[Zachik]

I wrote him a message on 11.03 and he has not answered. Offline for weeks.

I have been trying to reach him since Mar. 9 with no success.

 

[TheMiddleSky]

hopefully he is just busy and not related to health problem

 

[UntilThen]

It's with an incredible sadness I make this post. Tomas passed away on the 28th Feb 2023. Someone I call my friend, not just my amp builder. As a mark of respect, I have nothing more to say. If you need confirmation, you can msg me for the confirmation links. I will not share it in public.

 

[Zachik]

So SAD

 

[Isaacc7]

What a loss… I will always be grateful for him indulging this crazy audiophile’s ideas and making my dream amp. Others have called me nuts but he said sure from the very beginning. His passion for tube amplification and music shone through in his amplifiers. He will continue to have a wonderful impact on my life for years to come.

Only 40 years old, gone too soon. My heart goes out to his friends and loved ones.

 

[nykobing]

Very, very sad to hear the news. I just paid my final payment for my amp on Feb 13 and he was building it, he asked me what color knobs I wanted and I never heard from him again. I guess I lost everything?

 

[VanHai]

What a sad news, God's blessing his soul. I was listening to his creation, the low profile Oblivion for 2-3 hours yesterday. What a nice man, he answered my questions within 5 munities on 7/02/22 after i acquired the amp from the first owner.


Hi there!

Those 6S19P tubes take forever to warm up

Yes! You have to have some patience with those tubes but once warm they sing!

Does it make any different to use RCA or balanced?

No difference whatsoever.

I know that the amp is single ended

Only the input stage is SE. The output is balanced push pull.

is this the only low profile version of the Oblivion in the US?

It's the only one in the world actually!

I will bring this amp to the next meet in Virginia, Maryland and Washington DC to let people have audition of this wonderful amp.

Cool!

Oblivion review

 

[Isaacc7]

Very, very sad to hear the news. I just paid my final payment for my amp on Feb 13 and he was building it, he asked me what color knobs I wanted and I never heard from him again. I guess I lost everything?

I’m sure Tomas was the only person doing the business. If there was anyone else involved and could be contacted then there could be a chance but I think with his passing all business will remain unfinished. So sorry you never got to hear your amp

 

[Zachik]

I just paid my final payment for my amp

I am in the same boat as you. I am sure we are not the only 2 here in this situation.

 

[alvin sawdust]

Oh my gosh, that news has shocked me to the core. Was in touch with Tomas in January when I asked how his health was. Told me he was burnt out and home from his regular job but felt like he was improving. Such a lovely person to deal with, a massive loss to the Head-fi community. My thoughts are with his loved ones.
I'm sure the outstanding build issues will be resolved.

 

[OctavianH]

In the last 2 weeks I received several news related to persons with an age closer to mine which passed away. From all of them, he was the only person I have not personally met, but seemed to be closer to me than many. A positive and hard working guy who always answered very fast and with a lot of enthusiasm. He was loving what he was doing, but maybe it was too much alongside a full time job. This can be a good moment for us to stop for a moment and think a little bit about how pushy we are and how impatient we become when we are more and more into this hobby. And for us is just a hobby, an escape from our daily problems, but for others it can be the second job from the evening. Maybe we need to learn something about life and stress management, and we can try to be better and more understanding with each other. I will, for sure, reassess my priorities. I have a different evaluation system than some of us, for me an old person is someone who stops to search and learn and a dead person is someone who is forgotten. In his case, he will never be in such a situation because what he left us will make us remember him each time we listen to our favourite music. I was lucky to have the experience to listen to one of his amps.

 

[ThanatosVI]

That's very sad indeed.
My condolences to All his friends and relatives

 

[Magol79]

Tomas amplifiers
A unique experience
Shared by enthusiasts

 

[rollinbr]

This is sad news. My condolences to his family and friends.

I remember the first time I contacted Tomas to build an Oblivion, Jan. 31, 2020. This was when the 2 amp options were Oblivion or Citadel. He was always quick with his response and helpful with his replies. As I was one of the last individuals to get in with his lower price, before they were going up, I was 9th in que. Tomas figured it would be December of 2020 when it would be built and it was. Shipped on the 16th of December 2020. Arrived in Chicago, Illinois at customs on the 27th of December. USPS tracking was showing it arriving on the 27th and expected delivery the 29th. I was excited to think I would have Oblivion before the end of the year. But that was not to be.

