I read on the Devialet site that the company was founded in 2007.
I don't know when the first Devialet integrated amp was available for purchase so I'll start at the beginning.
When did you buy your first Devialet integrated amp?
I'll start off...
I purchased my Devialet 200 back in Feb/2015.
Whoops I ticked 2008 (it did not exist then!) But in reality my D-Premier was March 2011 ( I think) and my second was December 2011.
The first guy I saw writing about it was Mike ("Steelhull") also in March 2011 on HiFi Wigwam - the owner's thread - which, at 483,000 views, has more than 15 times the number of views of any other manufacturer - albeit that thread has been pretty dormant since Devialet Chat started.
The first guy I knew to own one was Gordon Edge (now sadly passed away) who had been a designer for Cambridge amplifiers - the P40 I think (as well as heavily involved in university sprung start ups in the technical field) and he said it was the best kit he had ever come across technically and soundwise.
A coupe of cross references to Gordon Edge:
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/ob...939875.ece
http://www.legacy.com/guestbooks/cambrid.../167315928
Ian - I removed your 2008 vote and added a 2011...
(07-Apr-2016, 20:25)Rufus McDufus Wrote: [ -> ]Ian - I removed your 2008 vote and added a 2011...
Many thanks!
I bought my first in early 2011 and a second a few weeks later.
I bought (or at least received) my most recent today.
June 2014. First heard them at a Guildford Audio Hi Fi Show in Reading, but to be quite honest did not like them much at the time, it was too "bright" for my taste - plenty of detail, but too clinical. My wife, who was with me at the Show, liked the design very much - that WAF appeal at work
. There was the D170 and D240 (I think, at that time). Anyway, to be fair the Units were "new out of box", not run in properly, and being demonstrated in a Hotel room - not the best place to show kit at its best! I did like the technology, and the way in which the Units could be configured, I also liked the "single box" philosophy.
I did follow up with a home demo of both the then D170 and D240 and actually placed an order for the D240, but then came the change to D250, D200 and introduction of D400 and D800, so I tried a pair of D200s in D400 config (I think that this was before a separate Master & Companion Unit came along). As the price of the D400 was not dis-similar to the D240, I went for it - a D800 set up was way out of my price range
. Anyway the rest, as they say, is history and I am the happy owner of a D400.
David
Mar 2014 while traveling in Munich. It is possible for me to bring it back in my luggage because it is thin, small and light enough: the beauty of Devialet. In fact, I broke my left wrist (had surgery and with a titanium insert installed) while snowboarding in Mayrhofen and I pulled my snowboard bag and my luggage with Le200 with only a single hand.
When I reached home, I have to ask my neighbors to help me set it up.
Bought my D120 from an excellent shop, and from a person who is absolutely a friend, on Friday the 13th of Feb 2015. So, a date usually avoided in NA was lucky for me. And more disturbingly, a day before Valentine's Day.... I still struggle to remember what I did for my wife. I presume, naturally, that she was so enamoured with the Devialet that any thoughts of flowers, or chocolates, or trips to Monaco, were quickly forgotten.
It did take me five months of agonizing to make the purchase decision... so my 'date of acquisition' is fuzzy. My mind acquired the Devialet some months before my hands did.
I lost one of my dear friends to cancer on the first Friday of 2014. We had her funeral on the second Friday and I got laid off from my job on the third Friday. I told my wife that if I would get a new job before my pay out was consumed on life expenses, I would get a D170. We needed to have something positive in our lives. I can't remember exactly when I got it but I do remember cheating a bit. I got it before I signed my new contract.
I'm about to get laid off again...(oil industry) Maybe I'll get a companion!