“Oh, do not ask, ‘What is it?’, Let us go and make our visit.”
The DeVore gibbon X are a three-way design with a 3/4 inch ultra-low-mass textile dome tweeter suspended in an inert chamber paired with a 7 inch midrange driver with a phase-plug and inverted natural rubber surround in it’s own sealed enclosure, plus a pair of side-firing 9 inch long-throw woofers in a tuned 4-chamber enclosure. The gibbon X present a relatively easy 90dB/W/M load to the accompanying amplifier(s) aided by their 8.5 Ohms (16 Ohms max, 7.3 Ohms min @ 26Hz) impedance.
The review pair are a prototype for what will become the new gibbon line’s look that also includes the gibbon Super Nine, looking more like a DeVore Orangutan. Eagle eyed viewers have already picked up on the visual change that finds the gibbon X taking on the ply edge and veneered front baffle from the ever popular Orangutan series (like my O/96 review). This approach also allows for a nearly unlimited number of custom front baffle finish options. Choice is good.
A single pair of binding posts sit above a pair of ports ’round back.
The review pair’s front baffle is finished in a yummy Wild Cherry. Production gibbons will also inherent the Orangutan’s veneered and stained wood sides and back.
The gibbon X are already playing away with the review Accuphase stack on the A-Side, paired with the Barn resident Grimm MU1 (review) sending its output to the review Audio Note Izvor DAC (more info) and wired with the new and very impressive AudioQuest ThunderBird XTRM (XLR and speaker cables) and a long pair of AQ FireBird XLR cables from pre to power amps.
I owned a pair of the DeVore gibbon X in the old finish (that’s one of ’em) back in 2018-2019 so this is part reunion as well.
In the room the women come and go
Talking of Michelangelo.
Opening and closing quotes from T.S. Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.
DeVore Fidelity gibbon X Loudspeakers
Price: $19,800/pair
Company Website: DeVore Fidelity
gibbon X Specifications
Frequency Response: 23Hz-40kHz
Sensitivity: 90dB/W/M
Impedance: 8.5 Ohms (16 Ohms max, 7.3 Ohms min @ 26Hz)
Dimensions: 44″ H x 9″ W x 17.5″ D (not including feet)