David Manley has passed away

SteveFord · « **on:** 16 Jan 2013, 01:03 am »

Sad news, one of the founding fathers of our modern tube equipment passed away last month.

http://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/ces-2013-show-report-tube-gear/

http://www.stereophile.com/content/david-manley-tube-amplifier-pioneer-has-died

medium jim · « **Reply #1 on:** 16 Jan 2013, 02:21 am »

Sad news....RIP David

Jim

SoCalWJS · « **Reply #2 on:** 16 Jan 2013, 02:30 am »

R.I.P. David.......

FullRangeMan · « **Reply #3 on:** 16 Jan 2013, 02:30 am »

A loss for VTL.
RIP

WireNut · « **Reply #4 on:** 16 Jan 2013, 03:04 am »

Loss of a innovator.

RIP David.

bpape · « **Reply #5 on:** 16 Jan 2013, 03:07 am »

Wow. Losing lots of the old school innovators. RIP David.

Bryan

Rocket_Ronny · « **Reply #6 on:** 16 Jan 2013, 03:40 am »

I thought I read that David was was living on a house boat in France. He liked the water it seems and you don't pay tax on a house boat. Got to like that. I would like to know if that info was correct.

I have quite a few of his Vital recordings. When I hear sound samples of his top mikes I find them bright, but when mixed with his tube pres the combination brings pure magic as found on this Vital Cds.

He must have been quite an interesting guy. Sorry to hear of his passing.

Rocket_Ronny

brooklyn · « **Reply #7 on:** 16 Jan 2013, 05:12 am »

Gee wiz, I don't know to much about the guy but he couldn't be that old?
Sorry to hear the said news.

PMAT · « **Reply #8 on:** 16 Jan 2013, 06:15 am »

Quote from: bpape on 16 Jan 2013, 03:07 am

Wow. Losing lots of the old school innovators. RIP David.

Bryan

What the hell is happening in the audio world? Enough already.

dangerbird · « **Reply #9 on:** 6 Feb 2013, 11:56 pm »

RIP Mr Manley

Guy 13 · « **Reply #10 on:** 7 Feb 2013, 12:23 am »

R.I.P. David.

milford3 · « **Reply #11 on:** 7 Feb 2013, 12:50 am »

Very interesting Bio. A sad day indeed.

SteveFord · « **Reply #12 on:** 7 Feb 2013, 12:59 am »

It sounds like he lived life to the fullest, though, doesn't it?

Diamond Dog · « **Reply #13 on:** 7 Feb 2013, 03:21 am »

Quote from: SteveFord on 7 Feb 2013, 12:59 am

It sounds like he lived life to the fullest, though, doesn't it?

With all due respect to the late Mr. Manley, the Stereophile article did not leave me with that impression. Regardless, a loss to be mourned.

D.D.

DavidS · « **Reply #14 on:** 7 Feb 2013, 03:32 am »

I enjoyed this article that he wrote for Positive Feedback in 1994 - love how cranky he is about his point of view but also seems to laugh at himself a bit...

http://positive-feedback.com/Issue65/manley.htm

Freo-1 · « **Reply #15 on:** 7 Feb 2013, 07:21 pm »

Quote from: DavidS on 7 Feb 2013, 03:32 am

I enjoyed this article that he wrote for Positive Feedback in 1994 - love how cranky he is about his point of view but also seems to laugh at himself a bit...

http://positive-feedback.com/Issue65/manley.htm

Cheers, Mate. Thanks for the link.

I remember a lively debate David had with Roger A. Modjeski about the suitability of the 6DJ8 tubes for audio. At the time, I leaned towards Roger's argument. Having become older (and hopefully, wiser), David was right in the end (IMHO). To me, the 6DJ8 is not all that suitable for audio.

Much like Bill Johnson of Audio Research, David played a large role in bring tubes back into vogue for audio. I tend to agree with David's design concepts.

galyons · « **Reply #16 on:** 7 Feb 2013, 07:28 pm »

He will be missed. He kept tubes in the recording studio long after the industry had wandered in sand!

Cheers,
Geary

underdawg · « **Reply #17 on:** 7 Feb 2013, 07:31 pm »

very sad loss

SteveFord · « **Reply #18 on:** 7 Feb 2013, 11:09 pm »

Diamond Dog,
If you read between the lines a bit it sounds like the yachting, businesses and sweet young things kept him pretty busy and the booze and smokes probably hastened his demise.
What was it, five wives? Tsk, tsk.
I believe we were treated to a very watered down biography.

http://www.gate.net/~vital/www_manl.htm
http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/david_manley_tubes_logic_amp_audiophile_sound/
http://www.stereophile.com/content/david-manley-tubes-logic-amp-audiophile-sound-page-2

I have one of his designs going right now.
He may be gone but his work lives on.

Diamond Dog · « **Reply #19 on:** 8 Feb 2013, 12:17 am »

Quote from: SteveFord on 7 Feb 2013, 11:09 pm

Diamond Dog,
If you read between the lines a bit it sounds like the yachting, businesses and sweet young things kept him pretty busy and the booze and smokes probably hastened his demise.
What was it, five wives? Tsk, tsk.
I believe we were treated to a very watered down biography.

http://www.gate.net/~vital/www_manl.htm
http://www.stereophile.com/interviews/david_manley_tubes_logic_amp_audiophile_sound/
http://www.stereophile.com/content/david-manley-tubes-logic-amp-audiophile-sound-page-2

I have one of his designs going right now.
He may be gone but his work lives on.

Steve : All that is well and good but the man suffered from bipolar disorder. Hence the excessive drinking and smoking ( self-medication ) and inability to maintain relationships etc. Not so glamorous to my way of thinking as I have spent time around people dealing with those challenges. It's hard on them and on everyone that cares about them.. He was a creative and talented guy in spite of all that and more power to him for accomplishing all that he did. I'm not being judgemental but I'm not going to romanticize the whole thing either. I don't think we really need to get any further into this, do we? Let's appreciate the man's legacy and leave it at that.

D.D.