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R.I.P: Rest In Peace Roy Johnson, Green Mountain Audio's Genius

All,

It is with heavy heart that I bring to you the heart breaking news of the passing of one of audio's true geniuses. Roy Johnson passed away this week after a long battle with cancer. He was a truly brilliant speaker designer, and true friend, and an amazing person. For those of us lucky to have known him as customers or friends we know he was infinitely committed to lending a hand, imparting his wisdom, solving problems and creating some of the most amazing loud speakers ever heard.  There were often gremlins in my system not centered around his loudspeakers and Roy would literally drop everything and help me trace down problems, while all the time educating and teaching me, not for gain, not for money, but because that's who Roy Johnson was. 

He will be greatly missed for his humor, his dedication, and his selflessness in audio and in life.

Rest in Peace Dear Friend,

You Are Loved
128x128birdfan
sunnyjim
927 posts
 

Very sad news. Roy was a true gentleman who gave generously of his time and advice and designed and built great speakers.  I am proud to have owned the  GM "Europa" monitor that provided quality sound for many years.  He was a great and kind man who will be sorely missed by audiophiles around the world.

Rest in peace,

S.J.

   

tbombb25
28 posts
 
Very sorry to hear this, I met him at the RAMF about 11 years ago and spent a good amount of time listening to his monitors up above the Callistos. He was very nice as a matter of fact we was rocking out really liked my music I brought with me, RIP a very nice guy...and a incredible speaker designer...
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tsugury
249 posts
 
So sorry to hear of Roy's passing. My condolences to family and frirends. Tom Grabosky
rhljazz
1,250 posts
 
I had a pair of the original Diamanté’s in green with black bases.  I visited Roy at his shop in Colorado Springs.  He was a very knowledgeable and entertaining guy.  He spoke of his crossover designs in terms of mathematical models.  He was always working on the perfect crossover.  Roy liked to play music loud and hard hitting selections with a lot of impact, my first introduction to the music of Rusted Root.
 I had my Diamanté’s upgraded to series 2, then to series 3.  The series 2 iteration was the best.  Series 3 was slightly warmer but lost some of the magic of series 2.  There are certain musical selections that they recreated better than anything I’ve heard since such as the the previously mentioned Rusted Root and Pat Benetar.  Ultimately, they weren’t the speaker for me and my room.  They didn’t quite have the lower end weight and warmth for the hard bop jazz I like.
I sold the Diamanté’s here on Audiogon.  I hope the person who purchased them is still enjoying Roy’s creation.
Roy made some unusual looking speakers with synthetic marble, the Diamanté’s easily the best looking of the lot.  
The audio world lost a great guy and innovative designer.
dsd-7
4 posts
 
RIP Roy... Wow, what a shock!  I just spoke with him the first week in July, and he seemed in great spirits, full of energy and info as always. Roy was always willing to talk your ear off for an hour or two with advice, info, and whatever he could help you with to make your system sound it's best.  He had a pair of Chroma HX's almost finished for me... they were supposed to ship mid July.  That will not happen at this point unfortunately.  The speakers are insignificant in comparison to the subject matter here.  Such a loss to the audio community and such a shock.  I wish his family the best.  I knew he was sick for a while, but I thought he was doing better and on his way to good health. Very sad indeed. RIP Roy, you are missed.  
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