I’ve thought about trying Devore speakers on and off, but I’ve never had the chance to listen to a pair outside of a trade show. Tim at Carytown Sound in Richmond had a pair of O/96, actually in the same color finish as yours, but I never got to hear them before he closed up shop earlier this year.
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Hard resets aren’t all bad news, it means you’ve developed enough to know precisely what you want. that’s 3/4 of the battle IMO. lol
It’s a small community. I got them from Tim.
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I think the impressive aspect about stage with them is the stage coherency, it’s not the most immediately enveloping or expansive, but it’s extremely tightly defined and great at representing accurate scale and location within it’s stage, I think that’s really the value of their stage compared to some other speakers, it’s just really accurate to the recording, but often that means they’re not super exciting either. I did sometimes find that on my voxativ some recordings and system pairings just didn’t seem impressive, and others really wowed me, but it didn’t often fully envelop me or “putting me there” like some other speakers imo. They did however give a very very very clear window into the recording itself and how tightly things could be laid out in front. It’s just a very specific sort of stage, I found that I really had to treat my room a lot and try every possible place to get the best of them vs some other speakers.
I would agree that I’ve had the best luck with SET specifically some of my powerful + neutral leaning chains I’ve used (standouts would be an aries cerat and lamm system). I think the more pure the amp and preamp + a more expansive and immersive dac was the most enjoyment I got out of these speakers, as it allows for the drivers to perform at what they’re best at while letting the source tailor the sound more to add in a bit extra for something more consistently immersive. I did have a big shock moment with a yamamoto a08s, for how little power it was so pure and coherent, super impressive but did lack grunt and was more specialist in that it didn’t work with some tracks, but when it did hit, it hit hard.
You’ve seemingly tried it with a good range of gear there, I don’t know how much more value you’d find in trying to swap things around considering your experiences with other speakers and pairings, I think with what you’re after you’d just get more out of a different set of speakers imo
I did feel like it was better able to extract more of what you were driving it with for the 4x, but that’s a double edged sword lol
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Hey @rooze welcome and so very excited to have you posting! I am a big fan of the type of equipment you have had go through your hands 
I’ve only had a pair of Zeth speakers in hand for a short while. The pair i have in hand use the Voxative Pi-Fe driver. The enclosure design has limitations and as far as i can tell is the simplest design and build they offer. The short version of my opinion is that yes basically you are getting a solid 90% of what this design is capable of. You could probably get some more spatial depth and tighter imaging out of them but their lean nature is what it is. Sure different Voxative drivers and front end equipment will offer slight differences but even w/ my short time w/ the Zeth I’ve maxed out everything substantive they are going to reproduce in their sound character.
Even using my “warmest” amplifiers this speaker design has a lean sounding character. I’ve gotten a nice taste of the bass they are capable of reproducing on their own which is fast, tight and super well defined. Meh, I promptly threw my subwoofers into the mix and then jacked the crossovers up high to thicken the overall character out a bit more. Same trick i use w/ my LS3/5A’s, it works and is plenty good enough for me. 
These speakers are extremely resolute w/ an excellent quality top end but are also super sensitive to what they are being fed which is a double edged sword.
I’ll write more, especially in comparing the ZETH to Carney Audio Companion’s I own which are running Lowther DX65 drivers. The Carney enclosure reproduces what I feel most audio enthusiasts prefer in their music character. The Zeth design was simply a lower cost option for folks like myself who wanted a taste of what the Voxative drivers are capable of but who can’t afford the more complex speaker cabinets or don’t have the skills and equipment to make their own larger and more complex DIY designs for the transducers.
I’m very excited and hope to hear more of your experiences and stories w/ various pieces of equipment over the years that you have had the pleasure of using. 
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@NickMimi Thanks for the input and the welcome.
I do a similar thing with subs, I generally run them with a little more overlap to add a bit of heft in the midbass region if it’s needed.
There’s a review of the Zeths floating around that I’m sure you’ve read, and I had a fairly lengthy exchange with the previous owner of my speakers, who talked quite a bit about what I should expect from them. Those two sources gave me an expectation that I haven’t quite been able to meet with my particular setup. Yours and dB_Cooper’s comments are more aligned with what I’ve found to be the case with the equipment that I’ve used so far….the speakers are a bit on the leaner side.
