NY Times visits Ojas

[JeffS7444]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/style/devon-turnbull-ojas-speakers.html

It had never occurred to me that inexpensive Dayton Class T am;plifiers repackaged in hammertone metal boxes, and JBL ceiling mount speakers mounted in plywood cabinets might be just the things to complement brutalist, post-modern decor, but then again, I do not live on the cutting edge of the NYC streetwear scene either. It might be tempting to brand this as snake oil, but look closer and you'll see no crazy claims about sonics. In fact, the designer notes exactly what drivers his speakers use, and what Dayton Class-T amplifier he repackaged. He can do this because what he's selling is a different sort of magic: He's created a buzz around his brand, and people want it.

https://ojas.nyc/

Pure sonics = Commodity
Cool image = Priceless

 

[sofrep811]

Fascinating. Lots of interesting stuff for sale. I’m way too old and not hip enough to know what’s cool — but I bet those items are must have for the NY hipster. Some of the Nikes are modded very cool, as is the simple tri-path amp.

I didn’t see the price as it’s sold out. Guessing $400-$500?

Also — it seems like it might be a good investment to buy anything by this guy. He’s sort of a Andy Warhol present times. Wish I had some money for some new snowboard bindings.

 

[JeffS7444]

I’m way too old and not hip enough to know what’s cool

Karl Lagerfeld did alright.

 

[RayDunzl]

It had never occurred to me that inexpensive Dayton Class T am;plifiers repackaged in ....

Dayton seems to have made it to a Wilson offerring...

Wilson LōKē Subwoofer

Wilson has a new subwoofer. Darko says the 10" model was designed to match the TuneTot, includes internal DSP & amplification, and costs £9000. The plate amp appears quite similar to the Dayton SPA500DSP, available at P-E for $300. The overlap between new-Wilson shoppers & DIYers is probably...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[dc655321]

Wow. Do I ever loathe the NY hipster scene.

 

[sofrep811]

Yeah… hard to like, for sure.

 

[DonR]

Lot's of woo on his website but most of his offerings seem to have sold out. The hipsters are lapping his crap up. He could be the next Chord... without the actual engineering, of course.

 

[sofrep811]

Lot's of woo on his website but most of his offerings seem to have sold out. The hipsters are lapping his crap up. He could be the next Chord... without the actual engineering, of course.

Yep. I’d call it snake oil but hey — it’s art. And art is whatever someone pays for it.

LOL — yes, he’s do well at Chord. Chord should just be in chassis modifications.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Executive brown interconnects (for hipsters of course)? Unique belden black and white speaker cables? $3000 for a speaker which must be wood to be hip, but then finished in some gray bland color? I don't think I can call it art. Fashion seems about right. Here are a couple examples of fashion in clothing. As seen at the Vogue ready to wear fashion show. It may be ready to wear, but I don't think I'm ready to wear it.

 

[Katji]

First post of day and LOL I stopped here:
“I was fully blown away,” Mr. Ronson said. “I genuinely had a spiritual experience listening to music that day.”
LOL
What a load of bull. It just gets worse as it goes, name-dropping all the way.
A "streetwear pioner", really. Must be hipster streetwear. So far I know, streetwear comes straight from sportswear stores, and functional winter clothes.

 

[mmi]

The driver used measures incredibly well out of the box. The crossover looks high quality. The design philosophy is very much low sensitivity, larger models use modern waveguides and compression drivers. I don’t see how any of this is any different to any other box speaker on the market. Yes it’s a lifestyle item marketed at a particular consumer, but I wouldn’t assume these sound bad.

 

[Katji]

No, I'm sure it sounds very good.
The NYT story, though, sounds like a promotional thing for [that guy] and "his interior designer." At least one of them has some connection with NYT.

 

[sgent]

All the credit to him -- he actually refers potential customers to Dayton for the amp if they don't want better looks. From the description:


This amplifier uses the classic board that started it all. I’ve dressed it up in an aluminum enclosure, machined, painted, screen printed and assembled by hand right here in Brooklyn. We use my favorite connectors, including the same vintage style screw down speaker wire posts found on early Altec compression drivers. There’s no hocus pokus here. The classic, unmodified design, will blow anyone's mind for the price.

* If you want the cheapest way to power your speakers and you don’t care what it looks like, you can buy the same circuit board in a cheap plastic enclosure made by Dayton Audio. We will offer it here as well, just so no one can say we didn’t tell you about it.

 

[rolloj]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/25/style/devon-turnbull-ojas-speakers.html

It had never occurred to me that inexpensive Dayton Class T am;plifiers repackaged in hammertone metal boxes, and JBL ceiling mount speakers mounted in plywood cabinets might be just the things to complement brutalist, post-modern decor, but then again, I do not live on the cutting edge of the NYC streetwear scene either. It might be tempting to brand this as snake oil, but look closer and you'll see no crazy claims about sonics. In fact, the designer notes exactly what drivers his speakers use, and what Dayton Class-T amplifier he repackaged. He can do this because what he's selling is a different sort of magic: He's created a buzz around his brand, and people want it.

https://ojas.nyc/

Pure sonics = Commodity
Cool image = Priceless

Fantastic Critique about the Ojas. Too bad the journalist did not have the same insight as Jeff

 

[mhardy6647]

Some nice stuff in his... umm... studio, though.

I would consider selling a kidney to acquire a pair of those Altec 1505 horns in the background -- as long as they had a nice pair of 288s bolted on the back.

 

[krabapple]

42 yr old former 'skate-rat streewear' designer wows hipster douchelords with his trendy , pricey bespoke audio gear. "A 30 inxh woofer could take years to track down from an audio dealer in Tokyo.. Vintage Altec Landing parts are sourced from an old manufacturer on Oklahoma. "

His Audio Speakers Are Coveted by Supreme, Mark Ronson and Prada (Published 2022)

Devon Turnbull is the founder of Ojas, a high-end audio company. Previously, he was the streetwear pioneer behind Nom de Guerre.

www.nytimes.com

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

While vintage Altec Lansing horns can compete with anything made today if active crossovers are used, this guy seems to have come out of the woodwork courtesy of Steve Guttenberg and is getting far more airtime than his creations warrant. There are LOTS of people working with Altec horns and components - what he is doing is nothing new, nor all that original.

 

[Katji]

did you miss this?

NY Times visits Ojas​

or am i missing something?

 

[AdamG]

did you miss this?

NY Times visits Ojas​

or am i missing something?

Threads merged. Thank you for the heads up!

 

[Ilkless]

42 yr old former 'skate-rat streewear' designer wows hipster douchelords with his trendy , pricey bespoke audio gear. "A 30 inxh woofer could take years to track down from an audio dealer in Tokyo.. Vintage Altec Landing parts are sourced from an old manufacturer on Oklahoma. "

His Audio Speakers Are Coveted by Supreme, Mark Ronson and Prada (Published 2022)

Devon Turnbull is the founder of Ojas, a high-end audio company. Previously, he was the streetwear pioneer behind Nom de Guerre.

www.nytimes.com

He's referring to Great Plains Audio, isn't he?