Designer Hall of Fame


There are many great designers out there, and especially in the lore from the golden age, but I'm not to familiar with them. I thought it might be interesting to discuss some of the great designers for engineering skill and knowledge, business integrity, and ultimatley quality of their products. My short list a "hall of fame" if you will of designers working today are:

Nelson Pass, Pass Labs
Charles Hansen, Ayre
Roger Modjeski, Music Reference
Ken Stevens, Convergent Audio Technolgy (CAT)
Kevin Hayes, VAC

and how could I leave Jeff Rowland off? Well it is a short list. Who would you nominate?
pubul57
This thread would be much more interesting if you had to say exactly why this designer should be included in this list. And saying, "...becasue they have made (IMHO) great amps for years..." shouldn't count.
Stereophile does a much better job of remembering David Hafler's history than I could here, although they pass on how he popularized the "ultralinear" tube circuit:( http://stereophile.com/news/11661/ ). Bill Johnson single-handedly resurrected tubes( with the SP-2 & 3 preamps/D-150 amp), after SS had blown them in the weeds during the sixties, and spawned an industry that is embraced by all those of us that love the sound of live music. He and Jim Winey teamed up back then and sold Johnson's pieces, demo-ing them with Magneplanars as a system. About the time that Audio Research gear became more widely distributed, and Jon Dahlquist released the DQ-10, The first time-aligned/matched & free standing driver(all but the woofer) speaker system in production: John Curl designed the JC-2 which was probably the first piece of High-end" gear ever: a little negative feedback to reduce the IM distortion that plagued SS, pure class A push-pull, a separate board for moving-coil cartridges, and an outrageous(for the times) price of $1050.00. The piece sounded so good for the day: it forced tube designers to make their equipment sound better. We have all benefitted from the designs of these men, and the strivings for better sound that their designs started. AND ABSOLUTLY: It all started with Thomas Alva Edison, and the machine he actually intended just to take dictation!!! Is that what you had in mind Nrenter? I agree- the background does make the nomination more interesting.