DEVON TURNBULL OJAS AT LISSON GALLERY, NYC

Drawing on 70-year-old audio technology, former fashion designer Devon Turnbull is turning the hi-fi audiophile world on its ear. Devon brings together disparate communities from art, audio, street culture, menswear and Japanese hi-fi culture. From Mark Ronson to Coldplay to the late Virgil Abloh, all of whom own his systems, Devon draws young, fashionable folk to his OJAS audio brand--smart listeners who wouldn’t know an SET amp from a Garrard turntable. At his three week event at Lisson Gallery in NYC, Turnbull pulled hordes of under-40 music lovers to hear his horn-loaded speakers, Herb Reichert- designed tube amps, Steve Berger/Devon Turnbull phono stage, and modified Technics turntables and SPU carts. Devon, along with DJ Russell Lee Fine, played classic Blue Note vinyl and master tapes from the likes of Horace Silver and Larry Young. And the attentive crowd sucked up the sounds, read the album liner notes, and didn’t stare at their phones. Devon: “I say homage to Herb’s design because really no two SET amps are the same when they’re made in different decades with different parts. The operating points are close but really he only gave rough guidance on the exact voltages. “The power tube is WE 300B. “Steve Berger and I collaborated on the phono stage. “The multi cell horns are Ojas. “The turntable is a HEAVILY modified Technics 1200G. One arm is Ortofon, the other is Dynavector. Cartridges are all Ortofon and we used 4 different carts.”