Confessions of an Audiophile: John DeVore defines audiophile and goes through gear he's had and why 

very much a late bloomer here. i come from live sound, recording studios and touring bands. i began my audiophile journey a few years ago. i didnt call myself anb audiophile at first because i just didnt know enough to be one. i would say, "im not an audiophile, but ..." i recall that audiophile is a term that some audiophiles dont wanna cop to. folks i spoke to would joke about it, but, as an aspiring audiophile and audiophile-curious person, i hadnt acquired the experience and understanding of hifi to fit the label. i know enough now, so i can call myself an audiophile now. some audiophiles are more gearheads than others. im a big gearhead. luv it. carried that over thru assembling, reassembling and upgrading a recording studio. being a long time record collector didnt hurt, neither.

I love this segment John. This is what separates us from casual listeners is the love of sourcing, tinkering with and the set up of the gear that provide us the high quality of music we chase. Every inch of the chain we scrutinize from gear to music to obtain the best listening experience possible. And when you try to explain these things to the normal Joe and they look at you with disinterest or the blank stare, we know as audiophiles were in a hobby that most dont understand or care to

When I was about 15 in the mid-50’s (yes, I’m old!), I removed the speaker from my table radio and started playing around with different configurations of boxes, cardboard at that! I found it interesting how much one could change the sound with even small changes to the “box.” At that time, I thought the speaker was the most important part of a radio and I continued to believe that when it came to component sound systems. I am not an audiophile although had I continued on that path, I might have become one. I find it interesting to hear people like John speak on the topic.

Great story of your journey!! I especially love that you had pics of past setups and the gear. It is easy to forget those massive small screen TVs and it really wasn't that long ago. Really amazing. Your shirt is the perfect embodiment of this conversation. Music nuts in one circle, the gearheads in the other and in the middle are the audiophile set. It had me reminiscing about my own setups over the years. Thank you for sharing!!

Another great video, John. Nice way to keep the channel fresh. Enjoyed your unique audiophile gear journey. That EMT pre is a show stopper!

I love the gear since I was 12 now I’m 57 and still love it

Thanks for sharing! Nice to hear you started exactly where most of us start and modestly stepped up your rig over the years, as most of us do!

Keep it coming, JD! Love this stuff!!!! ☺️👍

I started in about 81 and in 84 I went in the Army and wen to Germany 85-86 and again in 89-92 and built a system that I still have. In 22 I upgraded to a McIntosh amp, preamp, and universal BR, SACD player and built a set of Open baffle speakers.

Tell me if you can relate. Growing up, our family stereo system was far from hifi...but once in a while, I would go to a friend's house whose dad happened to have a nice system. Sometimes it was a relative's house. These may not have been super high end systems but I remember being blown away and being envious of the sound they could get in the living room. I had this experience several times in different places and I sought a way to get this or something better for our living room. I was barely a teen but this is how it started....Seeing those Realistic speakers in this video gave me goosebumps

Great job. Like your take on music and gear. I work in travel and live on a tiny island so buy vinyl when I go overseas and look at gear as well so always nice to hear about it all.

Oh man dude you have me going down memory lane! Your O/96's are almost certainly in the running for my endgame speakers.

During my career in the US Army, I made it a point to do two tours in Germany in the seventies. Not for the travel or scenery, not for the history, but because the cost of (then) vintage hifi stereo components was a third or less of what I would have paid in the US. I built my dream system. Full rack Phase Linear, amp, preamp and tuner. I did have a Pioneer P3A turntable and a Teac A-150 tape deck. I rounded that system out with a DBX noise reduction unit. That almost completely eliminated the dreaded tape hiss. My speakers stayed the same the whole time. Pioneer HPM 100s on the A side and HPM 60s on the back side. I just had to be careful not to over drive them with that 200 watt Phase Linear. I had that system all the way to 1994, when one of my clients saw my system and offered me an obscene amount of money for it. He was a vintage stereo collector. Because I was going to have to do a full capacitor upgrade soon, I agreed to sell it. At times, I kick myself in the ass for selling it, but it worked out. I've ended up moving a number of times since then, and I am glad I didn't have to lug all that stuff around. Today, I settle for a premium headphone and Dac/amp and I'm just as happy with it. Wow, has the technology changed.

Great video! You have had a great journey with your equipment. I appreciated that you explained what made you acquire certain pieces of audio equipment. I have had a similar journey except I do not make speakers work in commercial real estate. I have owned a lot of equipment over the years. Buying and selling all kinds of audio equipment as a side hustle gave me the opportunity to understand what I am hearing and how certain equipment perform. If I have learned anything with audio is that simple is best as a practice. When an audio system becomes too complicated it is the perfect invitation to screw things up.

