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DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93 Loudspeakers at Vinyl Sound Toronto Canada

The Orangutan O/93 is a two-way floorstanding loudspeaker from DeVore Fidelity (Brooklyn, New York, USA), available at Vinyl Sound in Toronto, Canada. Introduced alongside the O/96 in late 2012, the O/93 was designed by John DeVore to deliver the core musical character of the Orangutan Series in a slimmer, more room-friendly cabinet at a lower sensitivity rating. It shares the identical horn-loaded 1-inch silk dome tweeter with the O/96, while its 10-inch paper-cone woofer with phase plug was developed in parallel and tuned to match the O/96's woofer behavior as closely as possible at a 93 dB/W/m sensitivity. The cabinet uses a fiddleback mahogany veneer front baffle of Baltic birch plywood over a high-gloss piano-black lacquered enclosure, with the speaker standing on permanently attached solid-hardwood feet. The O/93 has earned a Stereophile Recommended Component designation, a Stereophile Editor's Choice Award (Herb Reichert, 2014), and a Part-Time Audiophile Editor's Choice Award, and has served as the personal long-term reference speaker for multiple Stereophile editors including Herb Reichert and Ken Micallef.

The O/96's Musical DNA in a Slimmer Cabinet

The O/93 and O/96 were developed together from the beginning. John DeVore worked on the final prototype of the O/93 woofer at the same time the O/96 was reaching production, ensuring that the two speakers share the same listening axis, the same driver height, and the same tweeter. The O/93 woofer uses a simplified voice-coil and smaller magnet than the O/96 version, with John DeVore spending considerable time tuning the coil geometry so that the O/93 woofer would behave as closely as possible to its more expensive sibling. The result is a speaker that reviewers at Stereophile, Hi-Fi+, Fidelity Magazine Germany, and Part-Time Audiophile consistently describe as capturing the fundamental Orangutan tonal character: a sense of musical physicality, richness in the midband, natural dynamics, and a transparency to source that cuts through to the emotional content of a recording. The O/93 cabinet is a bass-reflex design with two rear-firing ports, tuned to reach 30Hz, and stands on permanently attached 0.5-inch hardwood feet rather than the separate stands supplied with the O/96.

Cabinet Design: Baltic Birch, Fiddleback Mahogany, and Piano-Black Lacquer

The O/93 cabinet combines a Baltic birch plywood structure with a fiddleback mahogany veneer front baffle, an aesthetic detail John DeVore selected for its similarity to the figured veneers used on the bodies of stringed instruments. The sides, back, and top are finished in a semi-translucent high-gloss piano-black lacquer that Stereophile's Art Dudley described as among the most beautiful cabinetry he had encountered in any loudspeaker. The internal volume of the O/93 cabinet is meaningfully smaller than the O/96's, with unused volume at the lower portion of the enclosure below the dual rear ports. The hardwood feet are permanently attached and sized to bring the tweeter to the same listening axis as the O/96 on its stands, so both speakers present drivers at the same height for any listener already familiar with the O/96's placement geometry.

