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. |
I would nominate Robert Fulton of Fulton Audio. Bob designed/pioneered many products that at the time were considered laughable to many people who viewed his efforts as, "part of the lunatic fringe". For instance Bob's blue turntable mat, that when rotated around the spindle of the turntable was tunable for the best sound. (Hey, after experimentation with Oracle mats and others I know this works. Give this a try, it might be just the thing your analog rig needs to put it over the top!) No turntable arm was complete without the addition of Bob's special litz headshell leads. Before Noel Lee was hawking "Monster Cable" there was Bob Fulton, who's Fulton Gold interconnects, "Fulton Brown speaker wire" (I still am using this on the front channels of my home theater system.), and then the almost inconcievable and unbendable "Fulton Gold" set the standard for years in speaker cabling. As I remember the Fulton Gold was so thick and heavy that if one bent it properly, it could almost support a pair of Rogers LS35As as both speaker stands and cables. There were many contented customers and audiophiles who had us mod many a Hafler amp, preamp, Dalquist DQ-10, and Acoustats by rewiring them with Fulton Brown. I'm pretty sure this happened in other areas of the country besides St.Louis too. Bob always had a bag of what then were unlikely tricks to demonstrate as he visited dealers across the country. Today these tweeks are accepted and I suppose millions?, thousands?, hundreds? are raked in by the tweekers today. Bob's lps that he himself recorded and produced, quaint though they often were, would be considered state of the art by today's standards. I know, I still own a couple. He also was a speaker builder and manufacturer of considerable talent and inspiration. He built the "Fulton J" speaker system, which kind of reminds me of some of the earlier Wilson designs (and many others) so applauded today. The man built subwoofers that were the size of washer and dryers and man did they sound great. However installing them in a custy's home was sure a chore. At any rate I'm sure there are others who might remember Bob Fulton better than I, as I was just a kid with a good ear and love of music sending myself through college at the time. Bob Fulton's products could bring out the midrange in your system that was to die for. Today we'd call it analog and tube sounding.
I'd bet the catalogs issued by Music Direct, the Cable Company, and Audio Advisor would be filled with Fulton products if he was around today. |
A Designer belongs in the Hall of Fame when a they create a world class product at a real world prices. My hat must go to Coincident's Israel Blume |
Jerry Ozemont unsung, but one of greqat digital designers. |
John Ulrick Spectron amps. Jerry Ozment Audio Logic. |
Andreas Koch, now with Playback Designs and formerly Emm, among others.
Dave |
If someone is going to mention that hack Edison, please go to the source...........Tesla.......... |
Good call on David Berning. He certainly has developed a very innovative (worthy of a patent) approach to an OTL-type circuit and you can't argue with his ergonomics and reliability. |
David Berning. A pioneer who has genuinely been leading the way in both vacuum tube and solid state design technologies throughout the ages. The circuit and power supply topologies designed by David Berning have consistently been way ahead of their time. These designs have also proven to be reliable and stable for the long term, resulting in very, very few field service issues. David Berning Co. sonics are also world class to boot. |
Schalk Havenga of VALVE AUDIO in South Africa |
Rolf Gemein of Symphonic Line. |
Were is Sid Harmon in the mix.He had alot of first in the industry. |
ed meitner - emm labs, bidat, etc.- digital whiz! |
Mike Elliott (Counterpoint and Aria Audio)
please never forget Harold Beveridge of legendary Beveridge speakers. |
Two originals would be Harold Beveridge of Beveridge speakers which are incredible to this day and Leo Speigel who designed the Apogee Loudspeakers. These are also great speakers today. |
Arnie Nudell made some great speakers indeed. Question is, if you had five spots would he make it on the first ballot versus all the other folks mentioned in the thread (I think he was mentioned earlier). Would he make it over Ed Vilchur whose AR3 brought acoustic suspension enclosures to the market? Tough call for five slots. I would be interesting to have an annual election held by Audiogon - five new folks every year honoring the work of the great designers, maybe with some broad categories (Speakers, Amps/Preamps, Digital, Analog,, dare I say Accesories etc. -- proabably need an old timers committe as well for those important folks from the early days who should not be forgotten). Give the awards RMAF, and toast the winners. I for one would attend. Best of all, you have to be a member of Audigon to vote. |
Why no mention of Arnie Nudell? Infinity and Genesis. |
I can imagine the debates in the selection committe; it would make the Continental Congress seem like a picnic in the park. |
Bob Carver certainly ranks in my book. |
Some engineers of note:
Sidney Smith (you can't list Saul without mentioning Sid!)
