Dear @lewm : " his work or products that use his name to make it seem he designed them these days are not necessa rily wonderful or in the same high level. "
Well I don’t know which facts you have that can confirm your statement because any audio item that comes with " JC designed " was in true designed by him at JC designer levels he has ( " wonderful " ! ! ? ? ). The design it’s a truly good one.
Differences in overall quality levels were made by the manufacturer parts/boards/execution quality of the JC design but these is different from what you stated. The JC design is " wonderful ".
Take a look, his Levinson ML-2 amplifier monobloks is now not only a legend but even today is a true " amplifier bible " for an amplifier SS design and I know because I own a pair of 20.6 that came from " there "/ML-2 topology and I can tell you that these monobloks are second to NONE.
https://richardquickdesign.com/
http://www.marklev.com/p/preamplifiers.html
http://www.soundscapeav.com/parasound/johncurl.html
Remember the Bluetorch ( or something like that, I can’t remember the correct name. ) phono stage that he designed along other 3 gentlemans,.JC was in charge for the electronics design? and the whole electronics line ( preamp, amplifiers, equalizer ) side by side with Colangelo ( very expensive units ) ? and where is the place of his famous phono stage Vendetta.
For me he is the best audio electronics/devices freelance advisor/consultant for any audio manufacturer. Several manufacturers that you not even imagine were taken " advise /wok " from him.
Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.