Designer Hall of Fame

1. A.J. Conti and Associates -- Basis Audio, Inc.: Ovation, 2500/2800 Series, and Debut tt's;

2. Henry O. Wolcott for implementing distortionless amplifier designs used in mission critical laboratory applications for Uncle Sam and converting these designs to a more user-friendly consumer version of his Presence Monoblocks;

3. Dr. Rogers of Sound Lab and Dr. Sanders of Sanders Sound Systems(subsequent to his leadership at Innersound) for their electrostatic innovations;

4. Michael Elliott of Aria Audio (Founder of Counterpoint Systems) for his hybrid preamp./amp circuitry;

5. Nelson Pass for his eternal engineering feats while working for Threshold, Inc.

Please allow me to also credit the following:

William Firebaugh (Ford Aerospace, Inc.) and Andy Payor (Rockport Technologies) for their innovative carbon fiber tonearm with viscuous damping design -- integrated on the Well Tempered Super Classic and Reference tt's.

"... this pivoting arm has no pivots. For all intents and purposes, the 'pivoting' is absolutely frictionless. ... viscous damping is still the best system that has been devised for stabilizing tonearm behavior." (Holt & Various, Pars. III and IV.)

. . .

"The result is frictionless anti-skate bias." (Par. V.)

See, J. Gordon Holt & Various, "The Well-Tempered Arm." Stereophile April 1985 P. 1. Source Interlink Companies, Inc., 261 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016. Friday, May 30, 2008 6:21:10 AM. .

Thank you.

Naim's Julian Vereker. Julian was one of the first, if not the first to incorporate the use of an external power supply into his amplifiers, which offered dramatic improvements in overall sound quality.

His designs were also extremely appealing in a simply elegant way. For example, the fact that his amplifers were encased in aluminium extrusions, which along with their class B running design, negated the need for ventilation slits within these amplifiers. The result was that after 20 years of owning a Naim component, you would find no dust inside them as you would with any product that required the need for such open ventilation.

Case in point, I recently purchased an Electrocompaniet Ampliwire 65, which upon opening on arrival,was loaded with dust that had fallen into the unit over the course of the past two decades. The AW 65 is a beautifully made product, but not nearly as clever as Naim gear.

Vereker's designing talents are world renown for a good reason, and he certainly deserves to be included amongst that short list of greatest audio designers of all time.

Lot's of good designer's; it makes you realize how many talented folks have been involved with the industry, and how hard it would be to pick just five inductees in an inaugural launching of the Designer Hall of Fame. Makes me eager to get to RMAF this year and see some of the designers already mentioned.

The BEL 1001 has sustained appreciation for about a decade.