James Bongiorno (SAE, GAS, Sumo, etc.)
Bob Carver
Kevin Volks (Snell, Revel)
John Wright (IMF, TDL) |
The BEL 1001 has sustained appreciation for about a decade. |
Lot's of good designer's; it makes you realize how many talented folks have been involved with the industry, and how hard it would be to pick just five inductees in an inaugural launching of the Designer Hall of Fame. Makes me eager to get to RMAF this year and see some of the designers already mentioned. |
Naim's Julian Vereker. Julian was one of the first, if not the first to incorporate the use of an external power supply into his amplifiers, which offered dramatic improvements in overall sound quality.
His designs were also extremely appealing in a simply elegant way. For example, the fact that his amplifers were encased in aluminium extrusions, which along with their class B running design, negated the need for ventilation slits within these amplifiers. The result was that after 20 years of owning a Naim component, you would find no dust inside them as you would with any product that required the need for such open ventilation.
Case in point, I recently purchased an Electrocompaniet Ampliwire 65, which upon opening on arrival,was loaded with dust that had fallen into the unit over the course of the past two decades. The AW 65 is a beautifully made product, but not nearly as clever as Naim gear.
Vereker's designing talents are world renown for a good reason, and he certainly deserves to be included amongst that short list of greatest audio designers of all time. |
Please allow me to also credit the following:
William Firebaugh (Ford Aerospace, Inc.) and Andy Payor (Rockport Technologies) for their innovative carbon fiber tonearm with viscuous damping design -- integrated on the Well Tempered Super Classic and Reference tt's.
"... this pivoting arm has no pivots. For all intents and purposes, the 'pivoting' is absolutely frictionless. ... viscous damping is still the best system that has been devised for stabilizing tonearm behavior." (Holt & Various, Pars. III and IV.)
. . .
"The result is frictionless anti-skate bias." (Par. V.)
See, J. Gordon Holt & Various, "The Well-Tempered Arm." Stereophile April 1985 P. 1. Source Interlink Companies, Inc., 261 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016. Friday, May 30, 2008 6:21:10 AM. .
Thank you. |
1. A.J. Conti and Associates -- Basis Audio, Inc.: Ovation, 2500/2800 Series, and Debut tt's;
2. Henry O. Wolcott for implementing distortionless amplifier designs used in mission critical laboratory applications for Uncle Sam and converting these designs to a more user-friendly consumer version of his Presence Monoblocks;
3. Dr. Rogers of Sound Lab and Dr. Sanders of Sanders Sound Systems(subsequent to his leadership at Innersound) for their electrostatic innovations;
4. Michael Elliott of Aria Audio (Founder of Counterpoint Systems) for his hybrid preamp./amp circuitry;
5. Nelson Pass for his eternal engineering feats while working for Threshold, Inc. |
Not sure if anyone has mentioned:
Brian Cheney (VMPS)
Paul Grzybek (Tube Audio Design) |
surprised no-one mentioned him ... |
Wilson Shen-Clayton Audio |
Truly innovative, years ahead of others in their area and on top of this they are young progressive company's.
I'll start with the above posting by Gosh.
Herve Deletraz....DartZeel, Amp Preamp and phonostage
Friedrich Schafer....ASR Emitter, Amp preamp and phonostage
Thomas Woschnick....TW Acustic Raven, record player.
Ed Meitner....EMM Labs. Digital
I haven't touched on Japan yet! or got to the United States including other parts of the World....
I'm afraid when it comes to truly innovative audio companies my list is going to have to be longer then this. |
And what about the two designers of arguably the best transistor amps of our time,or the best ever... Hervé Delétraz (Dartzeel) and Friedrich Schäfer (ASR Audio Systeme)?...too young? |
Please! Only one vote for Joe Fratus of Art Audio? |
Not doubt there are others that also belong in the Hall of Fame but these designers would pretty much have to be charter members; if this were the NFL, they would be first ballot inductees in their first year of elibility.
William Z. Johnson, Henry Kloss, Saul Marantz, and Jon Dahlquist all made some excellent products and strong contributions to the audio industry with their designs and business initiatives.