Tomas sent an email on the 5th of January as he had noticed it went to customs on the 27th and was wondering if I had received it or if it was still in customs. Tomas said it was usually 5-7 days for an amp to arrive to the individual in the US. We exchanged emails over the next couple of days and I called Customs, gave them the USPS tracking information, was told that yes they have the item and it could be up to 45 days. Have to remember that this was the first year of Covid and I have no doubt that there were many many more packages being shipped around the world, especially at Christmas time, since traveling was limited and customs was likely overwhelmed with packages.

I did get a notification from USPS late in the day on the 7th saying they expected to deliver Oblivion on the 8th. I work nights and sleep in the daytime, so the initial delivery at 11:04 AM was missed. I did go by the Post Office later that afternoon and was able to pick up the oversize box. Was able to unbox Oblivion later that night. I see by my emails it was 3:34 AM my time on the 9th when I sent an email to Tomas with a picture of Oblivion with a black eye.



It was 4:05 AM and Tomas replied back "Hi Bryant, Those damn meters! They must have thrown the box around! Anyway, you can unscrew the bottom plate with 4 ph 1 screws. The meter then snaps into place. I really apologize for this." Tomas also sent pictures of how the meter comes apart. Someone had to have dropped the box down hard on the right front corner I figure to get the mA meter to pop out of place. Tomas had top notch packaging when an amp was shipped. I was able to get the mA meter all back together and put back in place.



Once the mA meter was back in place, tubes installed and connected to the Yggy A1 I was ready for some music. But then I had no sound in the right side of the headphone. Hooked up another amp to verify it wasn't the headphones or DAC then I let Tomas know of the new issue. This is where Tomas was thorough with his suggestions of things to try and verify. I did tell Tomas to take a big breath and that we'll get through this. Sometimes "schiit" happens in shipping that is beyond anyone's control.

"Hi Bryant, Yes, I can’t believe how the meter came apart in the first place!?

Ok, so no sound in the right channel. I need pics. Good quality pics of the insides, please. Take a pic of the whole inside and also pics of sections of the amp, mainly the switches on the front panel. Does both of the meters work?

If the meters show a current reading the circuit is fine. There’s probably a solder connection from the output transformer secondary side to the output. Do you have sound from the speaker outputs? If you do there’s definitely a solder joint that has come loose!

Again, I feel terrible and ashamed!

I appreciate you being such a good customer! I imagine not all would have taken this so well!"

Within 40 minutes I found what I thought was the issue. Where the mA meter housing was sitting, once it popped out, it had pushed on a wire causing its solder joint to fail. Told Tomas "I started to look at the wiring from the XLR/RCA connectors and checking them for continuity. When I got to that wire I could tell that it didn't appear to be connected when I was checking for continuity. And sure enough it is not connected. You get some sleep and I'll give you an update once I find my solder iron and get this re-soldered."



The black wires solder joint to the end of the resistor was no longer made. Once I re-soldered the wire/resistor, music from the right side of headphone was working.

Tomas was always responsive and helpful when I had a question. Let me know where to order the chrome knobs from and what trim pot to adjust if I wanted to switch from 6AV6 input tubes to 6AT6 input tubes.

Here's a quick picture I took tonight in the dark. Been really liking the Oblivion as preamp into the Ragnarok v1 while listening to the LCD-R out of Ragnarok v1. Not so sure that Oblivion would be happy driving LCD-R as it is rated at 2 ohms but Oblivion imparts its flavor as a preamp into Ragnarok v1. Qobuz/YouTube>Sonic Frontiers Processor 3 DAC>Freya S>Oblivion (Preamp)>Ragnarok v1>LCD-R

I have to admit when I first read Matt's, @UntilThen, post it hit me hard and I did shed a few tears... Tomas was a real class act and person!



Bryan Ferry Nuits de Fourviere Live in Lyon - Like a hurricane HD

I'll always be grateful to Tomas for this build of the Oblivion.

 

[Thaddy]

Very sad news indeed. The last time I spoke with Tomas was on January 31st. He was feeling a bit better but still not 100%, and I see he was active here on Feb. 14th. My Odyssey was next in line to be built, which unfortunately I'll never get to experience.

However, his family has lost something much more valuable than a piece of audio equipment. Things certainly get put into perspective when we lose friends or family members. Tomas was young, too, and he and I actually share the same birthday. He would have turned 41 in just over a week.