|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
I just got word that Harvey Rosenberg dropped dead (apparently of a heart attack) in Chicago. The news is devastating. There will be more to come, I am sure.
Follow Ups:
From Listener July/August 2001 (thanks Art)"Coming Full Circle
While writing this I received news that my friend David has malignant cancer, and it reminded me that Mr. Death can, at any moment, invite us for our last slice of pizza. Whenever I consider my mortality and ask myself what I would do if I only had a short time to live, an intrinsic part of the answer is, Get the most musical pleasure."-Dr. Gizmo
I liked his writing and found his beliefs to be fascinating, entertaining, and thought provoking.regards,
Rob C
A visit from Harvey was always an event,never boring.He was a true enthusiast to the core and a fun guy to listen with.Those who have known him will never forget him.Rest in peace Gizmo,and we`ll keep the tube rectifiers and triodes burning.
I exchanged a few short emails with Harvey in the past year; mostly letting him know that he'd inspired me to listen to music in a different way. In response to a letter about the enjoyment of pentodes that I sent him, he sent me an unpublished article about how he was currently getting into pentodes.I don't correspond with many people that I don't know personally, but of the few that I do correspond with, none are so generous with their time as Harvey was.
That's very sad. He had a way with words this avocation sorely needs.I had been planning on emailing him for a week now.
Very sad indeed. My condolences to his family and friends.
Go, Gizmo, go... The SET's will glow a little brighter for you.
Sad, very sad news indeed.Kalo taksidi file mou.
Vasilis
Can anyone provide a link or two to some of Harvey's writing for us relative newbies not familiar with his work?I discovered the world of high quality audio a bit late to have been influenced by his words, but his influence on others seems obvious.
May he be forever immune to component mismatches.
- Charlie
www.meta-gizmo.com/tri/index-1.html
Harvey recently wrote about the Manley 300B preamp and also their Neo-classic power amp. You can read those pieces on the Manley site:
Gizmo maybe gone from the physical world but he will always be inside our hearts. I never knew the man personally but somehow, having read his flowery prose and outrageous but witty ideas for years makes me really sad that I wont be reading more of him anymore. I will always remember the colorful, warm, humorous, fun loving and passionate man whom I wished I knew more beyond his prose and poetry.Gizmo,
Where ever you are ... thank you for the fun and more importantly, thank you for the wisdom. In the future, when I put my subwoofer on a stand to get it away from the floor - I will have to look up upon the heavens and thank you again. I am sure I will need to thank you several more times after that too.
Hansen aka Hyperion
I wonder how Jennifer Crock feels about this?
I just received a phone message left last night by Jennifer on my answering machine...It(the message) was to alert me to the fact of Harvey's passing...I haven't returned her call yet but can say, for her and all the tube-heads in the Portland area, that Harvey will be dearly missed...I never meet Harvey in person but do go back along way with his writing...Remember the diaper that Harvey included with a review unit summited to an Audio journal...To prevent a mess when the reviewer shit in his pants listening to Harvey's amp!!
We'll all miss his wit and originality....
I think maybe his family would like to see how many people liked and admired him.
There's also a note from his nephew.
I got to know Harvey seven or eight years ago. Although I have owned a Moscode 600 amp since the mid-eighties and had read Harvey's writing from that period, my meeting Harvey and our friendship had nothing to do with audio. In fact, at the time, neither of us were particularly interested in it. We listened to a lot of music, though, while talking about everything else under the sun.Harvey was really a unique person with a very wide breadth of knowledge and, of course, his linguistic gifts. I recently had my Moscode rebuilt and was planning on having Harvey over to hear how magnificent it sounds...so, Harvey, if you're out there, swing by some evening and have a listen!
Harvey made a difference. He wasn't content to live a life of mediocrity.A true original, he'll never be replaced. Although he has left us, his many contributions to our musical lives will live on.
I don't know where to begin. Janet and I were devastated by the news yesterday, and we have yet to really come to grips with it.I last spoke with Harvey on Saturday morning, when he called to see how we were doing: My mother, sister, and I had all spent time in the hospital recently, and Harvey called to check in every day. He was excited about his upcoming trip to the midwest, where he was going to hear a new Vaic amplifier design. His hosts there were the ones who rushed him to a medical center when they picked him up at the airport and Harvey complained of not feeling well.
Harvey was so important to Listener in every way, not only as a writer but as a guide and a mentor. As Janet and I have often observed, Harvey had more good ideas in a day than we'll have in a lifetime of trying.
More important, Harvey was my friend. A list of all the kindnesses he showed me over the years wouldn't fit here, or anywhere. It's so unfathomable to me that such a big heart could ever stop.
