[UntilThen]

There are 2 other custom amp builders here on Head-Fi whose work I admire. Don't go and hassle @L0rdGwyn because he refused to make amps for sale now.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/1101-audio-custom-crafted-headphone-amps.919425/

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/l0rdgwyns-diy-audio.921105/

Closer to my home though is of course McChanson amps. I have known Eric too well by now.

 

[audiargent]

This is what I envisaged, when I had started discussions with Tomas about my amp.

Big rectifiers, blue glowing KT170s, and that 6SL7 gain I have not been able to with other tubes.

RIP dear Tomas, every time I'll listen to this amp, I'll be happy and think of you.

 

[L0rdGwyn]

There are 2 other custom amp builders here on Head-Fi whose work I admire. Don't go and hassle @L0rdGwyn because he refused to make amps for sale now.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/1101-audio-custom-crafted-headphone-amps.919425/

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/l0rdgwyns-diy-audio.921105/

Closer to my home though is of course McChanson amps. I have known Eric too well by now.

Thanks, Matt. Yeah I only briefly sold amplifiers, I realized pretty quickly that it was more time and energy than I had available, it is a second job, one is enough. I still sell an amp here and there under special circumstances. I am working on a DIY amp project right now, the idea being others can build it themselves, something I designed, will probably launch that in the next 2 months. It sounds pretty good I think.

I'm sorry to say I think it would be asking a lot to have someone else pick up where Tomas left off and start selling his designs. It is a shame that his work won't continue I admit, but it is also a lot of work for someone to take on. And if someone is capable enough to understand and reverse engineer them, they probably have their own ideas and notions about how it should be, it is always a bit jarring working on someone else's circuit.

Probably the most realistic option would be if someone were an aspiring amp builder and owned one of his amps and used it as a jumping off point for learning and began build themselves. And of course there is the question of whether or not Tomas would want someone to sell his designs or not, which I'm afraid we cannot answer.

Anyway, that's just my two cents on it.

 

[UntilThen]

Every builder is unique. They will proudly stay with their own design. Would Mercedes let Ferrari make their engine? For Ultrasonic Studio, there will be no continuation. The amps already owned by customers will live in apreciative homes.

I spend most time in Euforia thread then Glenn thread. What a blast. Then I came here. Almost dip my toes in DNA Stratus thread. Spend a year with ALO Audio Studio Six. Had my time with Woo Audio Wa22 and La Figaro 339i and the short lived Primaluna Dialogue Premium HP.

I have enough and will live with these happily. The almost paid for Telemachus will be a memory of how far I went down the rabbit hole.

 

[Zachik]

I only briefly sold amplifiers, I realized pretty quickly that it was more time and energy than I had available, it is a second job, one is enough.

The right way to do it is find a high-school kid to do the time consuming tasks. That is the only way to not have 2 full-time jobs... Just my personal opinion...

 

[L0rdGwyn]

The right way to do it is find a high-school kid to do the time consuming tasks. That is the only way to not have 2 full-time jobs... Just my personal opinion...

High school kids walk past my house all the time, I'll grab one and make him assemble my 400 volt amplifiers

 

[leftside]

The right way to do it is find a high-school kid to do the time consuming tasks. That is the only way to not have 2 full-time jobs... Just my personal opinion...

Optimus will be with us soon In all seriousness, I've never seen such a quick advancement in AI as I've seen this year. I'm using AI tools in my line of work for the first time. So, maybe one day a robot will be able to look at a diagram and with the parts available, may well indeed be able to do the assembly.

 

[carlman14]

Hey everyone, long time follower of this thread. Like everyone else here, I am shocked and saddened to hear the news of Tomas passing. He contributed so much to head-fi and will have a lasting legacy here. There were only a few messages between us, but he was always kind and answered my questions, even when it didn't involve purchasing one of his amps.

I see there's some talk of someone reverse engineering his designs. I have been building amplifiers for a couple years now, and have a small DIY thread here on head-fi. It's nowhere near as popular as others (I've been pretty low-profile), but I'd like to throw my hat in the ring for reverse-engineering one of Tomas' amps, with the possibility of building them in the future. I have reverse engineered several amps in the past, and have built several of my own custom designs.

To be absolutely clear, I don't want to step on Tomas' legacy. I will only do this if it's generally agreed as acceptable for someone else to produce his amplifiers. I would also try and contact MrCurwen and ask his permission as well. I am personally a big fan of what Tomas provided to the community, and should I see this through, I would do my best to help that legacy continue.

