And thank YOU @clio09, for both your post and keeping the Music Reference name and products alive.
Though reviews of tube amps in professional hi-fi mags commonly contain little exploration and explanation of amplifier circuit design, reading Modjeski’s writings on the subject (as well as other subjects ) is a free means of gaining a knowledge of what to look for in an amplifier. After Roger moved from Santa Barbara to the San Francisco Bay area, he offered a class in tube amp design at a local adult education facility. Students were not only taught electrical engineering, but also assigned the task of designing and building an amplifier of their own.
Positive reviews of tube amps that produce poor performance numbers raise a number of questions, questions to which Modjeski was willing and able to provide answers (in his AudioCircle Forum and at seminars he gave). Audiophiles tend to view the sound an amplifier produces---and the sound of the tubes in amps---being partially determined by factors other than good electrical engineering basics. Parts quality is one such factor.
While high end consumers look for boutique parts in their products, Modjeski was concerned first and foremost about parts ratings. He was an advocate of using a part with a voltage rating 10 times what that part would see in a circuit. I learned the wisdom of that approach when I turned on my factory-fresh ARC SP-3 the first time. I heart a "Pop!", then smelled smoke. I took it into my dealer, who found a resistor had blown when faced with the turn-on voltage rush. That resistor was of a voltage rating of only twice what the circuit called for. Roger didn’t make those kinds of mistakes.
Not to pick on ARC, but when the SP-3 was replaced with the SP-3a, Frank Van Alstine discovered that what was new and improved in the "a" version" were not the boutique parts claimed for it, but corrections in it’s circuit design, including the inaccurate RIAA response curve that Frank was already offering a correction for in his SP-3 modification. No "magic" parts required, just excellent electrical engineering.
That’s what Roger Modjeski was all about. It’s great to learn that @clio09 will soon be offering Music Reference products; for those who can’t wait, know that Roger "approved" of the tube electronics designed and built by Mike Sanders (Quicksilver) and Tim DeParavicini (EAR-Yoshino).
