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
Robert Fulton founded the modern interconnect and speaker cable industry- before him there was no-one. Of course he was thought of as a snake oil salesman, but many of his claims are now borne out by the continued existence of the cable industry itself.

Just before he died, Bob had created a new speaker that used a concept he called the 'oval window'. It was some sort of modified Helmholtz resonator- Bob claimed that the oval window cut off one octave below the cutoff of the woofers in the speaker. Whatever you might believe about that, I can tell you that it did play some of the most effortless bass I have heard in a speaker.
Alot of memories here for me...some great designers without question. Mark Levinson, the man, should also be included as forwarding the state of the art in SS audio reproduction.
How about Stefan Kudelski? His equipment is in use by almost every radio and TV station on earth. Surely he must be the most famous of all designers mentioned previously.
Mick Malone from Supratek, although now retired, for the way he worked like an artisan with innovative designs and honest prices. Around its great products many people get knowledge and friendship. The prove is the largest forum here at Audiogon: "The Preamp Deal of the Century" with near 3,500 entries.
Yves Bernard Andre of YBA, formerly of Goldmund, he is the "blue light inside CDP" man
http://loa.ensta.fr/ilm/staff/groupe.en.html