Key Features

• Shared O/96 Tweeter: The identical SEAS 1-inch silk dome tweeter used in the O/96 is fitted to the O/93, loaded by the same shallow horn geometry, providing the same high-frequency character, sensitivity contribution, and dispersion control across both Orangutan models.
• O/96-Tuned 10-Inch Woofer: The 10-inch paper-cone woofer with phase plug was developed alongside the O/96 woofer and individually tuned by John DeVore so that its voice-coil behavior and dynamic character match the O/96's driver as closely as possible at a reduced sensitivity.
• 93 dB/W/m Sensitivity: High enough to work well with push-pull tube amplifiers producing 10 watts or more, and with many single-ended designs using EL34, KT88, or 300B output tubes, while also accepting powerful solid-state amplification without limitation.
• 10-Ohm Nominal Impedance: The same 10-ohm nominal impedance as the O/96, remaining above 10 ohms for most of the audio band and dropping no lower than 7.1 ohms, providing a stable and benign load for any output transformer-based tube amplifier.
• Baltic Birch Plywood Cabinet with Fiddleback Mahogany Baffle: The front baffle uses a figured fiddleback mahogany veneer over Baltic birch plywood, with the remaining panels in semi-translucent high-gloss piano-black lacquer, producing a cabinet finish that multiple reviewers have cited as among the most beautiful in loudspeaker design.
• Dual Rear-Firing Ports: Two 2-inch diameter rear ports tune the bass-reflex enclosure to 35Hz, delivering a claimed low-frequency extension to 30Hz.
• Permanently Attached Hardwood Feet: The O/93 stands on 0.5-inch solid hardwood feet that are permanently attached to the cabinet, matching the tweeter listening axis of the O/96 on its separate stands.
• Stereophile Recommended Component: Held a continuous Stereophile Recommended Components listing across multiple annual editions, and was a finalist for Stereophile Loudspeaker of the Year in both 2016 and 2018.
• Stereophile Editor's Choice 2014: Named Editor's Choice by Herb Reichert in Stereophile's Products of 2014 feature.
• Part-Time Audiophile Editor's Choice 2017: Named Editor's Choice by Rafe Arnott in Part-Time Audiophile's 2017 awards.
• Handbuilt in Brooklyn, New York: Every O/93 is assembled, veneered, and burned in by hand at the DeVore Fidelity workshop at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York, USA.

Technical Specifications

Awards and Critical Recognition

• Stereophile Recommended Component, multiple annual editions
• Stereophile Loudspeaker of the Year Finalist, 2016 and 2018
• Stereophile Editor's Choice Award, Herb Reichert, 2014
• Part-Time Audiophile Editor's Choice Award, Rafe Arnott, 2017

Press

• Herb Reichert, Stereophile Editor's Choice 2014: "My beloved DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93 loudspeakers perform at a level of excellence beyond what I ever dreamed possible."
• Alan Sircom, Hi-Fi+ Magazine: "Using the O/93 is like side-stepping the whole studio system and sitting in front of the musicians."
• Rafe Arnott, Part-Time Audiophile Editor's Choice 2017: "I cannot recommend the O/93 highly enough. Not only are they cerebral in their intimations, they also speak to the heart, and that to me is what an end-game loudspeaker must be capable of."
• Fidelity Magazine, Germany: "The DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93 is a virtuoso all-around musician, feeling like Herbert Von Karajan in the orchestra pit, Jimi Hendrix on stage, or Lionel Hampton in the studio."
• Steve Guttenberg, c/net: "I've heard and liked DeVore Fidelity speakers before, but the new Orangutan O/93 was different. Even when listening to mostly unfamiliar music I fell in love with the sound from the get-go."

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93?

The DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93 is a two-way bass-reflex floorstanding loudspeaker, handbuilt in Brooklyn, New York, and the more compact and accessible model in the Orangutan Series alongside the O/96. It uses the identical SEAS 1-inch horn-loaded silk dome tweeter as the O/96, paired with a 10-inch paper-cone woofer with phase plug tuned to match the O/96's driver behavior, in a fiddleback mahogany veneer and piano-black lacquered cabinet. The O/93 delivers a 93 dB/W/m sensitivity, a 10-ohm impedance, and a 30Hz to 31kHz frequency response.

How does the O/93 compare to the O/96?

The O/93 and O/96 share the same tweeter, the same listening axis, and the same fundamental musical character. The O/93 uses a simplified woofer voice-coil and smaller magnet, resulting in a 93 dB/W/m sensitivity compared to the O/96's 96 dB/W/m. The O/93 cabinet is slimmer and does not include separate stands, making it more compact and easier to integrate into smaller rooms. Its bass-reflex tuning reaches to 30Hz compared to the O/96's 26Hz, and the O/96's cabinet volume is meaningfully larger. Stereophile's Art Dudley, who reviewed both speakers in depth, considered the O/93 to retain the core of the O/96's musical personality while offering a smaller footprint and a more accessible entry point into the Orangutan Series.

