Deja Vu Vintage Collection
This is where things get serious. And the real fun begins.
Truth be told, our lives at Deja Vu Audio would be easier if today's audio parts and components were up to the standards of classic vintage equipment. But they rarely are. Real music has real weight, and modern audio parts often sound lightweight, thin, artificial. The best vintage parts impart a natural, full, dynamic sound that's difficult to replicate with modern audio components.
So, we spend countless hours scouring the planet for vintage output transformers (the heart and soul of a good amplifier), classic Western Electric tubes and wiring, tried-and-true resistors, caps, drivers, and horns. All of it. These pieces tend to be rare and expensive, of course. But we see no point in building custom components and systems with anything but the best available parts, even if those parts are only available halfway across the globe.
Each amplifier, preamp, and speaker built by Deja Vu is designed and tuned by Vu and Aldo, who lives in the seaside town of Carovigno, Italy. (True fact: Aldo often goes fishing for his own dinner.) Each component is custom-designed and voiced. Every resistor, cap, driver, and chassis material has been carefully evaluated and determined to be the best choice for that component or system. Vu and his staff once spent more than five hours listening to various binding posts, modern and vintage. In another case, they put in about two hours spent listening to cathode bypass caps--the same manufacturer and model, just different production years. Aldo and Vu have talked long into the night on Skype discussing and voicing a single amp or preamp. (Aldo typically visits the U.S. once or twice a year, but the pandemic has put a hold on those trips for now.)
While a few design elements have been settled over the years--internal wiring from Western Electric, RCA jacks from Audio Note and Cardas (vintage jacks proved too inconsistent and unreliable)--the process of producing Deja Vu's custom products remains as painstaking as ever. No shortcuts, no cookie cutter design, no compromise. We know of no other audio dealer who does what Deja Vu Audio does. Vu wouldn't have it any other way.
As you've likely surmised, Deja Vu's custom components involve considerable time, effort, and expense. Yet we're supremely confident that every product from the Deja Vu Vintage Collection is (and will continue to be) the best that money can buy as well as a great value. In our estimation, no amount of money spent in the general audio market can purchase the expertise, care, attention to detail, customer service, and musical bliss of Deja Vu's custom audio products.
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Deja Vu Audio
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Amplifiers |
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