With my friendship with Richard Vandersteen ( since 1983 ), I feel like I am living that dream already.... I had solid on-line friendships with Charlie ( Ayre ) and Roger ( Music Reference ) - not a day goes by where I don’t think about them and the great contributions they each made, so yes just another minute with each of them would be priceless..., |
Nelson Pass during the week to teach me to be a bit more patient with people, and a couple of shots of up front directness (ahem, cough cough) on the weekend..via a few days with John curl. Then, on sabbatical and retreat with Scott Frankland, previously of MFA, to absorb the Zen of Tubes. For speakers, no one. Just me. I’m like Leonardo DiCaprio in ’The quick and the dead’. I’m at my peak. Some Gene Hackman of speakers might shoot me down, though. One can’t know it all, one can only think that one does. |
It would have to be somewhere in the Western Electric days or even Bell Labs. Telephony had a strong interest from me, and to witness the development early on would be priceless. No doubt, there were other interests as well, given that radio was changing every couple of years or so, which by that days standards, was lightning fast. |
Without knowing any audio designers personally I tend to think that those who would be best to work for are (a) those having well established top-notch design talents, and (b) those whose companies are known for being conscientious, responsive, and supportive when dealing with customers and potential customers. I believe that how a designer/manufacturer treats his customers and potential customers would generally tend to correlate with how he treats his employees, and with the culture that exists within the company. Among those who are still living that I would include in that category are Nelson Pass, Ralph Karsten, Keith Herron, Lou Hinkley, Kevin Hayes, and Dan Wright. There are many others, of course. Best regards, -- Al |
I worked for ARINC Aeronautical Radio INC down at FAA HQ. ARINC was the engineering company hired by the Government a long time ago to assess the aviation requirements for tube electronics, mostly radios which as fate would have it were still in abundant use by the Airline industry and the FAA as late as 1986 when solid state radios replaced them. ARINC developed standards for avionics and when I was there was involved in all aspects of Aviation industry communications systems. |
Adding some designer/manufacturers from the (distant) past to my previous post, which only addressed those who are presently active: -- Saul Marantz & Sid Smith, at you know which company. -- H. H. Scott & Daniel von Recklinghausen (at the original H. H. Scott company). I believe, btw, that it was Daniel von Recklinghausen who first said "If it measures good and sounds bad, it is bad. If it sounds good and measures bad, you’ve measured the wrong thing." -- Lincoln Walsh (Brook Electronics, which manufactured high quality amplifiers using 2A3 directly heated triode power tubes in the late 1940s and early 1950s; also the creator of the Walsh driver later used in Ohm speakers). -- E. H. Scott (no relation to H. H.), who manufactured high quality multi-chassis "radios" mainly in the 1930s (many using 2A3 and 45 power tubes), which can be considered to be precursors of modern hifi systems. -- McMurdo Silver, a competitor of E. H. Scott; same description applies. Best regards, -- Al |
Jadis ~~Esoterica Electronique~~~Magical~~~Mystical~~~ For Stereo shows, ,, i'd hook Jadis up with SEAS and SB Acoustics. all Mundorf Supreme SGO cap xovers. Mind blowin... every Jadis show on YT has crappy speakers. I'd take out every 12AU7 and place in the ~~E80CC~~~ and for all AX's, Telefunken. My Defy came alive with the E80CC. The Tele AX also made a nice lil pop. |
Great topic, good one Erik. Of the dead guys, I'd say Julius Futterman, Harvey Rosenberg, Roger Modjeski, Robert Fulton, J. Gordon Holt, Bill Johnson, Doug Sax, Jerry Wexler (Atlantic Records producer). Of the living: Max Townshend, Ralph Karsten, Bruce Thigpen, Roger Sanders, Danny Richie, Keith Herron, Nelson Pass, Dave Edmunds & Buddy Miller (singers/guitarists/producers). But most of all Iris Dement, an Angel sent down from Heaven. On the road now. |
1.)Harry F. Olson, engineer at RCA Victor. Awarded 100 +patents including the 44 and 77 series microphones. Loudspeaker baffles anyone? Yes, the criticisms of Dynagroove were certainly warranted. IMO, it was simply a serious attempt to improve the listening experience for people with less than ideal audio equipment. (His book, "Music, Physics and Engineering" is available on Abe Books for $6.16 w/free shipping.) 2.) Ed Miller & John Wood (Sherwood). |
