Two AXPONA veterans I met who don't know each other told me separately that they considered the system in the DeVore Fidelity room one of the highlights of the 2026 show. So off to room 646 I went.
There, principal John DeVore, as tall as he is friendly, was continuing his long-standing partnership with Nagra. The system was centered around his flagship Orangutan O/Reference four-piece speaker system, which includes the main two-way towers paired with two independent Bassmachine subwoofers. Pony up $99,350, and it's all yours.
The speakers were driven by Nagra electronics—two Nagra Classic Amp amplifiers ($42,350/pair) and a II-S preamp ($27,900). For the analog front end, DeVore was using a Yuki AP-01EM turntable ($31,975) with two Glanz tonearms and Phasemation cartridges in conjunction with a Phasemation EA-1200 tubed phono preamp ($16,975). AudioQuest Thunderbird Zero cables carried the signal from the power amps to the speakers.
Soundwise, the first thing that jumped out at me was the lack of hi-fi artifice. The music had a seductive kind of emotional immediacy. I've rarely heard Billie Holiday sound this relaxed. On "Body and Soul" (originally from her 1957 Verve LP of the same name), Ben Webster's saxophone was so real you could picture the column of air rising from the bell.
The speakers were driven by Nagra electronics—two Nagra Classic Amp amplifiers ($42,350/pair) and a II-S preamp ($27,900). For the analog front end, DeVore was using a Yuki AP-01EM turntable ($31,975) with two Glanz tonearms and Phasemation cartridges in conjunction with a Phasemation EA-1200 tubed phono preamp ($16,975). AudioQuest Thunderbird Zero cables carried the signal from the power amps to the speakers.
