From Stereophile Magazine, December 2007 by Art Dudley:

The Nines were wonderfully nuanced. Listening to them in place of the audibly more sensitive but undoubtedly more colored Audio Note AN-E/SPe HE speakers, it was easier to hear subtle vocal inflections in particular. On Larry Sparks’ classic “John Deere Tractor,” from the album of that title, the Nines made it easier to hear how Larry draws the word John into a descending line of three separate notes—albeit very quickly and subtly, more like Hank Snow than Hank Williams. It was also easier to follow and enjoy Monk’s cantabile toward the end of “Blue Monk,” from Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall.

The DeVore Gibbon Nines were, simply, consistently fun to have around: They delighted me as much this morning as they did three months ago. The Nines responded clearly to the differences between various triode output tubes in my Fi 2A3 Stereo amp, and to the changes in scale between the different Shindo amps I’ve tried. More important, they responded to real music. Every time out, they’ve made my music sound involving, impressive, and right.

Not to get too Zen about it or anything, but the Nine’s greatest strength was its multitude of strengths—that and the manner in which it dispensed with all of my expectations. Compared to the typical high-sensitivity loudspeaker, the DeVore Nine was more open and less colored, with a significantly greater degree of spatial performance. At the same time, compared to the typical high-end speaker, the Nine was not only easier to drive, it was easier to love. It had more drama and sheer humanity than I’ve ever heard from such an outwardly conventional loudspeaker, and it never sounded boring or constricted.

To put it more bluntly: Horns and such are a great deal of fun—but if you don’t have the money or the space or the patience required for a good horn speaker, and if you’re not willing to sacrifice openness and transparency and decent imaging in order to experience the world of very-high-quality, low-power amplification, there is now an alternative. And it’s a good one, and it’s a nice, neat number: Nine.

Read the full review here.

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