Stephen Mejias

Saturday Night at the Monkeyhaus, Part I

Stephen Mejias  |  Nov 9, 2010

On Saturday, November 6, John DeVore of DeVore Fidelity hosted a Monkeyhaus Listening Party at his Brooklyn Navy Yard factory. If not for the pictures, a selection of which I’ll post over the next three days, I might not remember the event at all—not because the party was forgettable, but because we had so much fun.

Maybe too much fun.


Everyone is asked (or maybe expected, by this point) to bring records to the Monkeyhaus. Here’s my stack, with a gift from Michael Lavorgna at the front: John Prine’s self-titled debut, featuring such heartbreaking and heartwarming numbers as “Illegal Smile,” “Spanish Pipedream,” “Sam Stone,” “Far From Me,” “Angel From Montgomery,” “Donald and Lydia,” and “Six O’Clock News”—it’s amazing that a single album could hold so many wonderful songs, isn’t it?


Some of the ’Haus collection.


DeVore Fidelity Gibbon 3XLs, the most affordable of all loudspeakers currently rated Class A (Restricted LF) in our “Recommended Components.”


There’s a view of Manhattan from the Monkeyhaus factory windows.


John DeVore’s got an enviable collection of vintage amps and receivers.


This particular Monkeyhaus was arranged specifically to greet DeVore’s Spanish distributor, Blas Oliva (left) of Broker Audio in Pamplona. Here we see Oliva smiling with Nori Komuro of Komuro Audio Labs.


I bet Michael Hurley drinks Dale’s Pale Ale, too.


From left: John DeVore plays DJ, while Michael Lavorgna and Blas Oliva share a laugh over cans of Dale’s.


Up close and personal with Tone Imports’ Jonathan Halpern.


One of the many great records we enjoyed: Sun City Girls’ Funeral Mariachi. Look for Robert Baird’s review of this outstanding album in our January 2011 issue.


George McGregor’s “Temptation Is Hard to Fight.” Ain’t that the truth?

Part II
Part III

COMMENTS
Nick's picture
Submitted by Nick (not verified) on November 9, 2010 - 10:44am

Love those vintage Yamaha receivers. BTW, how is that Horace Silver "Song for my father" album? Any good? Saw it at Academy this past weekend.

john devore's picture
Submitted by john devore (not verified) on November 9, 2010 - 11:58am

Hi Nick,Song For My Father is a great album, highly recommended!

john devore's picture
Submitted by john devore (not verified) on November 9, 2010 - 12:04pm

Thanks Stephen--I just wanted to mention that the photo up top is of Pepper, a 40 year old chimp "retired" from lab testing at NYU and living now in Florida. Her riveting portrait is by Frank Noelker. Her story along with many other photos and stories can be seen at his website www.franknoelker.com

Nick's picture
Submitted by Nick (not verified) on November 9, 2010 - 9:42pm

Thanks John will go grab it. Love the chimp photos by Noelker.

Drtrey's picture
Submitted by Drtrey (not verified) on November 10, 2010 - 6:48am

Drinking beer and getting looped are not the same thing now are they? The Good Book says "Thank you for the wine which makes me happy." That is as solid an endorsement as I need.But back to the music, that first Prine record is just amazing. It is difficult to listen to Sam Stone without crying just a bit. And Angel From Montgomery is transcendent, and even better when Bonnie Raitt covered it on Streetlights.I am thinking of starting a little Monkeyhaus here in Nashville once I get all set up in our house again. Sad thing is we can't smoke cigars in the house. But we can drink beer. I think we will start with a local favorite Yazoo's Dos Perros.

Christian's picture
Submitted by Christian (not verified) on November 10, 2010 - 12:10pm

Great photos, those look like fun get-togethers. A second vote for that Horace Silver record, it is very good.

Gatto Pard's picture
Submitted by Gatto Pard (not verified) on November 10, 2010 - 9:42pm

John/Stephen:Is that a Revox A720 on the shelf? I own one, plusthe A722 power amp. Is yours in good working order?

john devore's picture
Submitted by john devore (not verified) on November 11, 2010 - 11:19am

Hello Gatto,It is a Revox A-720. I actually got two of them to get one perfect one, and now have two nicely working samples, though one has broken FM meters. Of course I got it for the nixies-tube digital display, it's such a beauty.Cheers,John

John's picture
Submitted by John (not verified) on November 14, 2010 - 11:28am

Is that a Yamaha CA-800 integrated I see in the middle of the rack? I have had mine since 1977 and it is still purring along. It's been all over the country since I bought it. It is no light weight, coming in at 45 lbs or so and 45 watts rated but a measured output at rated THD of 83 watts.

john devore's picture
Submitted by john devore (not verified) on November 15, 2010 - 6:42am

Hi John,That's actually a Yamaha CA-1000, similar to the 800 but a bit more tricked out. It also has an operation switch that toggles between "normal" and class-A.

John's picture
Submitted by John (not verified) on November 15, 2010 - 3:25pm

It looks just like my CA-800 which also has the "Normal" or "Class A" switch. Great amp and built like a tank. I have it connected to a Technics SL-1200 Mk2 and powering some Large Advent Loudspeakers. I also run my iPod into it even though I think it is older than Apple itself it sounds great.

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