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
It's inspiring for me that there are so many luminaries who've made such significant contributions to audio. Had I the motivation, time, and money, I would have availed myself of far more than I have. Still, it's great fun to read all these names and then research to find out more. Even though my hearing ain't what it used to be, one of life's supreme pleasures for me is reproduced music in my home.

One unsung hero is the person who designed/manufactured the Goldbug Briar. I do not know his/her name. I had one many years ago and it was fabulous on my VPI TT. Sadly, the cartridge met an untimely death at the hands of someone in our home who was inept at handling the Alphason tone arm on the VPI. I could not afford to replace the Briar.
OV,who designed tube rectified OTL,using DHT tube as an OPT or any of the 7ac based tubes.Make it possible for kt66/88 or any 7ac based tube directly plugged into a 4 pin socket of a 6A3 single ended amp without amplifier mod.
As a dealer who found one of the best amps and preamps at any price I would say Dave Belles.

I instigated the creation of the first 350=A mono blocks, in A/B comparison listening at my place and customer's homes I had guys trade me for several of the big gun mono block amps, which I would use for a few months for comparison demo work. I took Pass labs XL600's, Krell, Levinsons, Marantz in trade.

Because the amps and preamps were so good I used cables costing more than the equipment. If you would use a $3500 power cord on $20k amps why wouldn't you use a cord like that on an amp that actually outperforms them even though they are only $4000 each? The comparison I did was showing the more expensive amps with the good power cord, then the Belles with the same quality power cord, no contest.

People put too much credence into what something costs.