How does the O/93 compare to the Harbeth P3ESR or the Zu Audio Omen?

The DeVore Fidelity Orangutan O/93, the Harbeth P3ESR, and the Zu Audio Omen all appeal to listeners who value natural tonal character and musical expressiveness, but occupy very different design categories. The Harbeth P3ESR is a compact two-way standmount with a Radial2 polymer cone, much lower sensitivity around 83 dB, and a wholly different character optimized for near-field listening. The Zu Audio Omen is a full-range single-driver design with very high sensitivity aimed squarely at low-watt SET users. The O/93 sits between these in scale, using a conventional two-driver, two-way topology at 93 dB/W/m with a 10-ohm impedance that works particularly well with push-pull tube amplifiers in the 10-30 watt range, as well as with single-ended designs and solid-state amplification.

Can the O/93 be driven by a low-power single-ended tube amplifier?

Yes, the O/93 works well with push-pull tube amplifiers using EL34, KT88, or similar output tubes, and with many single-ended designs producing 8 watts or more. Herb Reichert used the O/93 as his personal reference at Stereophile for years, regularly pairing it with the Line Magnetic LM-518IA single-ended integrated amplifier. For very low-power 300B or 2A3 amplifiers producing two to four watts, the O/96's three additional decibels of sensitivity make it the more natural choice, though the O/93 will still function with such amplifiers at moderate listening levels. The 10-ohm nominal impedance ensures that even tube amplifiers drawing current from an 8-ohm transformer tap do so from a favorable electrical load.

What makes the O/93 tweeter horn-loaded, and why does it matter?

The O/93 uses the same shallow horn-loading geometry as the O/96 tweeter. Horn loading a dome tweeter raises its sensitivity, reduces distortion at the crossover point by lowering the excursion required to produce a given output level, and controls horizontal dispersion for more stable off-axis imaging. John DeVore noted that horn-loaded dome tweeters were widely used in the 1950s and 1960s before speaker sensitivity declined in response to the rise of high-powered solid-state amplifiers, and considers the approach to be one of the most effective ways to achieve the dynamic ease and low-distortion character that makes the Orangutan Series particularly compatible with tube amplification.

Where can I buy the DeVore Fidelity O/93 in Toronto or Canada?

Vinyl Sound in Toronto, Ontario is an authorised DeVore Fidelity dealer and carries the Orangutan O/93 loudspeaker. Vinyl Sound Canada offers in-store listening sessions, expert amplifier pairing guidance, and full after-sales support for the O/93 and the complete DeVore Fidelity Orangutan and Gibbon speaker lines. Contact Vinyl Sound Toronto to discuss current availability and finish options.

Does the O/93 require separate stands?

No. Unlike the O/96, which ships with separate 7.5-inch solid maple stands, the O/93 has 0.5-inch solid hardwood feet permanently attached to the base of the cabinet. This was a deliberate design choice by John DeVore to reduce cost while keeping the driver listening axis at the same height as the O/96 on its stands, meaning both Orangutan models present the tweeter at the same position relative to a seated listener.

What amplifier types work best with the O/93?

The O/93 works well with push-pull tube amplifiers producing 10 watts or more, EL34 or KT88-based single-ended amplifiers, and solid-state class-A or class-AB designs. Herb Reichert paired the O/93 extensively with the Line Magnetic LM-518IA single-ended integrated at Stereophile, and the Linear Tube Audio Z10e was also cited in a Stereophile follow-up as a particularly strong match. The speaker is also described by Hi-Fi+ as pairing naturally with low-powered SET amplifiers in the 5-10 watt range, where its 93 dB/W/m sensitivity and stable 10-ohm load allow a wider range of output topologies than most similarly sized floorstanders.

Learn more about this product in our detailed video review: