R.I.P. James Bongiorno, a true HiFi legend (1943-2013)

auraheart

Just found out today Mr. James Bongiorno passed away at the age of 70. R.I.P.

Below is his achievements:

Hadley Laboratories 622C Power Amplifier, contributing engineer
Marantz Model 15 Power Amplifier, contributing engineer
Dynaco Stereo 400 Power Amplifier, Designer
Dynaco AF-6 AM/FM Tuner, contributing engineer
SAE (Scientific Audio Engineering)
XXXIB Power Amplifier, Designer
IIIC/CM Power Amplifier, Designer
IVD/DM Power Amplfier, Designer
VIB Stereo Tuner, contributing engineer
IC Stereo Preamplifier, contributing engineer
GAS (The Great American Sound Co.) Chief Designer
Ampzilla Power Amplifier
Ampzilla II (World's first servo-controlled power amplifier)
Thaedra Preamplifier (World's first (and only) servo controlled preamp)
Thoebe Preamplifier
Son of Ampzilla Power Amplifier
Thalia Preamplifier
Grandson Power Amplfier
Sleeping Beauty Moving Coil Cartrdges
Sumo Electric Co. Ltd. Chief Designer
The Power, World's first 450 watt/channel fully balanced Bridge Power Amp
The Gold, World's first patented solid state Class A Power Amplifier
The Nine, World's first low cost solid state class A power amplifier
The Nine+, Ruggedized version
Electra Preamplifier
Charlie the Tuner, world's first premium low cost stereo tuner (The humor in the name is that US TV advertisements of the 80's had a cartoon tunafish named Charlie selling cans of his relatives . . . and the tuner had quite mixed reviews.)
The Half-power, stereo power amplifier
Andromeda, world's first low cost solid state class AB Balanced Power Amp
The Sumo I, Magnetic Phono Cartridge
The Sumo II, Moving coil Phono Cartridge
Harman-Kardon, Consultant, completely redesigned the Citation 23 Tuner
Crown Radio, Japan, 4 power amps, 2 preamps, a fully equalized (phase & amplitude) 3-way electronic crossover.
Spread Spectrum Technologies Inc.. Chief Designer
Ampzilla 2000, fully balanced monoblock power amplifier
Trinaural Processor


I am honored to have two of his great design namely The Dynaco Stereo 400 and Great American Sound Ampzilla II power amps. " If I were forced to cite one single project that can describe James Bongiorno's genius I'd choose the GAS Ampzilla power amplifier because, at that time, this represented a refreshing departure from the usual HiFi cliché's...this power amplifier was every audiophile's dream!"
More generally, his amplifiers and preamplifiers for SAE, GAS and Sumo were components that marked an era, for the originality of their design, circuit layout and price/quality ratio. He was such an eclectic designer and man.

waiking

RIP

柒喜

供獻良多，早登極樂

Peers123

RIP

BB29

願大師早日安息！

cegong

RIP

sunnyisland

RIP
一路好走

auraheart

柒喜 發表於 2013-10-5 21:39
供獻良多，早登極樂

I felt very sad when I found out about his death.  He was one of the earliest who pin-point against the cross-over distortion of audio amps on his work (The Dynaco Stereo 400).  He shook the Hi Fi world with his Ampzilla & Ampzilla II amps due to hi speed, and very wide dynamic headroom, price/performance ratio.

henry1328

RIP

lucky1314

RIP
一路好走
早登極樂

822leung

RIP

steven2012

願James早日安息

gooseling

I once owned the Ampzilla ! Great amp with a fan tunnel through the output transistors ! RIP !

songlam

回復 auraheart #1 的帖子

人生七十,RIP

7k7k

RIP

fb3cb2

RIP

123faifai

auraheart

gooseling 發表於 2013-10-5 22:45
I once owned the Ampzilla ! Great amp with a fan tunnel through the output transistors ! RIP !

It is a great amp, can still go head to head against most amps today and kick some butts, hehe.  I got a feeling that the air tunnel hmmm...it's idea is from Marantz where Marantz borrowed from NASA.  It did not have the same problem Marantz once had.  (Seemed like a mounting issue of the fan that sometimes cause noise).  Overall, the air tunnel of Ampzilla is a better design.

Wanbaolung

RIP

車呀文

貢獻良多....
RIP