Tougher it out. Man oh man this video was awesome. Time just flew with me watching this. Sadly I have none of this gear but just made me think of all the gear I’ve used through the years and I couldn’t begin to say what they all were. Sad. I was one of the audiophiles that was more of the gear head.

Great video. And a GREAT start with those Optimus 10s! That was my first speaker as well. Radio shack literally had them on BOGO, so I begged my mom to buy them for me. I’m grateful to this day

Very well said John, Music & gear.= Audiophile. Great discussion over the years,Realistic was my first receiver 25 watt back in the 70's.

I really enjoyed the run down memory lane. Impressive.

I watched this when it first came out and didn't even notice the ELEH shirt! My absolute favorite modern musician!

Not ashamed to say I'm into the gear MORE than the music. I love putting together systems more than I like listening to the music... it's what I've done all my life. I used to own a P.A. company. The listening part comes from my studio engineering side. 70% gear/ 25% music. I own 7 systems of which my music loving wife is the main beneficiary. We joke we need to get a bigger house with more rooms... about twice a year, I get lost in the music for hours.

I'm definitely into the equipment as much as the music, and have no problem stating so.

Reminiscing.....Great song by Little River Band. Cheers from Australia.

My first system was a Marantz 2216b my sister gave me when she moved out along with a pair of no-name speakers and a simple Sansui turntable. I bought an Akai tape deck from a friend for $20. I wanted my "own" receiver so I bought a Pioneer SX-40 floor model from Sun TV and rode home carrying it on my shoulder on my bike.

Awsome to hear your story! Thanks for sharing! I had the Optimus Linaeum speakers back in the day

That Little River Band record, "Sleeper Catcher," is a phenomenal LP that can be found for very cheap in good shape. The original Wally cut is the one to look for, and it's a great sounding LP.

I owned a pair of the L07mII amps..they were 150 wpc into 8 ohms, 225 into 4! Thanks for the nostalgia!

Thought that's a long video, but it was over before I realized it, very entertaining!

So good! Great stuff. We are of similar age so I found this particularly interesting

My first serious system consisted of a Heathkit 8 watts per channel tube amp that I built myself when I was about 14. A pair of Heathkit 12inch triaxial speakers that I built the cabinets for and a Garrard top of the line turntable. It sounded great and that little Heathkit amp still working after about 25 years. Whish I had kept that system just for the great memories and all the pleasure it gave me.

hmmm - - back in the early 80's I purchased my first set of maggies in Harvard Square - the MGIIIa's - from Goodwins - they still carry on but now reside in Watertown (MA). Those speakers went through various upgrades and ultimately were pinned floor to ceiling sans their stands, frames and "socks" - they provided a couple of decades of enjoyment - actually, although no longer in use, they're still kicking around my house somewhere.

John We had a very similar journey ! Really enjoyed the heyday of hi fi . I am still a audiophile and am enjoying my current system ( Tubes rule ! ) and am enjoying the music . Thanks

Loved this.

thanks for aharing John

I had that same Adcom preamp w/a Hafler DH 500 and had countless huge parties w/that combo, a pair of big Cerwin Vegas and another pair of speakers a buddy built for me. And an extra fan blowing right on top of that amp. Great times!

Remember you from Stereo Exchange! Was sad to see them move, hopefully they are still around. Loved the walk through your systems. Going to listen to the amp and phono ones next.

All that beautiful gear and a 19" Sony TV

Thanks John!

Enjoyed this, John. I started with a Radio Shack set and replaced the speakers with a pair of Advents. Many swaps and changes ensued. While I still have my Adcom GFP-555 in my system, it’s not the same as your old preamp so no photo. Both of my Nakamichi cassette decks died from overuse injuries, but I might have the last one in a box somewhere… ZX-7, I believe. Still rocking my Aragon 4004 that was modified later by the factory. B&W 802’s have been with me for many years and still use Bi-wire Audioquest cables. One day I’ll upgrade… one day.

