Post by Owen Y on Dec 14, 2019 9:36:55 GMT 12
Roger Modjeski, amplifier designer & manufacturer, just passed away. www.electrafidelity.com/rogerRoger Modjeski founded Music Reference in California in 1981 & many here will have listened to one of Roger's 'RM' amps or preamps. My only experience of any duration that I can recall at home, was with a Modjeski Pre-Preamp (an active tube MC phono step-up), although the RM-9 could be encountered locally here & there in those days. Not to mention also, the RAM Labs 'RAM' tubes which were tested/graded/matched tubes, typically 6DJ8s, etc.  RM-9 amplifier
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Post by michaelw on Dec 14, 2019 11:15:47 GMT 12
rip.
i wonder if a had a set of his selected 6dj8 woudl have prolonged the usefulness of my old counterpoint sa7 ?
i last saw a music reference amp at sound and vision napier back in january.
they were popular back in the late 80s/early 90s, dark but musical sounding, seen as a stepping stone towards the more expensive audio research tube amps.
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Post by colinf on Dec 14, 2019 20:37:13 GMT 12
Oh dear! I only spoke to him a few weeks ago but he didn’t mention he had the big C.... He was one of my biggest inspirations, we’ve known each other since about 1991. He came down under in about 1993? and we toured southern Victoria together. I then stayed at his in Santa Barbara for a few months. What a great time. I remember being driven around in the Jensen Healy, the maroon Maserati still in the garage as something had broken on it yet again. RIP Roger! You’ll be sorely missed my friend. Well I knew his circuits quite well and we were always discussing the best way to take negative feedback off the output, or the load line of EL84s, amongst other things. He dismissed output toroidal transformers, having wound his own EI ones for ages. It would have been good to be closer to him before his passing. I guess the trip to San Fran next year is off!
AMR-iFi R&D
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Post by Owen Y on Dec 16, 2019 9:28:52 GMT 12
Thanks colinf! Great insights, good stuff.
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Post by colinf on Dec 17, 2019 21:50:50 GMT 12
We’ve been reminiscing about Roger on the Audiogon forum. From Clio09: “The San Francisco Audio Society that awarded Roger with their lifetime achievement award recently received a note from Michael Fremer when he heard the news of Roger’s passing: "I knew Roger for many years, at first only through phone calls and emails. I was fortunate to have met him years later through the San Francisco Audiophile Society and so happy to have shared that time with him. He was always a reluctant manufacturer, as I point out in my review of the RM200 MKII that I own and use as a tube reference, but so generous with his time and knowledge (https://www.stereophile.com/content/music-reference-rm-200-mkii-power-amplifier). Not surprisingly, the amp measures as well as it sounds, or as John Atkinson concluded: ’As did the original version of the Music Reference RM-200 amplifier, the Mk.II edition offers superb measured performance for a tubed design, particularly in terms of midband distortion and the ability to drive low impedances. And I remain impressed by the quality of its output transformers.’ We all knew he had a terminal illness and he talked about it with me when I last visited in the fall. I just didn’t think he’d pass this quickly. He will be missed by all. What a lovely man." “
AMR-iFi R&D
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Post by Owen Y on Dec 19, 2019 14:40:47 GMT 12
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