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31.107.20.35
Just got an email from Nara that Don passed on Sunday. May he rest in peace and his family know Don was a gent.
I wish I never sold the amps I bought from him, but I'm glad I knew him, even if it was only by correspondence.
God bless him.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Follow Ups:
Definitely worth a read .
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
... as they were then. Simple. Succinct. Honest.
Warn regards,
91.
"Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems to characterise our age." Albert Einstein
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Thank you jusbe for posting this. No truer words have ever been spoken. I miss Don as I guess we all do. We are all richer to have known him.
So sorry to hear this. I never met Don, but talked with him on the phone once, and communicated via email various times. I have the good fortune to enjoy his work and vision daily with my Super X and gorgeous preamp. I hear music as I hoped for, and I'm a musician.
What sad news.
I met Don in late 1992 when he was running his business on 30 Watts Street (!!) in NYC. It was one of the greatest places I had even seen, full of unique single ended amps. If I recall, he was not making amps of his own design at that time.
We kept in touch and when I opened my Hi Notes in Georgia a few years later, Don sent me some amps to sell at retail.
He was a true original and will certainly be missed.
I only met Don once - at his store circa '96 (I believe).
What a great guy!
RIP Don.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Our thoughts are with Don's family and friends.
Don seemed like one of the good guys - genuine, committed, and kind. He was one of the pioneers in the SET resurgence back in day and a true artisan.
Bless.
"Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems to characterise our age." Albert Einstein
I remember seeing some obscure ads for Fi in Sound Practices, I think. The whole 'underground' aura of mystery and discovery around SETs and DHT triodes was exciting and intriguing. I got to know about Don and Fi through Listener magazine.
It would be great to capture that spirit again.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
I loved his ads in Sound Practices and the unique industrial design of his amplifiers. Godspeed.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
yes , I also remember them , not to mention other ads and the prices. Geez ,one could buy those Tamura/ Tango /Audio Note transformers for close to nothing compared to what they sell nowadays ...
Godspeed Don!
The only place that makes a habit of doing that in the US, as far as I can tell, is Bottlehead.
The informal European Triode Festivals, or events at Beauvechain seem to have appeal. But you're right - Bottlehead is special. OMA tastings used to look that way too, but I'm not sure they still happen.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
The OMA gatherings are more "commercial" these days.I wonder if we could start an online equivalent - a nicely (but not heavily) curated blog with several contributors. Interesting, artisanal, small-batch and custom builders. There are elements of this scattered around the web... I have fond memories of Dr. Gizmo and a few other sites from back in day.
Or, maybe we simply know more now - have been around it for a while - and therefore it seems less mysterious. These days, I find pentode-drives-DHT (mildly mysterious), direct-coupled-craziness, heavy-metal (lots of transformers), Sakuma-style, and old school (no solid state) interesting.
Add some quality wound transformers on funky cores, low DCR supplies (not necessarily LSES!), and build techniques tht follow a path less trodden - techniques that define the builder and what they are trying to achieve. Don was one. There are others.
BAJ (big audio jewellery) is most definitely NOT mysterious.
OK - time to stop thinking out loud.
Cheers,
91.
"Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems to characterise our age." Albert Einstein
Edits: 06/11/17
Not necessarily LSES?
Talk about throwing the Baby out with the Bathwater!!!!!
Study Energy Transfer Factor. And DO NOT get your information from electronics "experts". Get it from Normal People.
-Dennis-
Just trying to be clear I'm agnostic and am interested more than one approach. I'll try LSES one day.
I'm not taking this thread further off topic. It is unfortunate that it has gone as off topic as it has - respectfully, this thread is about Don.
Warm regards,
91.
"Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems to characterise our age." Albert Einstein
I worry that, as artisans die, their knowledge dies with them. Who wouldn't love to know that the art, craft and science of the leaders behind Miyabi cartridges or Fi amps lives on? Who wouldn't want to know how to wind their own Partridge or Parmeko style transformers? I would! How great would it have been to have a short film and interview with Don before he passed? How many other digital histories are we missing/losing?What we have are lots of blogs, forums and review sites. Some basic editorial, mostly given to ranting about this or that (digital or analogue). We also have whole tube ecologies in companies like Bottlehead which foster a sense of communnity (around their products). And it should be noted that younger audiences are much better at building their digital communities than we are (headphone set, and so on). I still think there is room though.
But we're missing out. We're not using the internet fully to our community's advantage. What we *dont'* have, which is what you get at meetings of ultra-fi enthusiasts, are things like:
background stories on audio/engineer artists
a glimpse of the unusual collections of designers
theory and practice in design
construction techniques and lessons
transformer winding lessons
power supply theory and designs
vinyl cartridge building/re-building lessons
tube theory, with simple circuit design and PDF downloads
horn theory, with demonstrated DIY techniquesand so on.
Effectively, we need a channel - perhaps by subscription - that is sufficiently broad enough in interest, and that would pay for editorial to be shot and produced, with series of content dedicated to the above and more. A bit like the folks at cycling.tv, who decided to launch an online channel for the worldwide community of cyclists because they weren't being served by normal providers.
Surely, if we have a community of those who can afford the luxury items of today, we can find a way to generate content online that is more up to date, relevant and that would *bring in new audiences and customers*. How cool would it be to be able to replace long-lost parts with 3D printing? Or revive and re-examine engineering techniques from a century ago?
Some argue that to do the above is to remove the market from existing business. Many others more successfully argue that to grow the market and build demand creates new business and sustains our hobby more effectively over the long term. It builds resilience.
If anyone's listening, I have more than 10 years content/TV production experience, as well as teaching experience to bring to bear! Also have a producer buddy with 25 years experience (BBC, Discovery, Al Jazeera) looking for new and interesting things to do. Anyone ready for some market disruption? :^)
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Edits: 06/12/17 06/12/17 06/12/17 06/12/17
I'd send this to idea to Art Dudley at Stereophile.
And he'd be a good presenter, I'm sure. Rather like Louis Theroux but without the cynicism, and more humour.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Great products and well-learned lessons from the past
abound. It is all over the place-- all around you at
all times.
What your community lacks-- sorely-- is the will to BUY
the great products that come from good minds.
There is a distinct bias for el-cheapo things, and a bias
against paying the genius for his work-- also a bias against
incorporating new and novel information because it isn't conventional
thinking.
Many who have passed away had learned how to satisfy the problems in human nature--make a new amp every time a new interest in a certain tube appears. This endless experimenting makes for public popularity, and leaves behind "legendary" product examples for all to adore.
This approach, while popular, never addresses getting ONE of
them PERFECT. Why not just build ONE that is PERFECTED?
We don't live in that world. We want something new every day, and we get it.
It is, however, possible to enjoy music on a different, far higher level.
Get EACH component in a system perfected-- right the first time-- and
perfect it, instead of endlessly changing the products to suit the
latest tube that is in vogue, etc.
People do both. A better world, however, at least musically, does exist.
(1) Figure out what the ultimate is.
(2) Build and perfect THAT.
-Dennis-
Please, some respect for Don here. Can we bring this back on topic and create a separate thread to discuss this and related issues?
91.
"Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems to characterise our age." Albert Einstein
I agree, this is memorial thread about a gentleman passing away.
I'm sorry. I was thinking about a positive, lasting way to remember someone like Don. I got carried away.
RIP Don. The community misses you.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Not really - you were well-intentioned. We got excited with the idea...
I just wanted to pull it up before it became a debate about design approaches.
Cheers,
91.
"Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems to characterise our age." Albert Einstein
I know that this is maybe off-topic, but I ran into this from
CNN Entertainment. As long as we're honoring those who have made our lives better:
Adam West (from the Batman and Robin T.V. series) has passed away
Friday night, June 9.
In order to keep as brief as practical, I'll only paraphrase a few lines here:
Adam West: "I got to laugh.... How lucky can a person get to
be a part of something that is a classic?"
He'd been hoping for a career in a more serious role but the pilot script
to "Batman" changed his mind....
"I knew after 20 pages it was the kind of thing I wanted to do."
"I will forever miss him (Burt Ward who played Robin) There are several fine actors who have portrayed Batman in films. In my eyes there was only one real Batman that is and always will be Adam West. He was truly the Bright Knight".
Adam West and Burt Ward are two of my heroes. Adam is gone. Rest?
No, Adam! In Peace? How silly! Know that you are loved and appreciated...
-Dennis-
I hope you aren't inferring this about Don. He never stood still.
Don didn't think so.
"why is d.c. crazy?"That isn't the question.
Here is the question:
WHY would anyone use anything else?Here are the problems:
(1) transformer coupling reduces bandwidth,
compromises rhythm, pace and timing, and worst of all,
requires extra power to drive the transformer. Any power losses
in a signal chain translate directly into lost dynamics
and lost transparency. Tube choices for driving the
transformer directly also become more limited.(2) There is NOTHING that can UNDERperform capacitor coupling.
Again, driving the devices gobbles up power. Again, driving the
device leaves out the best tube choices because they can't drive
both the capacitor and the Miller capacitance of the tube to be
driven, both at the same time without bandwidth loss.(3) so-called "instability" in a D.C. couple can arise from
design and layout problems, and especially from grounding systems
issues, and the idiotic wish to run tubes "hot" instead of in the
exact middle of their performance curves. There is NO excuse
for instability in ANY amplifier. Power supply isolation between each
stage in ANY amplifier is paramount, in a D.C. couple, it is
mandatory.(4) Good design and execution makes any amplifier into what it
can be at its best. Failure to address all of the issues in a
D.C. amp is a good way to waste the entire effort.(5) D.C. amps can be designed into a 2-stage amp instead of
using more gain stages. The musical advantages of this simple
approach are profound-- that is an understatement.(6) The advantages of the simple 2-stage D.C. amp are
lost if the driver tube isn't high-gain. Amp factors of
70 to 100 are appropriate here-- lesser values of gain
simply erase all of the sonic advantages and render the
entire effort ordinary in fun and jump-factor.(7) Plate current in the driver stage is very critical.