Hey John, Great stuff man. I too am on the “spectrum” 😊…btw gear and music lover. My first serious system in 1982 was a Yamaha 40 Watt Integrated Amp, a separate Yamaha Tuner, a Bang & Olson Turntable and Boston Acoustic bookshelf speakers. I wanted to get a Nakamichi tape deck but it was over budget. That system took me through the next 10 years. And then I didn’t buy another piece of gear until 2019. That system includes a Hegel H90 integrated amp, Focal Electra 1008BE speakers, Sound Anchor stands, BlueSound Node 2i, Audioquest PowerQuest 3 power conditioner, Cardas Parsec speaker cables, Alpha Silver Coax Cable (RCA) from Douglas Connection and a power cable from Cullen Cable. Next step is adding analog: VPI Scout, Lyra Delos cartridge, Sutherland Insight phono-pre, and a high quality record cleaner. Just out of curiosity, which tube amp would you consider the “best” to pair with the O/93 speakers: Line Magnetic 805IA, Decware Zen Mystery, Tsakiridis Aeolus Ultima or Rogers EHF-100 MK2? ✌🏼🦧

What a STRANGE video. So many jump cuts!!

This video was fun!

Heard the Super Nines paired to the LTA UL at the DC show last weekend. I will make those speakers mine some day. Gorgeous pairing.

Brilliant

Man i feel ahead of my time by 10th grade i have complete separates....b&w DM220's..... Worth every table i had to bus for them...

The VT-100 you had in your system was mine. I can't say for sure, but the Counterpoint preamp was probably mine, as well.

I am def a gear head. I cant stop lookign at youtubes of gear/reviews. And drove from Texas to Cap Audio Fest to check out 90+ rooms of it. Of course I checked out the set of your Gibbons the one room was playing...fantastic! I find great gear makes nearly ALL music enjoyable. So gear first!!

I love music but I really love the gear. I remember going to hifi stores in the 70's as a kid and being fascinated by the the beautiful receivers with the panel sides....that bug is still with me 40 years later. Besides sounding great...my hifi MUST look great.

Hello John, it's interesting to see the gear you had growing up in the US, here in the uk, we had a lot of Japanese gear as well, but also lots of British gear including, makes like wharfedale, mission, celestion, arcam, Cambridge audio, heybrook, spendor, epos, monitors audio, to name a few, I always tried to buy British. Like you I had loads of gear over the years & when I started my audio businessin 2005, that's when I purchased my best system, with a set of PMC EB1 loudspeakers, they were stunning speakers, nice video, I'm always interested in other people gear👍

In the 80's I had a Moscode Super It in my bedroom system (SOTA Sapphire, Sumiko MMT arm, Grado Gold cartridge, Aragon 2002 power amp, Mission 700LE speakers w/ an old M&K subwoofer). I loaned the Super It to a couple of friends, and they were amazed at how good it sounded.

John, thank you for sharing your journey. Interesting! What about your favorite power cords? Home brew or something else?

The Denon PMA integrated amp is a good piece... wonderful to use. Curious about power products utilized throughout your journey, diy or otherwise.

I had the optimus 10's when I was in my teens, what a great speaker! I wish I hung on to them....

Gearhead/music lover for over 50 years. Very interesting, my story similar. My father worked for Philips at a higher level from '77-'99 seen a lot of cool things like the CD before they ever came out. My friends thought it was crazy talk!

regarding to your early hifi stuff, it's remarkable how many components we had in common : Denon, Akai, technics, nakamichi, the same Kyocera and Sony es 💿 players. the also had and still have Meridian 200 components in great condition.

I have Kyocera CD player and cassette deck. I don't have either hooked up but may hook up the cassette and send you a picture.

That was detailed.

For my first gear my dad bought me a Realistic receiver and speakers as well! (no upgrade) And a Sony TT

Cool journey man. I remember my first love for HI FI. It was a set of Paradigm Monitor 6s with a Technics AVR, and I have never seen speakers pump that much to this day. The throw they had was insane with that Technics AVR. We would crank Pantera, Rage against the Machine and some others and the sound they put out was amazing. Was soon after I bought car and home audio until I hit my masterpieces at around 25. Haven't upgraded much since, but here and there I bought a new head unit, DAC to play around but I honestly see no reason to "upgrade". I still think my setups are better then anything that can be purchased to this day. Example, my car runs two BASH SE3 amps for old Rockford Fosgate components and a Sony Mobile ES pushing a JL subwoofer. I remember blowing my Sony ES and bought a highly touted NVX 1000.1 and in comparison it sucked. I had someone repair the Sony and still to this day rock it.

I love the gear and music 70/30

Hi ... thanks for sharing the gear that you've owned and lessons learned! I'm alittle bit new to hi-fi and had the good fortune (I think) of acquiring a fine pair of used Vandersteen 3A Signature speakers, and wanted to get your thoughts on these. Current system config is, "Qobuz stream=>Gustard X16 DAC=>Simaudio Moon I3 amp=>Vandy 3A Sigs". Considering replacing the Moon I3 with a tube-pre with a Bryston 4B3 amp. Thanks for your thoughts.

