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Charley Hansen (Ayre) Passed Away

Just got this email from Ayre.  So sad:

With heavy hearts, we regret to inform you that Charles Hansen, founder of Ayre Acoustics, has passed away on November 28th, 2017. Those who knew Charley knew that he was a passionate man who always stood up for what he believed to be right. His family knew him as a loving and dedicated father of his two children. With the passing of Charley, the world has lost one of the most creative and innovative minds in the audio industry and we have lost a good friend.
 
While we can never replace Charley, his spirit lives on in the team at Ayre. We are dedicated to continuing his mission of creating and manufacturing the best sounding audio equipment in the world. Most importantly, we will be there for our friends, partners, and customers who have supported us over the years. If you have any questions, please feel free to call us at any time.

We wish you all the best over the holidays, and please play an album for Charley sometime.
cedargrover
nutty
2,861 posts
 
Deepest simpathy to the Hansen family and to the folks at Ayre. 

I treasure my CX-7eMP > K-5xeMP. 

N

atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
11,784 posts
 
Charlie, may you rest in peace well deserved.


dgarretson
2,597 posts
 
I found Charlie's recent posts to AA that forcefully challenged the audio print magazines to straighten up, were fascinating and astonishingly impassioned and well-informed.  Those posts are epitaphs to a man who contributed as much and cared as deeply as anyone in the history of high end audio. RIP Charlie.    
trelja
3,223 posts
 
May he rest in peace.

Agree with you, Dave on the recent AA posts.  Checked them out over the past few weeks, and he was as active as ever.  Sad news, indeed
fsonicsmith's avatar
fsonicsmith
943 posts
 
This is gut wrenching to me. As many of us knew, Charley suffered a spinal injury in a bicycling crash many years ago and was wheelchair bound. Stereophile did a feature piece about Charley about three years ago and he certainly looked healthy when he was photographed then. I loved every second of his standing-his-ground on MQA and his expose' of names of industry veterans who had committed dubious acts of stealing designs from others and taking the credit and any number of other subjects. That said, the sudden frequency of his posting did have me concerned that something might be going on and now I am left wondering if illness was not a part of that "heightened contentiousness". The level of it grew over on AA's "Critic's Corner" to the point that JA openly questioned if he should go forward with a planned review of an Ayre product so I am going to assume JA was totally unaware of any health issue. I will say it again-gut wrenching. I wish I could have had the pleasure of meeting him. 
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