Once it rises over a certain low value, all of the advantages
go out the window rather quickly.(8) This kind of amplifier, if used in a Single-Ended
approach, is therefore going to be limited in power output.(9) Any speaker that requires over about 1 watt to drive
at your favorite listening level, will negate the D.C.-couple
advantages-- you'll get better results with a more powerful
cap-coupled or transformer coupled, or Solid-State amp.The low-power, 2-stage, high-gain driver S.E. amp has NO
sonic equal in all of audio. It can sound EXTREMELY dynamic
and powerful, clean, fast, and dead-accurate as far as
musician's intentions go. It requires that it be designed
and built correctly, and that it drive speakers of over 98 db/watt
efficiency. Speaker cables are a big issue here. You can
easily lose the whole thing in those cables alone.Efforts to obtain more power out of these designs, while not
--at best-- too much worse than cap or transformer coupling, does
severely limit the D.C. amp's possible performance-- especially
in musical dynamics. Good dynamics are a function of
amplifier response time and power delivery speed, and ARE NOT
a function of amplifier power unless the speaker requires more power.THAT would be an inferior speaker.
-Dennis-
Edits: 06/14/17 06/14/17 06/14/17
They are not the easiest to implement; they can be more challenging than to dial in, stability can be an issue, and the output tube is left exposed if the driver fails. There are ways of mitigating these practical challenges. I reckon the sonic advantages of direct-coupling outweigh its disadvantages.
The amp I'm currently designing (I've just finished designing the sub-chassis and mounts) will be a 6C6 direct-coupled to a 2A3 running at low dissipation. Don't know what it will sound like - hopefully different (maybe "better"?) than my present amp.
Cheers,
91.
"Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems to characterise our age." Albert Einstein
Don worked alone. Too bad his work can't be carried on commercially, although he may have left some hand-drawn circuits behind. He sent me one for my 2A3 monos, that he said, was "pretty close". I'll have to dig to find the email.Incidentally, Stereophile posted an obituary a few days ago.
Edits: 06/12/17
Sad indeed. I have a pair of his 2A3/45 monos. He was always so helpful in guiding me through possible changes in components and circuitry. He did it all by ear + experience and never stood still.
I always wanted one of his 46 or 421 amps, after my Super X3. Never got around to it. Too late now. Sad to see the likes of Don leave our community. One of a kind, and an artist too.
Hope the amps still please you.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
This really is sad news. I found Don a pleasure to deal with, always helpful in answering questions and getting something right. I always thought he would retire and advise that someone was taking over the construction and delivery of his amps and preamps, or at least support of the ones that are out there. It sounds like maybe his passing wasn't expected.
Super X 2a3/45 amp, Evolution preamp
http://www.twitteringmachines.com/tm/2010/11/road-tour-fi/
a sad news
Good to see it again.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Edits: 06/10/17
One of the members of the infamous "The New York Triode Mafia". RIP
Very sad news. I got to meet him when I drove out to his place in Brooklyn to pick up my Y preamp. He was a gentleman.
You never see Don's equipment for sale - fact !
The final arbiter of product quality and unique build approach.
He left his mark, RIP
Johno
Godspeed Mr. Garber. He was a gentleman and an artist.
Sorry to hear about Don's passing.....
I talked to him about a year ago, (my TKD volume
control on my Evolution Pre was acting funky),
he fixed it for free, nothing unusual for him.
(I've owned it for 8 year's,long out of warranty.)
I'm sure he's trying to explain circuits to somebody
upstairs.
That's too bad - I always felt he made the most interesting looking amplifiers and were very well respected. I always hoped I would get the chance to meet him and try out his awesome looking amplifiers.
Edits: 06/08/17
I too received this unfortunate news today via email as well, very sad! We had some nice conversations as I waited for my Fi2b to be made. Seemed like I bugged him weekly for months but he was always gracious and kind enough to give me his time OTP each time I called, never once making me feel unwelcome. Don Garber was a special person, he's gone but not forgotten.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Thanks jusbe for letting us know. I did know he was ill. I was planning on calling him in a couple of weeks. I own his X4 (type 46) amp. I love it. It is a keeper. This is a sad day.
I miss my Super X3.
RIP Don.
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
I feel your pain brother. I will miss him. Always a gentleman. Always had the time to answer questions. God bless him and his family. I wish I would have purchased more pieces from him.
A sad day-
Happy Listening
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