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
Jud Barber of Joule Electra for giving us another choice for OTLs along with Ralph Karsten. Futterman started it all and although his amps were problematic I feel that these two guys should be honored for realizing that OTLs are the way to go with the proper speaker.
Hmmm......the late John Iverson. Interesting choice that I had completely forgotten about. He had some original ideas.
I can think of a bunch of them, but, how about Bill Firebaugh of Well Tempered. Here is an example of real ingenuity and thinking out of the box. Whether you like the sound of his turntables or not, you have to admit it shows original thinking. Look at the platter bearing...zero play and so simple and efficient. Also on that note, lets not forget Ed Vilchur of Acoustic Research. The father of the modern suspended turntable. Everything since has been influenced by his work.
Alex Peychev, APL Hi-Fi, for his digital component designs and other audiophile level products.

Lest Alex be dismissed as a "modder", would you disagree that Carroll Shelby, who designed the AC Cobra using modified elements, was/is a great auto designer and that the Shelby Cobras are legendary automobiles?

Alex's digital players consist of his designs that are built with the use of excellent OEM transports and retaining other useful OEM elements, but there is a complete APL rework that is unique in design (and resulting sound quality).

He also offers products that are fully designed and built by APL.