DeVore Fidelity speakers sound the way high-definition TV looks: exquisitely detailed, palpably textured, boldly three-dimensional.

I love the sound, but the next best thing about these speakers is that they are not, to use the current vernacular, outsourced to China. Nor are they born of the industrial wastelands of Southern California or northern New Jersey.

DeVore Fidelity speakers are instead handcrafted in Brooklyn, New York—my hometown—and have, in some small way, bolstered my native pride. New York City was a major hub in the postwar American audio boom, home to such legendary brands as Marantz and Fisher. May DeVore Fidelity be the first of a new wave.

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Devore Fidelity's handcrafted speakers deliver high-definition sound. The tweeter on the Gibbon 7.1 can be repositioned to adjust the speaker for horizontal or vertical use.  (Click image to enlarge)

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The company’s success shows that the American entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well. In 1986, John DeVore couldn’t find a speaker he liked, so he hit the books and built his own. The sound of those speakers caused a stir. He soon picked up a string of commissions and started building speakers for friends and recording studios. His 12-year stint as a high-end audio salesman proved a valuable resource for a budding speaker designer—DeVore can draw upon firsthand experience with the world’s finest loudspeakers. His in-depth knowledge of customers’ reactions to speakers on the sales floor and in their homes contributes to his well-rounded skill set. He has a firm grasp of how speakers are used in the real world.

And it does not hurt that he is a musician from a family of musicians; DeVore is intimately familiar with the sound of live music.

The best speaker designers are masters of the fine art of listening. They know engineering theory can take them only so far. At some point, designers must listen to and judge their creations; such sessions frequently spur them on to refine the designs. DeVore evaluates a number of prototypes before finalizing a new model. As he puts it, he wants his speakers to “serve as a transparent conduit to the music’s message. I want to remove as many barriers as I can between the listener and the music.” I believe he has, in large part, succeeded.

DeVore Fidelity’s factory is a small-scale operation, but DeVore himself is no Luddite. He uses advanced computer modeling techniques to determine the optimum dimension of each speaker’s panels. Most of the drivers—the various tweeters, midranges and woofers found in the speakers—are  of proprietary design and are manufactured in Europe.

Rather than secure the drivers to the cabinets with wood screws, DeVore Fidelity uses machine screws and locking T-nuts. This ensures the screws can be precisely torqued into place, so every driver is perfectly seated in the cabinet face. Even the speakers’ wire connectors, machined from solid copper billet, are special. DeVore oversees every step of production—he hand-solders each and every speaker’s internal wiring and listens to every speaker that carries his name. It is truly an artisanal approach to building speakers. Every aspect of DeVore’s designs communicates enduring quality, and that is a rare trait in today’s commodity-oriented marketplace.

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Each set of speaker-cable binding posts is wired by company founder John DeVore himself.   (Click image to enlarge)

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Compared to the hordes of high-end speakers that dominate their surroundings with monolithic cabinets or gee-whiz styling, DeVore Fidelity’s understated aesthetic should wear well over time.  The two DeVore Fidelity models I review, the Gibbon 7.1 and Gibbon 3, are built as matched sets of speakers. The Gibbon 7.1 is sensibly sized, measuring 19 inches long, 10 inches deep and 7.5 inches tall, and can be used in every position of a surround-sound system.

The Gibbon 3 is even more compact, measuring just 12.5 inches high, 6.5 inches wide and 9.5 inches deep. The speakers are available in an impeccable cherry wood finish or hand-rubbed black satin lacquer.

The Gibbon 7.1 introduces one of DeVore’s most intriguing features: V-Array. This innovative strategy addresses the design fault common to most horizontally oriented center speakers—they only sound best for listeners sitting directly in line with the speaker. With typical center speakers, off-center listeners experience a less accurate tonal balance. With the Gibbon 7.1, you hear essentially the same balance regardless of where you sit.

For my home theater, I deploy Gibbon 7.1s in the front left, center and right positions, plus a pair of Gibbon 3s as surround speakers. Since DeVore has yet to issue a subwoofer, my REL Storm III subwoofer augments the speakers’ lower bass.

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The Gibbon 3 is a compact design most suitable for small stereo systems or the side/rear speakers in a surround-sound system.   (Click image to enlarge)

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Remarkably, the front speakers completely disappear as separate sources, creating a seamless wall of sound, and the Gibbon 3’s sound perfectly jells with the 7.1’s.

Watching a gritty urban psycho thriller, In the Cut, I cannot readily distinguish between the speakers’ portrayal of street noise and the actual din that comes through when I open my window. It’s one of those “Is it real, or is it …?” moments. Is one of my windows actually open? I pause the DVD and the uproar vanishes, instantly demonstrating the speakers’ lifelike sonics.

On Tony Bennett’s Sings Ellington CD, not only does the orchestra magically appear in my room, so does the actual acoustic space of the recording venue. The Gibbon 7.1’s stereo imaging borders on holographic, and my DVD-Audio surround discs project a new degree of focus.

The loudspeakers are available in a variety of sizes and prices, but all models share DeVore Fidelity’s core design philosophy and proprietary technologies. The company’s new statement design, the $12,000-per-pair Silverback tower speaker, is starting to create a real buzz among audiophiles, and a new line of ultrathin Koala on-wall speakers is in the works.

While the denizens of Brooklyn have not yet come to grips with the fact that their beloved Dodgers will never return, I have the feeling that DeVore Fidelity will be around for a long while.

 

PRICE: Gibbon 7.1 $1,500 each; Gibbon 3 $1,950/pair
CONTACT: 718.855.9999, devorefidelity.com