Who are the most talented individuals working in the high end audio industry today?

caesar

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2010
4,290
767
1,698
My take:

Designer: Jurgen Ries from MBL.

Rationale: I am biased for multi-talented people, and this guy can design great speakers and amplification and digital.

Writing: Valin from TAS.

Rationale: Whereas the vast majority of writers are limited by a poverty of words to describe the experience that High End Audio really is - and fail miserably, Valin is able to cast a spell on his readers that makes them feel the realism and presence of real musicians conjured up by the gear he is writing about. It is really too bad for audio fans that his tastes are analytical/ "transparency to source", which greatly limits his productivity for many fans due to his gear selections. Yet I'm not sure if there is anyone even close in their ability to create this believability and shape the brand story that really helps sell the gear

Business/ Sales/ Marketing: Tie between Alon Wolf and Paul McGowan.

Rationale: Wolf because he has been able to capture the "best engineered speakers" segment of the hobby and McGowan because he is a great salesman/ marketer that has delivered excellent digital, amps, and preamp that is nearly world class at a fraction of the price of what others consider "best there is"

Who do you guys choose? And Why?
 

caesar

Well-Known Member
May 30, 2010
4,290
767
1,698
Excluding David Wilson since he has retired. But pretty much anything Wilson has released is a safe "speaker of the year" choice for the magazines. Sabrina just won that award in the latest stereophile.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
24,305
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Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
This is an excellent subject. I don't know who are the best in this audio business and passion; that is only one of the reasons I subscribed here.
Since I was a kid like all the other kids with a lightening bolt in their guts and brain for the passion towards music listening...roughly 95% of the entire world population, by my estimated guess, I've been pursuing my own musical path/journey. It is a very humble one, without prejudice and without boundaries.

I think there are many dedicated audio/speaker designers who are absolutely involved @ 110% in their passion; these designers are the ones constantly improving with newer and better sounding designs; they are non-stop achievers, sound explorers.

You mentioned Jonathin Valin as an audio writer; I too like his writing style. There are several good audio reviewers/writers.

For audio business/sales/marketing department; several groups of people excel @ their jobs, even almost too much @ times. :b
The best ones to me are the ones with the best pictures in&out, the best foundations based on scientific studies of acoustics, with supported measurements, details of all the ingredients; measuring microphones, exact room dimensions where the studies and listening tests took place, with furniture included, exact positioning, pictures to support, ...everything...all the audio components in the chain and their interconnections. The more real life info provided the more appreciation I have for their true passionate skills in marketing. This ain't just fancy words, this is real 'sparta', the tools we can best use for ourselves and provided by true audio business people @ the service of their customers first.

The people who love listening to music have to eat too and provide for their families; a good audio salesman understand that and obliges to accommodate equally for all his customer's families and his own. Good audio business relationships no matter what financial classes we're in is important for the future of audiophile's generations. ...An equal respect to everyone.

Audio music lovers, audio dealers, audio writers, audio mag publishers, audio salesmen, audio promoters, audio business people, audio showmen, audio distributors, artist musicians, performers, singers, audio addicts, audiophiles, audio eaters, gurus, audio classes, ultra extra high end, audio superiority in dedicated and specially acoustically treated rooms, audio values, audio decencies, audio extreme, audio deficiencies, audio efficiencies, audio normality, audio from this planet, audio from above in the sky and without limits, audio stuff and tweaks and beliefs and all that jazz; some of it, some of them are here and share their passions and tribulations.
To me it's the totality of all these groups that makes us move the way we do.
_______

From 'Lucy' (2014 film); Morgan Freeman as the prof:

Professor Norman

• "One neuron, you're alive. Two neurons you're moving. And with movement, interesting things begin to happen.
• The dolphin did not invent the sonar — it developed it, naturally. And this is the crucial part of our philosophical reflection we have today:
can we therefore conclude that humans are more concerned with "having" than "being"?
• If its habitat is not sufficiently favorable, or nurturing, the cell will choose immortality, in other words, self-sufficiency and self management. On the other hand, if the habitat is favorable, they will choose to reproduce — that way, when they die, they hand essential information and knowledge to the next cell, which hands it down to the next cell, and so on. Thus knowledge and learning are handed down, through time.
• Its up to us to push the rules and laws, and go from evolution, to revolution."

_______


_______

I choose life's balance, the totality of all people's groups; for the music that matters first.
And because music matters I like to start with the music recordings performed by the artists and recorded by the recordist group of talented individuals, first.
 
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Rodney Gold

Member
Jan 29, 2014
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Cape Town South Africa
Laurence dickie.. B&W matrix , nautilus , Vivid audio ...
 

