DeVore Fidelity Monkeyhaus System Spotlight: John DeVore talks about turntables and the joy of vinyl 

Holy Cow! The algorithm reminds me that I haven't heard all of DeVore's fine videos, yet, so, appropriately chagrined, and wondering what could have been important enough that I missed it, I pull this one up. At 1:58 the man pulls out an album I never expected to see, anywhere, the limited edition, steel bound LP set by Zoviet France! I've only heard ZF's inimitable podcast, "A Duck In A Tree," so now, even before John gets into the discussion of his turntables, I'm already bright green with envy! Yarg! We are not worthy! 😮

LOVE that you showcased the B&O RX2. That was my first and only turntable until this year, played through a Beocenter 9000. I found I wasn’t listening to my records anymore in the past few years because they just sounded flat and dull on the B&O compared to my CDs. So I took the RX2 to my local Hi-Fi store to compare against some of theirs to see what I was missing. First we played the RX2 and then a Rega P3 and the P3 blew it out of the water. Then we tried a Clear Audio Concept and that blew away the Rega. I ended up getting the Concept about 6 months ago and am happily going through my record collection A-Z. And speaking of The Breeders, just this past week I played their All Nerve record and when I sat in the sweet spot and closed my eyes, I was transported to a small nightclub listening to a live band again. It was quite the treat in this sad pandemic.

What a journey interesting insights into vinyl and vinyl sound thanks John!

I just discovered your channel and have been enjoying the videos. I really enjoy that you put a lot of emphasis on turntables. A bit about my collection, the first turntable that I bought is my best one, and I got it by sheer luck at a Chicago thrift store, and it is a Micro-Seiki DD40 with the MA-505 tone arm. Little did I know how amazing this turntable is, and I still have it after about 20 years. Later I was curious and got a couple of Technics a 1200 and a 1210. Lovely work horses and I still have them. I have others I have collected really cheap from Goodwill, my latest one a JVC L-FX4b which am selling as I don't really need it, but it was cheap to buy and I was curious as to how it compared with my other turntables. Thanks for making this very informative videos.

Appreciate your approach , humble. Appreciate you taking the time to introduce a wider audience to your craft. Kudos.

That is one of the most beautiful assortments of turntables I've ever seen. Inspiring stuff!

Another terrific video, John! I have really enjoyed these so far. Long live vinyl!

Love your passion man, can't wait to see more of your videos and the stories of your voyage.

Great video John, very interesting for a vinyl collector as I am. That T-shirt! Thank you for sharing.

Nice shirt!

Wonderful Garrard

I smiled when you said your first component turntable was a BIC. That was also my first, circa 1979 or '80. Bought it months before i bought a big old Sansui receiver of the time in order to have something into which i could plug the turntable:-) Receiver is long gone but the turntable is still stored somewhere upstairs

I used to have the O96s, which I loved. I would love to see reviews of Devore's new turntables. For me, there is no comparison between good vinyl and good digital. Vinyl affects your emotions like digital cant.

Funny how we both had the same turntables! I have to say that although I liked the Yamaha, the B&O is probably my favorite turntable of all time. Simple, beautiful, unpretentious, and sounded great!

The only complaint I have about vinyl is that I have to stand my ass up from the armchair every twenty minutes or less. I need time to settle down 😆

Thanks John for sharing your experience and path, really appreciate this. It’s very similiar to mine, considering that after a long way finally now I hear my beloved vynils with a Garrard 401 and a very rare Technics SP12 both with selfmade custom “special” plinths.

Wow! I've had Zep 3 running round my head, while now..

My father did a lot of business with Stereo Exchange in the 80s and 90s...thanks for bringing that up in this video!

Love the breeders, Pixies et al. Love vinyl. Hoping to have them shipped here while living in Sri Lanka. Thanks for the chat.

love the video! I've owned a Linn lp12 for 25 years, recently sold it and went for a rega rp8. vinyl rules for mindful listening

Thanks for the music. Your videos are non-stress which I need these days. Peter Lederman is restoring about 90 of the B&O straight Arm model. It seems like someone like you would want a piece of that history.

Excellent!

Thank you for this great video. That Yamaha do look a little bit like my beloved Oracke Alexandria MK2.

Great video remember the Kenwood rock tables had one decent I was a thorens guy td160 khorns big phase linear good times

Great story about the Nevermind vinyl, and wonderful to hear about your turntable journey and history. I love vinyl, and it’s 95%+ of how I listen to music. I’ve also done a ton of modifying and upgrading to my turntable, but it certainly sounds better now. Your turntables are stunningly beautiful and innovative, John. Speaking of The Breeders, when I was about 15, my dad told me he worked with John Murphy, Kim Deal’s ex-husband. They were luckily still on good terms and he gave my dad a whole bunch of old Pixies memorabilia to give me. About a year later, The Pixies were touring in support of the “Doolittle” album, and John hooked me up with some tix and passes, so I was able to hang out with the band and even play Joey’s guitar. If you look in the credits of “Surfer Rosa”, it says, bass - Mrs. John Murphy.

