At one point in time I lived in beautiful Santa Barbara and on a couple of occasions visited Roger. One such visit allowed me to hear a prototype of his electrostatic speaker design. While I haven't lived in Santa Barbara for about 4 years now, I recently decided to take an extended vacation and in addition to attending THE SHOW in Newport coupled that trip with a visit to Santa Barbara to catch up with some old friends. As I was going to be in Roger's backyard I emailed him to see if he would be available for a visit. Roger replied and said to drop on by after 3pm, which worked for me and at around 4pm I literally found myself in Roger's backyard as he gave me a tour of the new lab.
Before I get to what might be the most exciting part of this tale for those reading this, let me say that Roger is in the middle of a huge undertaking with his move to the new lab and home. As I approached his driveway Roger was outside with one of his workers assessing the construction of a new wall. To say this is a fixer upper might be an understatement. However, the property is nestled up on a hill and the views are gorgeous including the ocean and parts of the town (you can actually get a birds-eye view of The Mission among other Santa Barbara landmarks). Roger even built a makeshift deck that extends out from the lower part of the property and is accessed via a "gang plank" so to speak (not for people with vertigo or who are height/balance challenged). Stepping out there really enhanced the already fantastic view.
If I recall correctly the main structure dates back to 1946. It appears to have had some additions/renovations over time but in Roger's estimation he is in the process of a year long project to properly restore the structure. There are also a couple more structures on the property that are already in use as the lab and storage facility. As for the property itself it's also a work in progress. Roger indicated there was a huge defoliage effort and the wall in the back of the house had to be rebuilt to prevent dirt from rolling down to the home structure. I have no doubt that when the work is completed this would be quite a wonderful place to call home, as well as, continue to work on new projects.
Speaking of new projects, after the tour of the property Roger indicated there was a new project he was involved with that he thought I would find exciting. However, it required us to visit his friend Tom down the hill. Tom is an artist and audiophile in his own right. His system included some massive horns, a top of the line MFA preamp, and a number of amps including a set of VTL monoblocks (that were not hooked up). He also had a wonderful vinyl collection and a SOTA Star (IIRC) turntable. We enjoyed a nice listening session combined with great conversation and of course educational bits from Roger.
Over the course of several years Tom has been painstakingly designing and building an 833 tube amplifier. I'm not quite certain when Roger became involved in the project, but he is now involved and is acting in a consulting role to help Tom finish the project. For those not familiar with the 833 tube there have been a few designs out there that use this tube, most notably the WAVAC 833 v1.3 which can be viewed here:
http://www.wavac-audio.jp/he833v13_e.shtmlLike the WAVAC, Tom's design will be Class A Single Ended and if I recall correctly output power will be 100 watts or so. While at Tom's I was allowed to take some photos of the work in progress and I posted them to my website:
http://www.electrafidelity.com/833-amplifier/. From my recollection the power supply was going to be in two boxes so the one photo that shows the circuit is from one of those boxes. Hopefully Roger can chime in when he has a moment and provide more detail on the photos and project. The amplifier will be a beast to say the least.
After our visit with Tom we returned to the lab and Roger gave me a demo of the new phono stage, but not after we first demoed a Fosgate phono stage he had on hand. I was quite impressed with Roger's phono stage and am looking forward to acquiring one. Roger was using an older Denon direct drive turntable (a brand that he originally sold when he had his audio store back in Virginia). An RM-10 was powering his electrostatics speakers. Needless to say everything sounded great even though the listening room was a bit crowded due to boxes still being unpacked from the move.
Overall what I assumed would be a 2 hour visit at the max turned into a 5 hour mini marathon of sorts. Roger was gracious and entertaining and has some great ideas for future projects including an OTL amp. However, bear in mind there is a lot on his plate right now so the adage patience is a virtue applies here. I think at some point we'll all be rewarded. So off I went to THE SHOW in Newport and as I now sit and type this recalling as much as possible from my visit from Roger, I can't help but think that the 5 hours spent with him and Tom far overshadowed anything I encountered in 3 days at THE SHOW, and that takes into consideration I was working a room with Concert Fidelity electronics and Reference 3A speakers.
