Charley Hansen (Ayre) Passed Away
I am deeply saddened to hear of this. He was certainly idiosyncratic in his approach - but the proof of the pudding is in the eating - or listening in this case. Through all his work with Avalon and Ayre, he certainly proved he knew what he was talking about and pieces that I either own or covet. My condolences to his family and friends. |
I found Charlie's recent posts to AA that forcefully challenged the audio print magazines to straighten up, were fascinating and astonishingly impassioned and well-informed. Those posts are epitaphs to a man who contributed as much and cared as deeply as anyone in the history of high end audio. RIP Charlie. |
This is gut wrenching to me. As many of us knew, Charley suffered a spinal injury in a bicycling crash many years ago and was wheelchair bound. Stereophile did a feature piece about Charley about three years ago and he certainly looked healthy when he was photographed then. I loved every second of his standing-his-ground on MQA and his expose' of names of industry veterans who had committed dubious acts of stealing designs from others and taking the credit and any number of other subjects. That said, the sudden frequency of his posting did have me concerned that something might be going on and now I am left wondering if illness was not a part of that "heightened contentiousness". The level of it grew over on AA's "Critic's Corner" to the point that JA openly questioned if he should go forward with a planned review of an Ayre product so I am going to assume JA was totally unaware of any health issue. I will say it again-gut wrenching. I wish I could have had the pleasure of meeting him. |
a man of true and deep principle he will be missed there is no negative feedback in heaven, so he shall be hailed there also as a visionary i certainly held his work in high regard and owned some of his reference and then R-Twenty gear over the years. peace and grace is my prayer for his family and the extended family at Ayre but also for the dealers AND his many collaborators in industry -I first heard MXR’ s and what they are capable of at Richard Vandersteens house so my heart hurts for those who knew him on a deep and intensely collaborative level as well. RIP Charley |
Charlie seemed as if he was laying everything on the table the last month or so at AA. I even thought to myself “ this guy is going to run himself out of business by pissing off every audio writer”. Now..it seems as if Charlie knew his time was short. A recent exchange I had with Charlie at AA was about him meeting Julian Hirsch ( Stereo Review) many years ago It was a wonderful story ( just a few sentences) that really exhibited Charlie’s passion about audio “systems”. |
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/dailycamera/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=187405944 A great designer has left us too soon. |
Obituary for Charles Hansen: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/Charles-Hansen-obituary?pid=187405944 "Charles Hansen died Tuesday November 28th in Boulder after years of declining health due to an accident". RIP. I am going to miss him. My deepest sympathy to the Hansen family and to the people at Ayre Acoustics. |
