Just so you'll know, Roger Modjeski is not one of those guys who finds fault with everyone else's designs. He thinks highly of Mike Sanders (Quicksilver), Tim DeParavicini (EAR), and Ralph Karsten (Atma-Sphere), amongst other current designers.
Brooks Berdan, the most critical listener I've ever know, sold only products he liked, business be damned. What he liked in tubed electronics were VTL, Jadis, and Music Reference. Period. In solid state he found little to like, but loved the amp of Richard Brown, the BEL. Like Roger, Richard had an underground cult reputation for his design abilities. Talk about a low profile! Brooks couldn't keep the amp in stock---every time he demoed his, the listener bought it! It would take months to get another, as Richard built them on his kitchen table, one at a time. Does the fact that Brown Electronics Company had few dealers, were never reviewed or talked about on Hi-Fi sites, and are owned by almost no one, mean that Richard's opinion of an amp's design would not be not worthy of consideration? Or that his qualifications to even have one are in question? If so, I suggest no one ask Jeff Beck to evaluate the playing of, say, Eddie Van Halen. A bad analogy perhaps, but you get the point.