For me the gear is a tool to bring me closer to the emotion of the music.

My younger brother had those Realistic speakers.They sounded great indeed!

Thank you! My first Hi-Fi Dual 12xx Turntable (with a DL 110) Some Kenwood Reciver and Headphones (because we were 3 Kids, so: Headphones) Sennheiser HD414 My very first Vinyl: Tuckwell/Marriner Mozart Horn Concertos Sony 555ES Later I bought Jordanov 120 Speakers and the little NAD Integrated Amp, AKAI GX 95 Tape and some Porti Walkman style and MD porti Next step: BM Backes&Müller BM6 first Gerneration (Wow!!!!!!) Old Va2 Restek Pre. And Va2 RestekTuner (I have it since 25 yrs) with update Then newer BM6 Than 2016 BM12, OPPO 105D, Well Tempered from 1990 with a Dynavector RS32, god Tear like!!!! Primare R15 for the Turntable, Abacus Prepino Preamp, Restek Tuner. This is 90% + of what is possible! In Sound. Every 1% more would be a 10.000-100.000€ investment. Don’t need! And! It fits together very well. I am total into classical, acoustic Music, so nearly perfect match. BUT the downside is, that I now can hear the difference between good and bad recordings. And there are many bad! Many, but the good sound like heaven

I love the gear as well as the music im into vintage equipment much more than the modern stuff ..But i do have some modern as well

Enjoyed this video a great deal! It made me think back to all the gear I lusted over seeing in the magazine's and in the store. Didn't realize some denon gear had wooden side panels also like the Sony es, pioneer elite etc. Must have been a Japanese thing.my journey started with a Panasonic cassette boom box in the 80s. Than to my own hand me down gear from a relative and than some jvc speakers from a pawnshop. Remember loving and enjoying childhood friends Kenwood separate system with big 3 ways in the late 80s. Didn't get my first real hifi system until I got a pair of 802 matrix series 3s that I still own and use from the late 90s. It's interesting and sad how many of these companies you mention have made great gear have gone out of business. I have a lot enlightened audio designs gear (power amp, dacs, and pre/pro) from the 90s and they are no longer after being purchased by alpha digital(aka Tara labs) in the early 2000s. Some of the gear is quirky (like no buttons on the Jeff Rowland designed faceplate) but you marvel at the design and layout inside one. And they still spund good! I think an entire video could be made of great small companies that made great gear that have went out of business. Your reference to b&k gear made me think of that. Didn't receive they are no longer until a audio/video salesmen that used to sell it told me. Thank you again John. Perhaps in another video you can tell the story on your brief sales job in la😀

Gear vs music audiophiles, interesting. I started out falling in love with music, listening on my portable handheld transistor radio. Then in my early teens began purchasing 45’s to play on my Dad’s basic stereo he had recently purchased. However always gravitated towards radio for the sheer variety of music. At 17 purchased my first receiver (technics) after hearing it at a friends house. Still spend more on gear than music.

I've been a lover of live and recorded music literally all of my life. I've even tried my hand at playing the piano and clarinet. Mostly I gravitated to classical music although I have and listen to recordings of other genres. I'm quite judgmental about what I listen to and what I hear. At about 12 years old and knowing nothing i heard stereophonic sound for the first time, loved it and became an audiophile. At age 25 when the industry proclaimed it had achieved live concert hall realism with quadraphonic sound I built a system, immediately hated it, lost all respect for everyone in that industry, unbecame an audiophile, and at that point being a graduate engineer with a great deal of curiosity set about to find out why quad failed and what if anything could be done about it. And remarkably I came to understand the problem and how to solve it. It's not an easy problem, quite complicated in fact. I had no budget and at one point could have afforded to buy anything the market had to offer but never considered it. I've never paid more than $800 for any consumer audio product, invented and patented my own, and I'm a very happy camper. I have exactly what I want and nothing about it will ever change.

I did enjoy the video. We are similar, you and I. I remember the Radio Shack speakers very well. I was surprised that Radio Shack had such foresight. They were a very sensible design that was a big value purchase. I suspect you are a self-taught engineer. Just as music has vast beauty, so is engineering beautiful with its pursuit of elegance. The engineering gift is the art of trade-offs. To keep any design sensible and affordable, one must make artful compromises, and there is beautiful elegance in that. I can see how love of the gear is utterly compatible with the love of music, and that how I feel too.

I was 14 I think when I got a pair of those Optimus 10 speakers and I loved them...