 

[Isaacc7]

Hey everyone, long time follower of this thread. Like everyone else here, I am shocked and saddened to hear the news of Tomas passing. He contributed so much to head-fi and will have a lasting legacy here. There were only a few messages between us, but he was always kind and answered my questions, even when it didn't involve purchasing one of his amps.

I see there's some talk of someone reverse engineering his designs. I have been building amplifiers for a couple years now, and have a small DIY thread here on head-fi. It's nowhere near as popular as others (I've been pretty low-profile), but I'd like to throw my hat in the ring for reverse-engineering one of Tomas' amps, with the possibility of building them in the future. I have reverse engineered several amps in the past, and have built several of my own custom designs.

To be absolutely clear, I don't want to step on Tomas' legacy. I will only do this if it's generally agreed as acceptable for someone else to produce his amplifiers. I would also try and contact MrCurwen and ask his permission as well. I am personally a big fan of what Tomas provided to the community, and should I see this through, I would do my best to help that legacy continue.

I have a feeling that if Mr Curwen is ok with someone else building it he could provide you with the schematics. Of course Tomas had developed experience building that circuit and had those sweet enclosures to offer as well and those things won't be so easy to duplicate. I think it would be tacky to try to recreate the look anyway so a different enclosure would be good. I don't envy someone trying to follow in those steps though.

I think it's awesome to consider trying this but I would recommend doing it only if you're interested in owning one yourself. Once you get a feel for the difficulties of the design and how to build it well you can decide if you want to deal with the inevitable hassles of building for someone else.

 

[audiargent]

I have a feeling that if Mr Curwen is ok with someone else building it he could provide you with the schematics. Of course Tomas had developed experience building that circuit and had those sweet enclosures to offer as well and those things won't be so easy to duplicate. I think it would be tacky to try to recreate the look anyway so a different enclosure would be good. I don't envy someone trying to follow in those steps though.

I think it's awesome to consider trying this but I would recommend doing it only if you're interested in owning one yourself. Once you get a feel for the difficulties of the design and how to build it well you can decide if you want to deal with the inevitable hassles of building for someone else.

From my experience, Tomas worked on enclosures depending on customer request and preference.

My Audio-GD themed build was precisely that. He was kind enough to accept something like that and was kind enough to work around it to develop a fabulous amp.

 

[LoryWiv]

Hey everyone, long time follower of this thread. Like everyone else here, I am shocked and saddened to hear the news of Tomas passing. He contributed so much to head-fi and will have a lasting legacy here. There were only a few messages between us, but he was always kind and answered my questions, even when it didn't involve purchasing one of his amps.

I see there's some talk of someone reverse engineering his designs. I have been building amplifiers for a couple years now, and have a small DIY thread here on head-fi. It's nowhere near as popular as others (I've been pretty low-profile), but I'd like to throw my hat in the ring for reverse-engineering one of Tomas' amps, with the possibility of building them in the future. I have reverse engineered several amps in the past, and have built several of my own custom designs.

To be absolutely clear, I don't want to step on Tomas' legacy. I will only do this if it's generally agreed as acceptable for someone else to produce his amplifiers. I would also try and contact MrCurwen and ask his permission as well. I am personally a big fan of what Tomas provided to the community, and should I see this through, I would do my best to help that legacy continue.

All who achieve greatness stand on the shoulders of giants (Tomas in this instance). As long as you proceed with respect for anything proprietary that was his and good business ethics, it will be exciting to see you follow your passion. I must say I checked out your thread and the tubes types you're designs employed (EL3N, EL33, 6L6 / 6VG family) are ones I own and roll with adapters in Euforia currently. Who knows, I may be a customer for you some day! BTW, what do you think about auto-bias? That is one thing I really appreciate about Feliks amps, since as I tube roll I needn't worry too much about that aspect. Anyway, we can take this to PM or to your thread, don't want to digress to far from honoring Tomas' legacy and very impressive body of work!

 

[baronbeehive]

Hey everyone, long time follower of this thread. Like everyone else here, I am shocked and saddened to hear the news of Tomas passing. He contributed so much to head-fi and will have a lasting legacy here. There were only a few messages between us, but he was always kind and answered my questions, even when it didn't involve purchasing one of his amps.

I see there's some talk of someone reverse engineering his designs. I have been building amplifiers for a couple years now, and have a small DIY thread here on head-fi. It's nowhere near as popular as others (I've been pretty low-profile), but I'd like to throw my hat in the ring for reverse-engineering one of Tomas' amps, with the possibility of building them in the future. I have reverse engineered several amps in the past, and have built several of my own custom designs.

