Brian (
Big B) Cheney, whom I often called the "
Sonic Sorcerer from El Sobrante", has passed.
I met Brian Cheney on the telephone back in 1992. I purchased a pair of
RM1 speakers, a
626R, and a
HighBoy LARGER SUB. I talked him into letting me be a dealer because I liked his ads in the back of
AUDIO Magazine. He seemed like he didn't like to talk on the phone. : )
Later, I purchased a pair of
RM-40 (Cherry Flambe!), a pair of
626R's and a
Large Ribbon Center. The sound was glorious, and I could play with all the adjustments and get it "just right" for my room and ears. I spend hundreds of hours tweaking, moving, placing, converging and pinching, and enjoying every second, because it allowed me to see just how versatile these speakers were. Everyone on
Harmonic Dischord and later
Audio Circle knew I was B's biggest cheerleader.
Brian was one of the Industry Icons of the 70's, like John Curl, James Bongiorno, Arnie Nudell, Saul Marantz, Jon Dahlquist, Bob Carver, James Whiney, John Dunleavy, and many other of the unique American audio artists and pioneers who painted a unique audio soundscape in our living rooms, dens and other rooms where we could squeeze their gear. Most of these giants were friends and shared a camaraderie and respect with each other. I remember at many of the CES and THE Show trips having dinner with some of the GREAT NAMES of the Industry.
Brian's speaker design approach was unique and even controversial at times. He always used "minimum phase" 1st order XO's, a very unique driver blending, and most often an adjustable bass system with a Passive Radiator of which you could adjust the response by "pinching putty" mass to make the system distortion very low.
Later he fell in love with a type of
Planar driver, that eventually became the
NeoPanel, which was the heart and soul of the design. It handled the majority of frequencies, and ultimately ran from 280Hz to 6.9Khz. Many, if not most who heard them set up properly, fell in love with the sound.
Brian had one "prime directive" in his business and that was he LOVED IT when customers LOVED his Sound. As most who know him and VMPS, know that he ALWAYS designed for the wonderful and glorious sound. Each and every design he came up with (and many were different from each other) was always about making Glorious Music come alive in YOUR SPACE. He certainly wasn't in it to make a million $$ and most felt the price performance was exceptional.
I would guess his most valued award was winning the "
Best of Show" at
CES for the
RM40 back in 2002. In fact, I find it a fitting theme song that he used the song "
My Heart Will Go On" by James Horner and sung by Celine Dion from the TITANIC Soundtrack.
In fact, I would suggest and ask each of you, that a
fitting tribute to Big B today, might be to play a bit of that very cut. If you don't have it you can click
HERE This track seems so fitting as his designs (his heart) will go on, and I think it could be considered
BRIAN'S SONGPlease enjoy your VMPS speakers as long as you can. I know it would make Brian both Happy and Proud.
CLICK HERE for My Heart will go on