This is so wonderful. I just love your point of view. I have a question for you if you don’t mind: Does it make sense for someone (me) to get into hifi after his 40’s if you do not understand the technicalities of gear (I have some sort of learning disability in this regard, I just don’t get mechanical stuff), don’t understand the technicalities of music, don’t have great ears, suffer from some hearing loss… Yet I find myself fascinated by this world. The feeling, the emotions you get listening to a good system is just indescribable for me. It is so great. That is why I am fascinated by someone like you who has such depth and handle on both the technical side and artistic side of things. I love hi-fi but I don’t know how to approach it with all these limitations. Have you ever come across of people with similar profile? Would love it if you could share few words of wisdom or have any advice to throw my way. Thanks again for this wonderful channel.

I had the same denon tuner!!!....your Optimus 10's had 8" woofers 10"radiators

Dear John, A warm Hello from Germany. When I became interested in your Orangutan96 speakers I found your channel here on youtube. Love it.Very interesting to learn about the US HIFI scene.Your videos are very meditativ. But I also curious, what’s the secret behind your colored postits on your records in the background shelve.Take care Jörg.

what tonearm is the koetsu mounted on in the start of the video?

Wow. Same generation. Same age. Same neighborhood. Same journey. I worked from 8th grade on a farm, in grocery stores, and painted houses, to buy my first system in 10th grade. Spent hours at Tech Hifi and Tweeter, Etc. Advent 1 speakers SAE Two Receiver Akai cassette player Dual turntable. Maybe someday I'll have some of your speakers.

Food for this Anorak

I'm 50/50 gear/music, I miss my humble Pioneer cassette deck. Yes, there was something satisfying about that machine.

I love cassette decks for the same reason. It's the interaction.

Hey John! Is the Airtight the best 300b amp you have heard?

Again, very interesting and I can relate to that because I have also a similar background like you. Coincidence? Thanks for this video. 👍

Living the gear head dream.❤ 29:23

I am a GEAR FIRST audiophile. By this I mean as I got higher quality gear (in college) I learned new music because I would play it to see how it sounded - and I came to love jazz this way for example.

Haven’t you ever try Dynaco ST70 and PAS3X in your audio journey?

Do you listen to old gear for serious listening? Ty David

Audio is a lot of fun when you're young and learning about it.

I'm here for the tortoiseshell cat #1 and audio talk #2 :)

nice

All who are in this hobby, who mainly go for the music, we all are aware. To reach a certain level quality in music, it requires gear on that level. On this road ,we know what it needed to get their

I'm interested to know what are the beautiful wooden equipment racks you using?

I'd like your theory and I'd like to add a third car category. People who spend time on RU-vid listening to exspurts instead of listening to music on their systems what category would you say they fall under?

Got my first pair of speakers in 1969, and it was either Bose or JBL. Bought the JBL's and I thought they were great. Today, I probably couldn't listen to either one without getting ear bleed.

When I was 15 in 1986 my father, bless him, bought me a Fisher rack system. Junk, but I loved it. Why didn’t he take me to Radio Shack?? My whole life would have been different.

What’s surprising is I have the same exact setup that John had at the beginning of Devore, Shindo monbrison, AN p3 silver sig and pass labs aleph paired to o96 😮

Why the Optimus 10s instead of the Mach I?

ADCOM!

Do we surround sound lovers qualify as "audiophiles"? Most of us are feeling left out in the cold. So where do we fit and who exactly decides what an audiophile is?

Does not always about what you like,but what you can afford

I guess I'm an "audiophile" -- just a very skeptical one. My only objective is to get the best sound at a budget I can afford; Powerful, clean amp .. Great, revealing speakers. Any old clean DAC + a disk full of flac and I'm GTG. The only gear I have a real fetish for is music production/pro audio gear. If I make a killing in the music industry, I'm definitely buying some Devore speakers. They're the best looking cabs I've ever seen. Until then, I'm driving Kefs and Maggies all day..

Because I feel guilty just sitting around and not being productive… when I take time to listen to music, I want it to be a great experience worth my time. Hence I am an audiophile. My first system at 14: Infinity SM10 speakers, Aiwa amplifier / preamplifier, Sansui linear tracking turntable, Sony CD player, and Onkyo Cassette deck.

Adcom stands for added commission. True Guy that started it was a audio rep and he wanted to “ add” to his commissions.

Some Hi Fi these days are much better by a street Mile, just bought a Eversolo Master edition, a don't use it for streaming but as a preamp the sound is outstanding to my ears anyhow.