[KurtW]

I was paging through the new issue of Listener magazine when I was shocked to find out that Harvey Rosenberg, also known as "Gizmo" had died on July 16 at the age 60. He suffered an apparent heart attack en route to hear a new triode amp.

Anyone who knew of Gizmo probably either loved him or hated him, but no one could doubt his love for the audio arts and "musical pleasure." It was because of him I got interested in the micro-ZOTL which I later bought, and got interested in triode amps.

He has a website at http://www.meta-gizmo.com

 

[acidtripwow]

Yes, this is very sad. I first found out about this in an audio magazine a few weeks ago. They have an article about him in the latest TAS, also. I didn't really hear about him until only a few months ago while reading about the Zotl. After reading a couple of his articles in Listener I thought he was different to say the least. He seemed to have fun at his job though and that's all that really matters.

 

[Wing]

I've recently been going through his website and his articles are an absolute blast. It's too bad he not with with us anymore. I think he had some interesting and funny things to say about how the male mind works. His articles did brighten my day.

 

[DRCope]

Gizmo was THE leading audio gadfly, poke-in-the-eye-with-a-sharp-stick- to-the-audio establishment for at least twenty years. He was the major proponent of Futterman OTL amps which probably weighed as much as my Beetle for 2 channels worth, including massive power supply chassis. He also ran a tube gear building course in NY for a while, published books, ran NYAL (New York Audio Labs), which manufactured hybrid amps - tube front end, Mosfet power output in several different sizes. They were the only humanly priced amps at Sound by Singer that could get Vandersteen 2C's off the ground. His "Super It" phono stage was used to drive Krell and ARC amps into Apogee ribbon speakers in the same store. Not bad for a $200 item! He packed a Pampers diaper at the top of each amp box, suggesting that the new buyer put it on in case of becoming overwhelmed by the magnificence of his newly purchased amp.

He was also a major change agent for the SET & hugely efficient speaker movement in the US, braving uninformed stooges and reactionary manufacturers and retailers to get the word out on some incredibly musical gear. His prose was exceedingly purple, but it only reflected his passion for the enjoyment of well-reproduced music.

His passing is a great loss to audiomaniacs everywhere.

 

[Beagle]

I loved his columns in Listener. He had that great quality of combining humor with seriousness and sarcasm, yet brushing aside all of the audio myths and trying to expose the truth through logic. I particularly was taken by his comments on tone, and how you have to "tune" your stereo system with properly selected components, like you have to tune an instrument.