Hard to believe. I met Brian 1980, when I flew out from Boston to hear his loudspeakers with an eye towards becoming a dealer. At that time, and until my last occasions with him at the Newport Show in 2010 and his home early in 2011, although always overweight and sallow of complexion, he never lacked for energy and enthusiasm. Nor were loudspeakers his top interest -- that would be music, musical performance, and recordings, especially historical. Our numerous meetings and discussions always evolved to those topics, audio being secondary.
His loudspeakers, besides being wonderful, musical, award-winning and a steal, pricewise, taught me two further things, which I was subsequently able to pass on to him. First, because of their low-phase-distortion designs I (re)discovered Absolute Polarity, "the sine qua non of correct audio practice" and the topic of my later book The Wood Effect. Second, because of their amazing bass response and dynamic linearity, I was able to demonstrate that old 78s, particularly from their golden era of 1927-1936, could sound in some ways better than the latest type recordings. Brian was doubtful, but when he first visited my business The Listening Studio he was forced to agree. We spent many happy hours listening to those old spinners, as well as going to concerts in Symphony Hall and other local venues.
Speaking of shows, several years ago he began his Herculean efforts to do live-vs.-recorded, which proved that the line between them was thin and wavering. An immense amount of work was involved in these fascinating demonstrations, and his associates, dealers, friends and other manufacturers all pitched in. In my view, however, these grand occasions were sadly ignored by the audio press, so the attendance was never what it ought to have been, nor the public's exposure to the great, realistic sound his VMPS designs could produce.
Man will I miss him!