Harvey would not want us to be sad--remember when he wrote that he wanted his tombstone to be decorated with cherubs with erections and the epitaph "he was a bad dude, but he made shit happen"?--but it's impossible not be be sad today. I keep waiting for him to call.
God bless you and keep you, Harvey.
Dear Janice & Art,
I found Harvey in Listener and he has been a big influence on me ever since. Just reading his stuff and a few e-mails. I wish his friends the best. I feel bad, it's a big loss for me.
Ron
NT
Harvey Rosenberg was a special guy.He was one of the only audio writers who could capture the special passion for music that a high-end system can create.
He was an original, and I'll miss him.
Steven Stone
Harvey's too early and sudden departure will create a huge vacuum outside of all of us but will keep him close in our hearts. Such cheerful and nice people can't be forgotten. He has walked the earth in joy and shared that joy with us. Ain't that a magnificient thing?Harvey Dr. Gizmo Rosenberg, have your soul rest in peace and good music.
Sead
I always enjoyed Harvey's writing immensely.
Being a Moscode600 user,I once dropped him a line,quite convinced that certainly he would be way too busy to answer mail of such nature.
I wrote ~ 10 letters to him,all answered within hours,always containing good cheer and encouragement.A rare human being.
Raanan
Always read him. Chased him down after he left Steve's site. Never fully understood him but once again always read him. Pretty cool looking in that Scottish skirt. Nonconforming. I miss him already and really don't know why. Can't say "I'll see you soon" but can say "I'd like to talk to you sometime in the distant future."
RIP Harvey.
Bob Samuelson
Very sad news...
The Doc. was very hip with everything...
He shared with me the greatness of Japan's Sun Audio Push Pull amps...
and many secrets of Japans Audiomaniacs!
Joven
Oh man, just reading that gives me chest pains. I met Harvey when he was in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, peddling NYAL OTL amplifiers and serving as spokesman for Tube God. He had the aura of snake oil salesman about him which to his credit he cultivated into an unforgettable persona. I thought his writings contained a semblance of truth and often a pearl of wisdom, which is more than can be said for some of his critics.jim
I got the mail about his passing this afternoon and thought it was another of his joke. Then, more mails started to come in to confirm his death. Gee, feels like audio industry suddenly turned into monocrome.May he rest in peace.
Yoshi/SAKURA SYSTEMS
When I was just an internet infant, he came to my rescue and helped me to the SET way. Always, helpful to his friends, a very smart and savoy individual, if he believed in something he would fight for what he felt was right. I was always impressed that he took the time to answer my silly e-mails... maybe he liked me... I don't know. I thought he was a real PAL... In his book "The Search for Musical Ecstasy" he knew his time was closing in and trying for an extension. Shit happens. Always the humorist, stating that he was "clebrating the worms nibbling on my toes".
Well, Gizmo, you are truely are eternal in the minds of those who loved you and also your enemies and those that will ultimately find their own musical ecstasy. The audio industry has lost their greatest critic and a most dedicated perveyer of audio creativity and enovation.the yam man
in their time of grief.I wonder if 2A3s ever go bad in heaven?
Chris
The world has lost a unique individual, someone who believed in the liberating "truths" to be found in Music. He's now listening to his dream system for eternity. Thank you Harvey for sharing your joy, wisdom, and love of life. You are Music!!!
.
Good Bye Gizmo,He was a real character and helped me make my La Scalas top notch. At least it was quick and I hope he had a great meal and a fine cigar before the lights went out.
nt
Too many cold drafts while wearing too many short skirts?It's sad to see a 'true character' go, life, and the audio hobby especially, has far too few of them.
Good-bye Harvey
How Sad. He sold his Tannoys on ebay last week. Parting with them might have been to much???
A great lost to the OTL world !!!
A HiFi nut with a strong, distinctive personality, "Gizmo" is one of the forerunners for the propagation and strong advocate for SET and DHTs in this motherland.He will be missed greatly ***sob***
*******Harv is now looking down from Heaven with a NOS 300B on his hands, staring upon us mortals on Audioasylum BBS*******Quest :^ <
.
jusbe
.oO AUM Oo.
That's said news. Harvey was a unique personality that will be missed.
When I recently tried to "moderate" a thread at SET where Harvey evoked some strong negative reactions, I corresponded with him off-line and found him to be the colorful character that he is, but very sincere. I enjoyed our e-mail conversations, and am sorry that I will never meet him.I called his style "bombastic and full of hyperbole," and could see why some would dislike him for that. However, the world of high-end audio (and especially single-ended and tube audio) and was a bit less stuffy and staid thanks to his off-the-wall writing.
Underneath it all, he was a sincere, intelligent and caring person, and I will miss his presence in high-end audio.
May you rest in peace, Harvey.
Dave van Harn
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: