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Audio Science Innovators

anmpr1

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I haven't see a thread for it, but since this is ASR I was thinking about those who contributed most to the application of scientific principles in audio--mostly in a domestic environment. That is, designers whose work is/was 'non-tweako' but based on hard scientific theory, either existing or that they themselves came up with. Also, no-nonsense designs that greatly benefited the mass of audiophile consumers.

I'd be interested in what the ASR gang has to say--names important to them. Most of my names are from the US; I'm particularly ignorant of other areas--specifically Japan. My impression is that most Japanese audio work was corporate, and not individual, but I am happy to be mistaken about that if someone knows more.

The following are three I came up with (in alphabetical order), a 'behind the scenes name', and three other 'important product' categories:

David Hafler. I know of no man who did more for popularizing home audio for the masses, but whose designs were always based on practical applications of sound audio theory. His list of achievements is legendary: Acrosound transformers; the Ultralinear circuit; Dynaco; Hafler Corp. David had an ability to seek other men of exceptional talent including Stu Hegeman, Erno Borbely, Jim Bongiorno, Ed Laurent, Jim Strickland and others. His ST-70 could well be the most popular stereo amplifier of all time. Hafler always offered value with engineering, and a learning experience with his kits. David was not the first to produce kits, but his kits were at the top in ease of construction.

Ed Villchur, whose acoustic suspension loudspeakers allowed 'full range' sound in a small package, and was no doubt the most popular speaker design in the '50s and '60s. His turntable offered exceptional sonic performance for pitifully small dollars, and became the template for many others, such as Thorens and the Linn Sondek.

Peter Walker. His work at Quad was not as well known in the States, but those who knew of it and heard his products were duly impressed. Walker was the epitome of no-nonsense, scientifically grounded engineering. A man that as far as I know never succumbed to the tweako scene, even as the tweakos couldn't wait to praise his loudspeakers. His preamplifiers and amps were as good as it gets from an ergonomic/design standpoint--wonderful to use.

Behind the scenes work of special note: Siegfried Linkwitz, a man who spent the majority of his life working to share his knowledge of loudspeaker design, and whose designs were always based on sound engineering, much it a result of his own groundbreaking work.

Products: I mentioned the ST-70, but from a modern engineering standpoint I'd cite the work of Benchmark and THX in producing the AHB-2 amplifier. Small, lightweight, powerful, and over the past five or six years (an eternity in audio design world) it remains king of the engineering hill, for relatively small dollars.

Best value from a company: from the pages of ASR I'd nominate Topping. A company that offers SOA (or pretty close to it) for pennies on the dollar, compared to 'high end' gear that often offers less for a lot more.

Finally, for journalism I'd have to nominate ASR Fearless Leader, @amirm, whose one-man operation appears to be turning a lot of heads, generating a lot of heat, and if he can continue (I honestly don't know how he does it) will no doubt have a huge impact in influencing consumer audio. I'd also nominate (surprise!) John Atkinson of Stereophile. An unlikely name for some, but I know of no man who measures and honestly reports on so much high-end gear, and for that the audio community has to be thankful.
 
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anmpr1

anmpr1

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Peter Jensen Dr. Harry F. Olson Stewart Hegeman and Bernie Kardon Fritz Langford-Smith
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Langford-Smith

These are the sine qua non that pop into my head.
There is no right or wrong in making up a list. I was thinking more along lines of people who were 'first hand' in consumer audio. That is, people who manufactured gear, or designed off-the-shelf consumer oriented gear.

Stu Hegeman is a name I mentioned along with Hafler. Certainly a consumer oriented (as apart from electrical theory) guy. I'd love to be able to find (and afford NOS) one of his old Citation kits.

PS: below is a link from a Bob Carver story about Stewart Hegeman. Very interesting in that it relates to Hafler's Ultralinear device.

PPS: I'd rate Bob Carver pretty high on any list of unique engineering and solid value in consumer-oriented gear, in spite of his overt and sometimes off-putting (to some) showmanship.

https://www.audioasylum.com/message...r-on-stu-hegeman-ultralinear-and-6550-vs-kt88
 
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PaulD

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anmpr1, this may not be quite what you were looking for, but your list made me think of these people. When I saw the title in new posts I thought of many similar names to you. Then on further reflection I thought of these few. Not a lot of products directly from these people, but many products used their ideas.

Alan Blumlein comes to mind - stereo? Stereo disks? Differential amplifier inputs? Not bad for one person!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Blumlein

Peter Baxandall - I know a mic designer who still says that Baxandall understood low noise electronics better than anyone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Baxandall

Michael Gerzon - reminds me of Peter Walker, takes a fundamentally engineering and no BS approach to sound reproduction.
https://michaelgerzonphotos.org.uk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Gerzon

Lastly, Paul Voigt and Harold Black for independently inventing negative feedback amplifiers - and there's no such thing as too much of that! ;)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Stephen_Black
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative-feedback_amplifier
 
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Midwest Blade

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Julian Hirsch - Stereo Review - I grew up reading his reviews and looked forward to my subscription showing up every month. I think he would have been a member/follower of ASR. Set the standards for measurements as a way to confirm performance.
 

Matias

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Best value from a company: from the pages of ASR I'd nominate Topping. A company that offers SOA (or pretty close to it) for pennies on the dollar, compared to 'high end' gear that often offers less for a lot more.

This one is easy. Everyone knows Amir gets truckloads of money from Topping to artificially boost their numbers on AP and score higher on the charts! :D /s
 

dfuller

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I would be remiss if I didn't mention Rupert Neve. His circuit designs are so good that consoles from the early 1970s are still considered excellent (and have remarkably good specs w/r/t THD+N, crosstalk, and noise floor).
 

mhardy6647

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Stu Hegeman is a name I mentioned along with Hafler. Certainly a consumer oriented (as apart from electrical theory) guy. I'd love to be able to find (and afford NOS) one of his old Citation kits.
[emphasis added]

Sorry, I missed that! :confused:

I guess Col. Paul W. Klipsch, Dr. Amar Bose, James B. Lansing, Henry Kloss, and Saul Marantz probably get big points on the scoreboard of life for their myriad contributions to consumer (and pro) hifi, too.

And Marantz leads to Jon Dahlquist, Sidney Smith, and Dick Sequerra (e.g.)

So, so many luminaries -- we stand on the shoulders of giants. ;)
 

Wes

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Jim Winey - who owned electrostatic loudspeakers and started out trying to improve that design.

He realized that a thin-film, driven electromagnetically could perform about as well with lower cost, and higher reliability - hence Magnepan and the Magneplanars.
 

Wes

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and speaking of membrane drivers... Georg von Békésy

the original Disco Dude - strobes and glitter
 
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Kal Rubinson

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and speaking of membrane drivers... Georg von Békésy

the original Disco Dude - strobes and glitter
Mostly for Guinea pigs.
 
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Racheski

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I haven't see a thread for it, but since this is ASR I was thinking about those who contributed most to the application of scientific principles in audio--mostly in a domestic environment. That is, designers whose work is/was 'non-tweako' but based on hard scientific theory, either existing or that they themselves came up with. Also, no-nonsense designs that greatly benefited the mass of audiophile consumers.

I'd be interested in what the ASR gang has to say--names important to them. Most of my names are from the US; I'm particularly ignorant of other areas--specifically Japan. My impression is that most Japanese audio work was corporate, and not individual, but I am happy to be mistaken about that if someone knows more.

The following are three I came up with (in alphabetical order), a 'behind the scenes name', and three other 'important product' categories:

David Hafler. I know of no man who did more for popularizing home audio for the masses, but whose designs were always based on practical applications of sound audio theory. His list of achievements is legendary: Acrosound transformers; the Ultralinear circuit; Dynaco; Hafler Corp. David had an ability to seek other men of exceptional talent including Stu Hegeman, Erno Borbely, Jim Bongiorno, Ed Laurent, Jim Strickland and others. His ST-70 could well be the most popular stereo amplifier of all time. Hafler always offered value with engineering, and a learning experience with his kits. David was not the first to produce kits, but his kits were at the top in ease of construction.

Ed Villchur, whose acoustic suspension loudspeakers allowed 'full range' sound in a small package, and was no doubt the most popular speaker design in the '50s and '60s. His turntable offered exceptional sonic performance for pitifully small dollars, and became the template for many others, such as Thorens and the Linn Sondek.

Peter Walker. His work at Quad was not as well known in the States, but those who knew of it and heard his products were duly impressed. Walker was the epitome of no-nonsense, scientifically grounded engineering. A man that as far as I know never succumbed to the tweako scene, even as the tweakos couldn't wait to praise his loudspeakers. His preamplifiers and amps were as good as it gets from an ergonomic/design standpoint--wonderful to use.

Behind the scenes work of special note: Siegfried Linkwitz, a man who spent the majority of his life working to share his knowledge of loudspeaker design, and whose designs were always based on sound engineering, much it a result of his own groundbreaking work.

Products: I mentioned the ST-70, but from a modern engineering standpoint I'd cite the work of Benchmark and THX in producing the AHB-2 amplifier. Small, lightweight, powerful, and over the past five or six years (an eternity in audio design world) it remains king of the engineering hill, for relatively small dollars.

Best value from a company: from the pages of ASR I'd nominate Topping. A company that offers SOA (or pretty close to it) for pennies on the dollar, compared to 'high end' gear that often offers less for a lot more.

Finally, for journalism I'd have to nominate ASR Fearless Leader, @amirm, whose one-man operation appears to be turning a lot of heads, generating a lot of heat, and if he can continue (I honestly don't know how he does it) will no doubt have a huge impact in influencing consumer audio. I'd also nominate (surprise!) John Atkinson of Stereophile. An unlikely name for some, but I know of no man who measures and honestly reports on so much high-end gear, and for that the audio community has to be thankful.
I dare you to post this on Head Fi and see what happens. Would be pretty entertaining :)
 

RayDunzl

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Thomas Edison, for starting it all...

1596240830980.png
 

dfuller

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Fritz Pfleumer, the inventor of magnetic tape recording. Without him, high fidelity recording likely wouldn't exist.
Alexander M. Poniatoff, the founder of Ampex, who popularized tape recording as opposed to direct-to-disk (thanks in large part to Bing Crosby, who just didn't want to do every radio appearance live).
Les Paul, the inventor of overdubbing. Without him, modern recording as we know it would not exist.
 
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