Holli82

Well-Known Member
Jun 6, 2010
318
329
1,620
Albert Von Schweikert.....he is constantly innovating and improving his line of speakers. He is not afraid of thinking outside the box. Anyone who has spent 5 minutes with him will realize what a true talent (and a nice man) he is.
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
12,308
1,425
1,820
Manila, Philippines
Albert Von Schweikert.....he is constantly innovating and improving his line of speakers. He is not afraid of thinking outside the box. Anyone who has spent 5 minutes with him will realize what a true talent (and a nice man) he is.

Agree. After the 44 and the 55, his successors ain't too shabby either.

Obviously I think the designers I carry are all top notch or else I wouldn't be invested in them. Sushurin, Gencev, Nishikawa, Ho, Cossey, Thieb, Cornils, De Luca, Lavrencik all great to me in their respective fields. Here are some favorites with whom I have no affiliations. In no particular order...

Kevin Hayes
Nick Doshi
Gary Koh
Andrew Jones
Herve Deletraz
Matsudaira
Paul Jayson
 

KeithR

VIP/Donor
May 7, 2010
5,144
2,812
1,898
Encino, CA
Yoav Geva is definitely at or near the top
Nelson Pass is obvious (and legendary in diy land) and considering he also has First Watt, is even more interesting/creative

I would include Ken Shindo, but he passed a year ago.
 

FrantzM

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
6,455
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Hi

They are numerous..
Some however have the notoriety and some actually are doing the hard works that advance the SOTA.. Too often unheralded and often unknown... A few of those unheralded but people who have had an incredible impact on the Industry... Will try to name a few of them, this list is far from exhaustive:

David Berning... Never a me-too circuit. Most of the current darling circuits of current High-End Gears can be found in old text books... that includes very famous and successful brands of the Tube Variety. Not David Berning.
Ralph Karsten of AtmaSphere Audio. Another innovative Designer who has espoused OTL in his amp designs. These are among the few OTL that don't go burst the second you trun them on and works with real-world speakers. He and I don't agree on many things but I can't fault him for the quality of his works.
Jud Barber of Joule Electra. I am an SS person but these would be the only tubes amplifier I wouldn't care to won and they are OTL on top of that. GLorious sound, Little recognition. Can drive most speakers to unhealthy SPL levels... Again OTL amps
Nelson Pass... Another great and innovative designer ... Being Human he made sure he erred violently with the Intelligent chip fiasco but got back to his roots of designing incredibly well made electronics at ... relatively sane prices. Still active in the DIY community.
Thomas Colangelo who designed the original ML-3 amplifer. His designs were re-imagined by many other high power SS designers who became quite famous ;)

There many others but these people are among the Elite, IMHO... They came to mind first...

For Speakers...
Lawrence Dickie of course. His works are legendary.
Andrew Jones can design anything from the $125 Pioneer Speakers and now Elac B series at less than $500 to the TAD Reference ... Knows his stuff inside out ...
The late John Dunleavy and Peter Walker ... I know those passed away so not let me get back to the living great...
Greg Timbers, responsible for so many great JBL Speakers Designs including the K2 and M9500...
Earl Geddes one completely unknown Speaker and Acoustics Genius used to post here .. no longer :(
An incredibly gifted and innovative speaker designer, Tom Danley, His designs are not unique for the sake of uniqueness but to address otherwise intractable problems.. Could one of these days produce a true high End speaker but for now too happy designing incredibly great sounding ... Sound Reinforcement speakers ... :D. Heard a Synergy based 2-CH and was astounded...
Richard Vandersteen
Jacques Mahul he of Focal JM Lab Fame. Designed many great speakers and Drivers ...
Siegfried Linkwitz .. Great speaker designer and one of the Designer of the very famous Crossover designs found in most High End speakers

The researchers

Of course Floyd Toole ..
The Harman Posse ( Devantier, Welti et al) 'nough said
The aforementioned Earl Geddes and Siegfried Linkwitz
James Johnston (JJ) ... who used to post here again not much :(

There are many I have probably missed.

To me greatness resides not in the commercial success but in the impact of a design or work in a given field ...
 

rsorren1

Well-Known Member
Sep 6, 2013
365
133
348
Dallas area
My take:

Designer: Jurgen Ries from MBL.

Rationale: I am biased for multi-talented people, and this guy can design great speakers and amplification and digital.

Writing: Valin from TAS.

Rationale: Whereas the vast majority of writers are limited by a poverty of words to describe the experience that High End Audio really is - and fail miserably, Valin is able to cast a spell on his readers that makes them feel the realism and presence of real musicians conjured up by the gear he is writing about. It is really too bad for audio fans that his tastes are analytical/ "transparency to source", which greatly limits his productivity for many fans due to his gear selections. Yet I'm not sure if there is anyone even close in their ability to create this believability and shape the brand story that really helps sell the gear

Business/ Sales/ Marketing: Tie between Alon Wolf and Paul McGowan.