That said, they’re not unpleasant, their presentation just makes them shine more on certain types of recordings than on others. That can be said about all of the speakers I’ve owned 
I’m not in any hurry to do anything. I do have them listed for sale, but the ‘local pickup’ requirement means I’ll probably have them for a while. So I’m keeping an eye open on the usual ‘used’ channels for an amp that might be worth rolling the dice on.
I’ll drop back with an update if I find something worth sharing…
Cheers!
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I genuinely miss some of the things they do that my 0/96 can’t or simply can’t quite achive. It’s a frustrating hobby. lol
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@rooze Are you nearby in Virginia? I have a Decware 341.5 amplifier that i would be happy to let you try on them for a while. Also, you are experienced in tube rolling and would understand the variety of tubes i have in hand to vary the output of the amplifier a bit.
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Thanks, that’s a very generous offer. Yes, I’m about 90 minutes south of Richmond. I may take you up on this when I get my system back together. I’ve randomly sold off the core components from two systems and I’m left with a bit of a mishmash of gear that doesn’t play together particularly well. (with the exception of my vinyl rig, which is so far untouched).
I do this every so often….I get frustrated with the rig and purge everything then start over. It could be undiagnosed ADHD 
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@rooze , I’m in Fredericksburg so we are basically a day trip from each other. 
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@rooze , i have had more time to experiment with my pair of Zeth, they have a different transducer than yours but the enclosure still has the same limitations so you can probably reproduce the same results if you care to try.
Scootch your listening chair in real close, near-field close. Get within their “bubble” and you will find an unrealistic seating position but surprising difference in their sound character.
Here is a picture of how stupidly close in i had to come to get within their bubble of sound as built and designed in the Zeth enclosure.
PS. Goodness me, these are tight, so damned tight and fast. Bass drops by Nenad Vasilic, Poem of Chinese Drum by Hok-man Yim, Kroumata Pieces by Kroumata Percussion Ensemble, Tutam Yar Elinden, By Rubato, OOOFF 
but I’m basically sitting between the speakers. BTW, 2 excellent watts bring these to life.
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Now you know they’re a keeper for when you downsize your house and become an apartment dweller.
Remembering the dimensions of that room, play with their placement some more, move the speakers back 30” or so from the rear wall which is probably how I had them, they may be requiring some in room reinforcement as I had mine about 16” from the side walls.
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Interesting. I’m not averse to nearfield, though that’s maybe a bit too close for me 
It looks like you may be using a different base under them? Has anyone figured out how to get them on to the stock base without sticking a spike in the wooden base and gouging it? It’s really awkward so I’m thinking of ditching the wooden base and going straight into the floor - though I read somewhere about the critical 22mm gap…
Right now I still have a pair of Spica in the main system. I’ve sold off most of my ‘good stuff’ and just haven’t figured out yet what to replace it with.
I’m in that ‘frustrated and don’t know what to do about it’ zone, at present.
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Yes, yes and yes. 22 mm is what I measured out precisely what the stock footers are set to. Raising it lowers the bass frequency a bit but less texture. Lowering it tightent the bass frequency a bit but less bass which for that cabinet is not ideal.
I went to a custom kitchen counter place and gave them the dimensions I wanted and even got to pick a matching white marble with gold veins to match the speakers. $150 bucks.
One thing I never got to try but the dimensions (22 mm) are probably where they need to be is Stillpoints mini.
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Hmm… so standing them on marble slabs, without the recessed inserts, would probably raise that by 5mm or so. I think I might just try it. I’m using them with subs so maybe I can paste over any deficiencies with a good smattering of REL bass.. 
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I took the measurement of the recessed indent in the wooded bases into consideration when I measured. What I would do today if I still had them is try out a set of Stack Audio AUVA but they’re 30 mm without any of the hardware which is perfectly usable that way if you’re not moving the speakers around carelessly.
Also thought about sheet of plywood under the speaker in between the footers as a way to decrease the distance to the floor but I never got around to experimenting with that as I found some Chi-Fi stainless steel footers in which I then replaced the stainless bearing to silicon nitride Ceramic ball bearings. They were precisely 22 mm if you want to try them.
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Completely understandable and unfortunate when dealing w/ expensive hobbies. Fortunately these are excellent types of problems to have in your life, and a wish for long good health to you so that this may always be your only worry.
Go read this fellows web page, he has allot to say and in particular loves your transducers so you MAY gleam some knowledge that could help your future endeavors or not. Just remember sometimes a problem is most easily solved simply by walking away from it.
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