging abilities. The first time he heard the O/96s he said, “they look short, but they sound tall.” It’s not just about a bigger soundstage though, they simply sound more substantial than most speakers, very much like the big Tannoys. They are so powerful sounding while bringing a wonderful life and emotion to the sound.

Are the Orangutans perfect?

Of course they aren’t; no speaker is. They don’t have the clarity of the Quad 57s, nor the transparency and immediacy of the Teresonic Ingeniums XRs. They aren’t quite as efficient as the big Shindo Latours or the Teresonics which means they don’t sound quite as powerful with the same ease that these two speakers can. They also have to be carefully placed to not get too much bass. I think that for most music lovers, they will find the O/96s more musical than they ever dreamed possible.

There is no one speaker for everyone, some people are drawn to panel speakers such as electrostatics or Magnepans. Then there are those who love big multi-driver speakers. I have to confess I don’t get these, but it seems I’m in the minority in this opinion. Then there is the group that I lean toward, those who love single driver speakers that can be driven by small SET amps. Of course there is also the group we started talking about who love the sound of vintage speakers. The Orangutan O/96s bring most of the best qualities of the vintage, single driver, and planar speakers into one reasonable size, beautiful box.