When you consider the best sounding of all their products, their ability to build a long standing made in America business, and who has stood the test of the time - all the way to the present (he's still designing new products) - you have to give the gold medal to Bill Johnson for roughly 40 years of persevering greatness at ARC. For sonic greatness, tubes rule and ARC has ruled the tube business better than anyone for excellent products, service, and support. |
I think my error was I confused the passing of Mr Dunlavy with Mr Grado, like I said sorry for my mistake. |
Bee Yamamura. And Nagaoka. |
David Reich- of Classe Audio DR series amps/preamps. DR developed the unique Classe circuitry that uses J-Fet/Mosfet and Bipolar transitors. Many audio engineers have since copied this "recipe" |
Now that I have heard the Atma-sphere OTLs, I have to put Ralph Karsten's up in the top ranks. Not an amp for everyone, but if you can use and OTL with your speakers, pretty darn impressive. The Hall of Fame for taking a basicly wonderful sounding approach to amplifiers and engineering them so that they are extremely reliabable. |
Speaking of cartridges, whoever designed the Shure V15 should be considered for the longevity and dominance of this cartridge. |
I thought I read the original Grado had passed and siblings were passed the torch...guess I am mistaken and apologize for my error. |
Dr. Floyd Toole at the National Research Council his contributions in the use of measurements in the design of equipment; making the work of many other designers better (3M). |
Chadnliz: Just spoke to a very close friend of Joe Grado a few minutes ago (10:30 PM, 3-31-08) and he advised me that Joe Grado was very much alive and well and getting ready soon to have his 85th birthday. Just thought you and the rest of the audiophile world would like to know. Warmest regards.
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Moongfongos Garson Piel is an unsung genius. In point of fact, hes arguably the greatest audio designer who ever lived. Ive never spoken to the man personally, but I understand he doesnt like to have direct contact with his customers because theyre either too stupid or too uneducated to understand his design concepts. I say Amen to that, brother! Also, and I dont know whether this is true or not, it is reported that he is the only audio designer ever to have killed one of his customers. Scary... but cool! |
Man Oh' Man where is Bruce Thigpen in all of this...his work on Tone Arms and Speakers deserves mention and credit!
I also have not seen Joe Grado...RIP.
Richard Vandersteen is the man I most respect in this business with his succesful product and Sane prices.
Roger Sanders for Electrostat and Amplifier technology.
Loyd Walker....enough said.
Dr HSU for his subs.
And Product marketer Hall Of Fame....you guessed it
Dr Bose..Boo Hiss! |
The M and F in MFA . (Moore-Franklin Associates.) Is there no love for Saul Marantz? |
Dr.West of soundlab speakers. |
Ted Denney - Synergistic Research |
i'm surprised nobody mentioned stan klyne. perhaps i missed his name. while i'm at it, what about jim winey of magneplanar/magnepan fame and jason bloom of apogee fame and gayle sanders of martin logan ?
just thought of a few more: bruce moore of moore and franklin, bruce thigpen, designer of eminent technology and harold beveridge.
there are so many competent designers, a book is needed to present a biography of each of these creative designers. |
What about Roy Kimber of Kimber Kable,Bill Low of Audioquest cables,Bjorn Erik Edvarsen of NAD electronics,Henry Kloss of KLH and Cambridge Soundworks(just to name a few),Matthew Polk of Polk Audio,Roy Allison of Allison Acoustics,Paul Klipsch of Klipsch,Amar Bose of Bose,Didn't a fellow named Marconni invent FM radio,Dr. Hsu of Hsu Research(subs),Joe D'Appolito(speaker design),John Curl(Parasound),Nelson Pass(amps),and the grand daddy's Thomas Edison,Ben Franklin.Wow, what a list and I still have not scratched the surface! |
Peter Noerbeck (PBN Audio amps and preamps-Montana speakers), as well as Ron Hedrich at Marigo Audio (all types of cabling and vibration control devices). |
Audiobroke wrote: John Curl. The Parasound JC-2, JC-1's, CTC Blowtorch Pre, and Vendetta Phonostage define his accomplishments. All World Class to World Beating products. Yup, have all of them, and I hear they are making progress on the new VR3 phono stage. |
Yes indeed, one of the greats. |