To be absolutely clear, I don't want to step on Tomas' legacy. I will only do this if it's generally agreed as acceptable for someone else to produce his amplifiers. I would also try and contact MrCurwen and ask his permission as well. I am personally a big fan of what Tomas provided to the community, and should I see this through, I would do my best to help that legacy continue.

I don't know if you will be able to contact MrCurwen, I don't know where he is now. I do know however that he wasn't interested in keeping his designs to himself in any way, on the contrary he wanted them to get out there so people could see them, and therefore he was pleased when Sonic decided to try to develop the ideas, and encouraged him. He wasn't interested in any glory for himself but he wanted to prove that they worked in practise because so many on the audio circuit didn't believe in the new ideas. So given that, my view is that it would be a fitting legacy for Ultrasonic to continue in some way, I think Sonic would appreciate that too. Knowing them as I did I'm pretty sure of my views on that. I would be interested if there is any contact with MrCurwen so that we could confirm that.

I have a feeling that if Mr Curwen is ok with someone else building it he could provide you with the schematics. Of course Tomas had developed experience building that circuit and had those sweet enclosures to offer as well and those things won't be so easy to duplicate. I think it would be tacky to try to recreate the look anyway so a different enclosure would be good. I don't envy someone trying to follow in those steps though.

I think it's awesome to consider trying this but I would recommend doing it only if you're interested in owning one yourself. Once you get a feel for the difficulties of the design and how to build it well you can decide if you want to deal with the inevitable hassles of building for someone else.

Good idea! I don't think MrCurwen had any detailed schematics AFAIK, I think Sonic developed what was available into something more detailed which worked in practise. Of course the parts will have labels on them so it would be fairly easy to know just what was involved, the problem would come if there was any uncertainties about what was involved, what would you do then. If MrCurwen was to get in touch I hope he doesn't mind my interpretation of his views but I am fairly sure of what I said.

 

[UntilThen]

Not all Ultrasonic amps are MrCurwen’s idea.

Odyssey is strictly Tomas. Eternity and Infinity are a combination of both.

Tomas must be very smart to churn out so many good amps of different design.

There’s confirmation now. A member contacted the girlfriend on Facebook, who then confirmed that Tomas passed away. I’m gutted. Such a waste.

 

[Isaacc7]

I don't know if you will be able to contact MrCurwen, I don't know where he is now. I do know however that he wasn't interested in keeping his designs to himself in any way, on the contrary he wanted them to get out there so people could see them, and therefore he was pleased when Sonic decided to try to develop the ideas, and encouraged him. He wasn't interested in any glory for himself but he wanted to prove that they worked in practise because so many on the audio circuit didn't believe in the new ideas. So given that, my view is that it would be a fitting legacy for Ultrasonic to continue in some way, I think Sonic would appreciate that too. Knowing them as I did I'm pretty sure of my views on that. I would be interested if there is any contact with MrCurwen so that we could confirm that.

Good idea! I don't think MrCurwen had any detailed schematics AFAIK, I think Sonic developed what was available into something more detailed which worked in practise. Of course the parts will have labels on them so it would be fairly easy to know just what was involved, the problem would come if there was any uncertainties about what was involved, what would you do then. If MrCurwen was to get in touch I hope he doesn't mind my interpretation of his views but I am fairly sure of what I said.

He also has an account on DIYaudio. Wonder if he is more active there.

 

[carlman14]

I think it's awesome to consider trying this but I would recommend doing it only if you're interested in owning one yourself. Once you get a feel for the difficulties of the design and how to build it well you can decide if you want to deal with the inevitable hassles of building for someone else.

I agree with everything you said. Assuming any of this happens, I'd hope that someone would be willing to loan me an oblivion for me to observe and reverse engineer. Schematics are good, but ideally I have an actual amp to reference to get it as close as possible to the original. Also, it's not like I'd be launching a full-scale operation. This would be a very slow process with one or two builds to see if this is feasible.

All who achieve greatness stand on the shoulders of giants (Tomas in this instance). As long as you proceed with respect for anything proprietary that was his and good business ethics, it will be exciting to see you follow your passion.

Of course. I would uphold the highest respect for his work.

It may turn out that this is too much to take on. But like I said, if this is a well-received idea and someone is willing to loan me an oblivion for starters, I'd be willing to try!