Designer Hall of Fame

How about Horace Short? His amplifier was ground-breaking in 1899. Powered by compressed air, it didn't even need electricity:)

Auxetophone

Myself off course (i m joking ) .

I would suggest Andy payor of rockport for speakers and turntables , by the way ,i ve never heard them as there is no dealer/importer in holland , its just the way things are made .

For amps and digital mr Yamada from zanden audio , as his amps sound wonderful

Richard Brown (Deceased) Brown Electronics Labs (BEL).

REL2

I'd nominate any of the builders of Chinese built products that perform way above their market value, i.e., Prima Luna, or the Grant Fidelity 3400B SET integ...toss in a pair of Shuguang Treasure black 300B's into the GF and it will compete with virtually anything mentioned thus far. Before trashing the suggestion try it against your mega dollar setup and you'll hear what I mean. I don't use the integ often, but it's the one component in a system that has a revolving door for components that I've never considered parting with for its performance/price is far too good to part with. Which is a lot more than I can say for many a high priced ticket item I've owned from many manufacturer's on the initial list of this thread.

Coltrane - I believe the OP was referring to great designers of audio equipment, not great designers of a shop floor and workforce to keep costs down. My understanding of just about all the stuff coming out of China is that it was copied from existing designs. Unless I'm mistaken on that point, the 'designers' of the products you mentioned do not get my vote.