Hi all,
So Wendy and I are just back from a 2 week trip to the States to see Bruce Springsteen play on the beach in his adopted hometown ‘Asbury Park’ then we flew out to Tennessee for our first Nascar race but in-between those 2 amazing experiences we had 1 spare day and I couldn’t think of anything better to do than drive over to Brooklyn to visit DeVore Fidelity so I sent John DeVore a quick mail to see if he was around and he was more than happy to accommodate us, to say I was a little excited to visit him was an understatement as his speakers really have been a bit of a revelation to me over the last couple of years.
We actually hired a bit of a tank whilst in Asbury as there was a few of us to shuttle around so driving that into Brooklyn and its busy roads was a bit daunting but Wendy was behind the wheel so we had nothing to worry about, most of the time.
DeVore Fidelity is based in the Brooklyn Navy Yard which dates back to the 1800’s and was used to build America’s fleet of fighting ships for over 150 years, it is certainly a pretty cool place to be located.
As you can imagine this is a pretty big place but security pointed us in the right direction, we took the elevator up to the 5th floor and then wandered around the corridors until we found unit 510 where DeVore Fidelity are located where we were welcomed by John and his gorgeous cat Roxy.
DeVore have recently expanded and now seem to have plenty of space although I am sure this will all get filled up pretty quickly as they continue to be ever popular, John showed us round where you really do get to appreciate just how special these speakers really are where you see them being hand assembled by the DeVore team, there really are no production lines here, every pair of speakers are lovingly hand assembled then tested before heading to their new homes.
We were then taken next door to meet Anthony who’s business, Box Furniture Co., manufactures the stunning cabinets for DeVore Fidelity, John told us that he and Anthony partnered up many years ago when he was unhappy with his previous supplier, Anthony was a DeVore customer and a woodworker so it seemed like the perfect opportunity and they have worked closely ever since, when you see the quality of the cabinets, especially the front baffles on the O/96’s and above you can really appreciate Anthony’s work, he really is an important part of DeVore’s success.
So then it was time for the big moment, to enter the DeVore listening room for my first listen to the DeVore O/Reference speakers, now we ordered our demo pair a few months ago and will be with us shortly but being such fans of the O/96’s I was so keen to hear what the ultimate expression of John’s speaker design would give over the O/96’s, needless to say they really didn’t disappoint.
We were joined by Roxy, We only listened to vinyl which was 100% fine by me, John started by choosing a Mono recording, I really should have taken more notice what he was playing but I was so excited I totally forgot, but the realism in the vocal was incredible, totally captivating, then we moved over to a stereo pressing where things really opened up and the sense of scale was like nothing I had heard before.
Then I asked John if he had any Radiohead vinyl, silly question as he had everything they had ever released on vinyl, I was keen to try something we knew well and Wendy’s favourite track ‘How To Disappear Completely’ really is great track that can fall flat or come alive on different systems, I let Wendy take the hot seat for this as she knows it better than me, she looked totally lost in the presentation and at the end confidently said it was the best she had ever heard it.
With the O/Ref’s you get that realism and scale that people who are familiar with the O/96’s love so much but even more so and with the powered bass boxes you really do get the full picture of any recording as obviously they go really low which underpins the mids and highs beautifully, I can honestly say I have never heard such a natural and engrossing presentation, the size of the image was ridiculous, it really is one of those systems that makes you want to revisit all your favourite music as It will be like you really are hearing it for the first time.
We listened to a few bits more but couldn’t stay too long as we had to get back to pack for a flight early the next day but what a great visit, John was really lovely and accommodating with his time and it just made me even more excited for when we get our O/Reference’s in HFL, I am planning on putting together a very special system built around these, once here and run in John will be coming over for a DeVore Fidelity open day so watch this space as that will be a very popular open day.
So we said our goodbyes and headed back to Asbury Park so happy that we took the opportunity to visit John and his team whilst out in the States.
Thanks John, keep up the great work and look forward to welcoming you to HiFi Lounge in the near future.
Cheers,
Paul.