I want one of those t-shirts!

Fascinating

Great Shirt 🍀👍

My favourite album art of all times is Jeff Wayne’s War of The Worlds, great record as well!

Me to John, I am not a hands on builder . I have had Michelle and Orical table . I just love tubes , my table now is my Dual 1229 and Grace F-9 Ruby cantilever and elliptical stylus. Great game from a rich man to love vinyl . I am a lunch pale guy who love vinyl

I'm upgrading to a xerxes with an artemiz and this got me even more excited

You will laugh at me John but for all my life and I have had this table restored which is the Dual 1229 and the Graham Slee Reflex m. Phono Stage . Cartridge is the Grace F-9 U . Have a Funk carbon component mate and home build audio sandbox. Have an ultrasonic record cleaner. I always have had vinyl as my main front end. Now I clean 10 records at one time. Tonality Vinyl is my store in Toronto. Peace by with you Johnnie

woudl love to hear about the 401 plinth!!!

13:17 Thanks for your show of turntables. What is your take on stylus drag i.e. that the friction of dense tracks with a lot of treble will slow down the platter and then when the treble decreases it accelerates and this mechanism will act as a swing and in the audible range? I became aware of this comparing a belt driven Linn with an idler mechanics Lenco.

That coralstone is one heck of a sauve cart

I think that perhaps more videos about your experiences with all the different turntable experiments and combinations you mentioned could perhaps benefits people in the future. Stuff that worked and didn't. Perhaps some interesting combinations of new and old that stand out. If your into constantly tinkering than this could be more of a series of videos. Just a idea for possible future content to share the knowledge you have learned! Thanks!

We have an annual hifi show near us every year and one marked observation is all hardware vendors are seriously advocating vinyl. Pretty much all of them except Chord who were demoing their Digital Analogue Converters.

Hi John, I’m using your O/93s with MOON gear (390 and 330A) and a Rega P8 (all from Wes at Common Wave). I’m fairly new to vinyl and found the grooming and maintenance (cleaning, brushing, etc.) to be quite a learning curve. What sort of equipment do you own and use for keeping records clean, destatting, reducing pops and scratches in playback, etc.? Thanks for bringing me countless hours of listening pleasure with my speakers!

Ive owned many, best table ive owned was a lp12/ekos on a mana stand, but the hassles of cartridges, cleaning lps and the extra costs of a good front end are major downsides. a good cd player is so much easier to live with.

Hey John, incredible video. Ok, you have inspired me to buy a vinyl front end and start collecting records. My questions is, I have a high end digital front end with CD Transport, DAC, etc. How much do I really need to spend on a turntable and cartridge to avoid being disappointed when comparing to my digital front end...I want to experience the same thing you did when putting in nirvana's nevermind on vinyl. And lastly...when is a Devore Turntable going to be released :]

10:21 - the orange vinyl on the Garrard 401 is Rameses III. Wow, a rare and beautiful record. Have never once seen anyone on RU-vid ever speak of that let alone show it. But I realize that image you used may not be YOUR turntable or record. Curious if so.... Have been a long-time admirer of your speakers but didn't know you had a RU-vid channel until today. Lots to catch up on here Thanks, John. All best to you and your's.

Long time musician here just getting into the world of vinyl. Question for you John - when it comes to reissues or even certain new releases, how much does "AAA" vinyl matter to you? Does digital remastering undermine the purity of an album or truly alter sound in a noticeable way? Is it a waste to purchase a vinyl reissue that was basically cut from a CD?

What turntable mat do you use?

unfortunately I chewed on CD in the late 80’s. Our biggest source of Vinyl in France was a chain called FNAC. Early 2000 they closed every single Vinyl section in all their stores in France.This sent everyone into panic!!!!!! The iPad had arrived . I managed to stay into Vinyl and even salvaged my old collection in my parents loft at this time. I’ve had a couple of REGA, I own a Pro-Ject Carbon and it’s going to be upgraded soon.

What is your favorite combo with 401 ? what arm + cart.?

With respect, Vinyl is anything but lovable. Years and years through before and through college I spent fooling around with disc's and turntables and cartridges and correct and incorrect tonearm pressures and tracking forces and then cleaners and on and on and on... Then I heard a CD format in late 1980's and promptly went back and listened to all the Beatles vinyl recordings I had memorized as a kid. I realized immediately that the vinyl format had robbed me of about half of the sound I had coming to me--I heard bass runs and guitar riffs and harmonies in the CD format I had never heard on the flawed vinyl format. It angers me to this day.

The best records sound better than the best digital ones. Nonetheless, digital ones are pretty amazing if you don't compare.

I like that you call it Orangutan because it forces lower IQ individuals to say the word right. I would probably call mine the Nuclear because then I could sort out the dumb people saying nucu-lar.

everything you say might be true... but how can you say the sound is good (dynamic range)... i could care less about packaging ... its the music stupid...and oh my goodness the crackles, pops can never even get close to listening live.... oh hum...... and again the past is the past