Devialet Chat

(19-May-2021, 05:02)Wdw Wrote: [ -> ]As a data point. Former Dev440 Expert Pro owner

What amps did you hear with the A5s, Wdw?

(20-May-2021, 07:42)ICUDoc Wrote: [ -> ]

(19-May-2021, 05:02)Wdw Wrote: [ -> ]As a data point.  Former Dev440 Expert Pro owner

What amps did you hear with the A5s, Wdw?

Have a Pass Labs XA30.8, Constellation Preamp 1.0 and dCS Bartok.

I'm driving A5 with an original, unmolested, D-Premier. They make beautiful music together.

Absolutely staggering speaker. Hard to imagine how they will ever be improved upon. An engineering tour-de-force, all the audiophile attributes (not that I care), floorshaking playback level potential (I care occasionally), but profoundly musical (I care a lot).

The A5s replaced the A3s, which were also very well-driven by the DP. I'll give my opinion on the difference.

The A3s were only the second box loudspeaker I heard which I thought was good enough to displace the Quad ESL. (The first, incidentally, was the Q1)

The A5s are an incremental uplift over the A3s only in physical size, weight, driver count, and power handling. Sonically they are from/on another planet. Most importantly, the midrange is of an electrostatic level of purity and coherence, with all the musical benefits that result.

Thanks for the info, Devianet. They are certainly very popular, and there's a long wait for orders to be filled. 8-10 weeks quoted for me.
There is a review in HiFi News and Record Review I think this month which will be interesting.

HiFi News /RR reviewed these speakers for July.
They were pretty happy with them also- score of 89% and LOTS of positive prose.
Main downside was sensitivity (87.7dB/W) and (mentioned a couple of times, gently) price.
I look forward to more consumer reviews of their A5s

Stereophile July 2021

By the in-room measurements shown in July edition of Stereophile, there is a pretty significant roll-off of high frequencies:
8 kHz = -5 dB
10 kHz = -7 dB
15 kHz = -10 dB
20 kHz = -14 dB

I'm curious how this affects the "air" and sense of ambience - for those who have heard them?

Also, even in pretty large room (32' x 24' x 9' 9") the bass seems to be too prominent - of course, it should not be flat and should gradually rise toward the lowest frequencies, but +10 dB at 100 Hz (+6 dB at 150 Hz) seems too much - and that is also addressed in review. What is the optimal room size for them?

And again - most of the sound description in review is related to bass 

Subjectively there is absolutely no lack of air and ambience; in fact quite the opposite. Every instrument is clearly positioned in space with lots of air around it; the subtle cues of the venue are recovered, if that's what's on the recording.

I find the aural effect is quite delicious but it only enhances the music rather than distract from it.

The height of the image is greater than created by the A3, which is hardly lacking in that department. The width is wrap-around; and the A5 readily "goes holographic" with only the slightest provocation from the source material.

I perceive the treble to be smoother and more extended than the A3, which is perhaps slightly odd given that the tweeter is the same. Perhaps it's a combination of the wider baffle and changed crossover.

Magico A5 SAM profile is added.
https://help.devialet.com/hc/en-us/artic...thly-basis-

(17-Jun-2021, 01:05)Delija Wrote: [ -> ]Magico A5 SAM profile is added.
https://help.devialet.com/hc/en-us/artic...thly-basis-

Down to 15Hz. Wow.