There are a lot of competent designers out there, but I have to go with who designed several amps I found that flat out sounded the best or at least tops in their market.
John Curl for the 1200 Mk II. Not sure I have heard better. Toss up to the Aragon.
Erno Bolbery for the Hitachi MOSFETS
Nelson Pass for the several efforts, some cheap, some expensive
Whoever designed the Aragon.
David Hafler for getting the most of the least.
David Manley for bringing tubes into the 20th century.
Some of the old Kenwoods were better than others of the time. Fet front ends etc.
Of course I think MY amp is the best, but I only can claim to listen to the advice of several of the above as well as Self, Cordell, Leach, and many others. I did nothing original or brilliant, just paid attention to those smarter than I. Like Tom Lehrer said:
" When in doubt plagiarize.
Let no ones work evade your eyes.
That's why God gave you eyes.
Plagiarize plagiarize plagiarize"
Or like I prefer, to copy one is plagiarism, to copy many is research.
I might also comment on how many rather poor amps have been built. When I bought my B&K, I brought home to audition probably 20 amps. About everything under $1000 at the time. Surprising how bad some were. Brown stands out. A PS was nice. Carver was clever, but his amps were not. Hafler Trans-nova sounded nice, but the transformers buzzed. There was a 100W Krell I remember being impressed with. Pre-insane price stuff. There was some amp-of-the week, from New Zealand I think, was not that great. It was a long time ago, so hard to remember. Early Cary amps if you like butter poured all over your music. JoLita was nice for a contemporary affordable tube, but 12W ran out of oomph in my office. ( Replaced by a Nad and then a Creek) The early Quad amp was under-rated. Niam was good.
John Curl for the 1200 Mk II. Not sure I have heard better. Toss up to the Aragon.
Erno Bolbery for the Hitachi MOSFETS
Nelson Pass for the several efforts, some cheap, some expensive
Whoever designed the Aragon.
David Hafler for getting the most of the least.
David Manley for bringing tubes into the 20th century.
Some of the old Kenwoods were better than others of the time. Fet front ends etc.
Of course I think MY amp is the best, but I only can claim to listen to the advice of several of the above as well as Self, Cordell, Leach, and many others. I did nothing original or brilliant, just paid attention to those smarter than I. Like Tom Lehrer said:
" When in doubt plagiarize.
Let no ones work evade your eyes.
That's why God gave you eyes.
Plagiarize plagiarize plagiarize"
Or like I prefer, to copy one is plagiarism, to copy many is research.
I might also comment on how many rather poor amps have been built. When I bought my B&K, I brought home to audition probably 20 amps. About everything under $1000 at the time. Surprising how bad some were. Brown stands out. A PS was nice. Carver was clever, but his amps were not. Hafler Trans-nova sounded nice, but the transformers buzzed. There was a 100W Krell I remember being impressed with. Pre-insane price stuff. There was some amp-of-the week, from New Zealand I think, was not that great. It was a long time ago, so hard to remember. Early Cary amps if you like butter poured all over your music. JoLita was nice for a contemporary affordable tube, but 12W ran out of oomph in my office. ( Replaced by a Nad and then a Creek) The early Quad amp was under-rated. Niam was good.
Where are the Krell worshippers? Where are the Conrad Johnson devotees? How about Electrocompaniet? Audio Research? Boulder? Bryston? Will no one stand up for Peter Walker of Quad? Malcolm Hawksford? Marshall Leach? Julian Vereker?
I myself believe Bob Cordell belongs on the short list of Best Amp Designers.
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I myself believe Bob Cordell belongs on the short list of Best Amp Designers.
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Peter Walker and everyone else involved in the design of the QUAD-405,
Peter Baxandall,
and if the question were not limited to solid state amplifiers: L. V. Viddeleer.
When it's about amplifiers in general rather than specifically audio amplifiers: also Ernst Nordholt, Han Huijsing, Frans Tol.
Peter Baxandall,
and if the question were not limited to solid state amplifiers: L. V. Viddeleer.
When it's about amplifiers in general rather than specifically audio amplifiers: also Ernst Nordholt, Han Huijsing, Frans Tol.
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I always admired Roland and their engineering. Outstanding in anything they do/produce. Good value for money as well.
To design an audio amp, the designer must have highly trained ears for the sound of music, both for instrument sounds and expression. That is, he must be as chef cook rather than chemist to produce great tasting dishes. The great masters were the Japanese designers of 50's to 70's when the Japanese men after work were at tea houses to enjoy primarily HiFi music. The music should sound good if not better than the competitor, or else the tea house is loosing the customers. J. Hiraga is just a student of these great masters.
I should also throw in Stan Gould of BSS for the design of the EPC780. A remarkable design feat, especially for the time. These were very large HEXFET based power amps from the early 1990s that featured a highly sophisticated switching power supply. They powered the Turbosound Flashlight arrays that were used for the 1994 Division Bell tour.
Unfortunately, they were also so expensive to produce that despite being the most expensive professional amplifier in the world at the time, I'm not sure that anyone actually made any money on them.
Unfortunately, they were also so expensive to produce that despite being the most expensive professional amplifier in the world at the time, I'm not sure that anyone actually made any money on them.
Patrick Howe Quilter which i think got us the most genious design of all times.
Lars Clausen who's Zeta 2 design isn't public anymore for some weird reason that i don't know.
Greg Ball for SKA-GB 150
not talking here about Kenwood-Kensonic-Accuphase 's designers as i don't know them by name but they are the culprit for some unbeatable designs in term of sound accuracy.
Lars Clausen who's Zeta 2 design isn't public anymore for some weird reason that i don't know.
Greg Ball for SKA-GB 150
not talking here about Kenwood-Kensonic-Accuphase 's designers as i don't know them by name but they are the culprit for some unbeatable designs in term of sound accuracy.
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I add his seven transistors Mosfet amplifier of extremely low distortion and its nine transistors evolution using current dumping a la Quad 405.
I'll also mention Douglas Self wiht his writings providing the most extended and easy to read documentation on analog solid state amplification.
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