Original d'Atelier

[ozthepoz]

any thoughts from anyone on whether is is the first in a brand refresh with 200+ and 400+ Coming soon.  Am about to pull the plug and purchase a new pair of 400's so am concerned about a model change in the near future.thanks, wdw

There's no way of knowing - Devialet aren't great at that sort of comms. 

My view is that it is very unlikely. With all the focus on Phantom, I can't see them having the time or inclination to update the expert line, other than through firmware updates. 

I would say that if you like the 400, get it.

[Hifi_swlon]

What's wrong with the speaker terminals ?

I've no idea if anything's actually 'wrong' with them, I just recall they came up in discussion a few times here and (I thought) the general consensus was they weren't of very good quality or particularly high-end.  

Whether it matters or not is another question, but bearing in mind they've released this model as a special 'uber' limited edition, with quite a few other updates that seemed in line with that of Manoet's 'rebuild' for example, it just struck me as odd - would have been an easy thing to swap.  I guess they must feel they do the job well enough, or they've just never really looked at them...

[Hifi_swlon]

any thoughts from anyone on whether is is the first in a brand refresh with 200+ and 400+ Coming soon.  Am about to pull the plug and purchase a new pair of 400's so am concerned about a model change in the near future.thanks, wdw

Of course no one really knows (with any brand), but it would be a slightly odd move to launch and hype an "uber" 'best of the best' model topping all others in the expert range, and clobber people for 30K Euros, only to launch another wave of even better kit straight after.

It seems more likely that the enhancements will trickle down over time, until the next 'big' refresh if that ever comes.

But of course we're all guessing, and nothing would surprise me. Unless there was a good deal on a 400 I'd be tempted to hold off a few months myself and see how things unfold - maybe the current models will all actually get updated pretty soon with some of these new improvements?

[Hifi_swlon]

….. Given the number of premier dealers (8) and now 2 Devialet Flagship shops I struggle to see how everyone will get a unit, let alone more than one! It could well turn out to be a bun fight!  Gentlemen, take your places... 

Guillaume

Devialet should at least reserve one for you Guillaume….

[Confused]

What's wrong with the speaker terminals ?

There appears to be much debate in this thread relating to the speaker terminals.  Would different or better quality terminals make any measurable or truly audible difference?  Personally, I doubt it.  Certainly not as big a difference as would be possible changing the electronics or even upgrading the PEM.   Anyway, I believe the terminals are exactly the same throughout the "Expert" range, so this is not really an issue specific to the new Original d'Atelier.  There was a thread some time ago that discussed this in detail:

http://devialetchat.com/showthread.php?t...ht=binding

[GuillaumeB]

KJ West's UK premier:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uk-premie...93?aff=es2

I will probably go along and have a look!

Guillaume

[Hifi_swlon]

KJ West's UK premier:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uk-premie...93?aff=es2

I will probably go along and have a look!

Guillaume

If I wasn't flying off that morning, I would have gone for a look too.

I see they're having a 'first come first served' SAMlab session too with ten places available. I would have loved to try and get my Neats done…. Argh.

[deviousalet]

Can you imagine Apple, BMW, Louis Vuitton, Hermes, ... taking this sort of approach. 

This is not to defend Devialet, but since they've said they emulate Apple let's compare that a bit.

Apple is more skilled at communications, yes, but that just makes their lack of information intentional. Apple wouldn't provide any information about an unreleased product. Many Apple customers have complained about buying a new device the day before it was made obsolete by a new version. Apple is secretive to the point of paranoia: using inferior parts to punish a supplier information leak, putting new employees on fake projects to test their loyalty, etc. So if Devialet were to follow the Apple model you wouldn't know anything about the D900 until it was released. The D900s would be shipped in locked boxes to the dealers and only opened the night before launch. The D900 would have impressive new features and the new software for it wouldn't run on the D800 thereby forcing you to upgrade if you wanted the new features. I wish Devialet were a more competent company, but wishing them to be more like Apple might be a mistake. The similarity might be that we're willing to put up with the quirks of Apple and Devialet because they make the best product for our needs.

If we want to know more about upcoming Devialet products we could take the approach we do with Apple: getting our information from Devialet's supply-chain, patent filings, hints in code, etc. I'm definitely interested if anyone wants to apply that level of scrutiny to Devialet.

In the mean time I eagerly await Guillaume's review of the D900, as that's probably our best source of information. Thanks, Guillaume, for taking one for the team by testing the Original d'Atelier.

[IanG-UK]

Well I finally got a reply from Devialet!

Definitively 100 pieces only, 8 for the UK, first launch at KJ in London on 12th December and other selected dealers get from 15th December.

Looks like it may be restricted to three London dealers, to Oxford Audio, and to the dedicated Devialet outlets at Harrods and Westfield.

The aspiration from Devialet is to drip down the technical advancements to new 800s (and it sounds like it will become the "900") and probably by retrofit to existing 800s.

No firm timetable on this, or pricing. Probably during 2016. They will want to make the limited edition a desirable purchase of course, by not saying much about later plans.

Silence on any drip down further, some of which might be compromised by the 120/200/400 casework.

Guillaume and I are going to the KJ launch, we hope.

[Confused]

I have found an alternative to Original d'Atelier which is somewhat cheaper and a little more my style......

http://bertoldinigiuliana.com/

(My apologies for this post - good luck at the launch guys!)