Rationale: Wolf because he has been able to capture the "best engineered speakers" segment of the hobby and McGowan because he is a great salesman/ marketer that has delivered excellent digital, amps, and preamp that is nearly world class at a fraction of the price of what others consider "best there is"

Who do you guys choose? And Why?
Thanks for starting this. Here goes:
Designer - Florian Cossey and Thierry Heeb. They have used their collective industry experiences and have created a truly musical set of components with CH Precision. I also give a tip of the hat to Damien Martin. His design principals of wide bandwidth, high slew rate are being carried forward today by a number of Swiss manufacturers.

Writing - Roy Gregory. I enjoy reading his reviews. He describes what he is hearing well and in the rare instances when I have auditioned a piece that he reviewed, I normally come away with a deeper understanding of what he wrote and agreement with what he wrote.

Business/Sales/Marketing: I complement the manufacturers that have been in business for long periods of time: McIntosh, Linn, Audio Research, Wilson, etc. It's a very difficult business as we know and any manufacturer who has been at it for as long as these deserve the recognition for doing things right from a business perspective provided they are profitable which I can't tell.
 

andromedaaudio

VIP/Donor
Jan 23, 2011
8,354
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Amsterdam holland
Amps : the designers behind Boulder , CAT , Mark levinson old school 32 pre amp .( i havent heard everything off course )

Speakers : the designers behind magico, wilson , kharma

cables : no comment :D

Source : the designers of telefunken M 15 A , studer B 62 .


It doesnt mean i value the most advanced technology it has to sound good/natural as well

Ps it doesnt mean either i ilke all magico designs
 
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Lee

Well-Known Member
Feb 3, 2011
3,210
1,738
1,260
Alpharetta, Georgia
Designer: Three-Way Tie between Daryl Wilson of Wilson Audio and Warren Gehl of Audio Research and Caelin Gabriel of Shunyata. Consistent high quality designs that advance the state of the art.

Writing: Jon Darko of DAR, because he brings a youthful lens to the most exciting products and current trends.

Business/Sales/Marketing: David Solomon of Peachtree Audio because he works with the best brands and is the nicest, most enthusiastic guy in audio today. As an added bonus he has some of the better demos and music selections in the business. David just edged Phil O'Hanlon in case you were wondering.
 

analog brother

New Member
Jan 20, 2014
233
3
0
there are so many!!!
which is a great thing for us consumers.
we are in a golden age of audio design for sure.
conversely, if i said mezger, singer, barth, hatter, lagaay, lai, piech.....you'd know that those halcyon days in the auto industry have gone.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
37
0
Seattle, WA
Business/Sales/Marketing: David Solomon of Peachtree Audio because he works with the best brands and is the nicest, most enthusiastic guy in audio today. As an added bonus he has some of the better demos and music selections in the business. David just edged Phil O'Hanlon in case you were wondering.
David is all that but he doesn't hold a candle to Philip in one area. Looks!

David:


Philip::


Case closed I think. :D
 

Lee

Well-Known Member
Feb 3, 2011
3,210
1,738
1,260
Alpharetta, Georgia
david is all that but he doesn't hold a candle to philip in one area. Looks!

David:


philip::


case closed i think. :d

lol!
 

witchdoctor

Well-Known Member
Apr 23, 2016
337
5
148
My take:

Designer: Jurgen Ries from MBL.

Rationale: I am biased for multi-talented people, and this guy can design great speakers and amplification and digital.

Writing: Valin from TAS.

Rationale: Whereas the vast majority of writers are limited by a poverty of words to describe the experience that High End Audio really is - and fail miserably, Valin is able to cast a spell on his readers that makes them feel the realism and presence of real musicians conjured up by the gear he is writing about. It is really too bad for audio fans that his tastes are analytical/ "transparency to source", which greatly limits his productivity for many fans due to his gear selections. Yet I'm not sure if there is anyone even close in their ability to create this believability and shape the brand story that really helps sell the gear

Business/ Sales/ Marketing: Tie between Alon Wolf and Paul McGowan.

Rationale: Wolf because he has been able to capture the "best engineered speakers" segment of the hobby and McGowan because he is a great salesman/ marketer that has delivered excellent digital, amps, and preamp that is nearly world class at a fraction of the price of what others consider "best there is"

Who do you guys choose? And Why?

No brainer question. the CEO of Samsung, Dr. Oh-Hyun Kwon who just acquire Harman. In one deal they get the best portfolio of audio brands in the world. They will cross pollinate the Samsung portfolio of video, VR and mobile to potentially leave the competition in the dust.

Second place is Bob Carver, I love his products.
 
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astrotoy

VIP/Donor
May 24, 2010
1,547
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SF Bay Area
Peter Madnick of Audio Alchemy is now partnered with Andrew Jones under the ELAC umbrella. Two designers of great bargain priced products.

Larry
 

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