Is Tom Evans Audio Design out of business?


Anyone know about the status of this company? I shipped him a Groove phone preamp for repair and upgrade last August (from the USA to the UK). I did this through a USA Tom Evans dealer. I never heard directly from Tom Evans but the dealer would occasionally give me vague updates. In mid-February, the dealer said Evans told him my unit would be shipped "next week." But now the Tom Evans Audio Design e-mail bounces back and his phone has a 24/7 busy signal. The dealer, a guy named Darrin O'Neill of Audio Limits in Colorado, now says he knows nothing and thinks Evans may be out of business. I have contacted other Tom Evans dealers and no one can tell me anything helpful. Fortunately I was never charged and have not sent any payments, although I offered to several times. The whole situation seems very strange to me. I only post this because I have a phono preamp that is unaccounted for and not much recourse. Any info or suggestions would be appreciated.
128x128ladok

Showing 3 responses by mitch2

The Vibe preamp was the last non-USA made piece to leave my system and it took me years, and about twice the price, to find a SS preamp I liked as well. His stuff is a bargin at the used prices it typically goes for over on this side of the pond.
"Did you ship in the factory supplied boxes?"
Good one Onhwy61. Have you ever owned Tom Evans gear? I have owned 5 Vibe preamps and 4 Pulse power supplies, and only the very last unit had anything even approaching a "factory supplied box," which was nothing more than a box that had a "Tom Evans" sticker on the side. There was no specific packing material, unless you consider bubble wrap to fall into that category. The gear sounds great but it always seemed to me to be sort of a "home brewed" operation. I will say that none of the units I owned ever broke down. I would still own the last one (Vibe 7, Pulse II) if I didn't need a balanced preamp. I am glad to hear they are still in business and I wish them well - I appreciate original thinkers who don't feel the need to follow the pack and I suspect Tom fits that mold.
I owned four different Vibe and Pulse preamps over the years and although I tried many other preamps, I obviously went back to the TEAD Vibe/Pulse multiple times, both as Tom upgraded them and for their musicality.  I never tried the phonostages (don't use vinyl) or the amplifiers (need more power) but I hear they too are very good.

All that said, IMO there is no excuse for slow or poor service with the technology available these days.  Other than the Vibe/Pulse, I used to think I would keep only gear manufactured within the USA but my excellent experiences with the extremely responsive Metrum Acoustics (DAC) and Antipodes (server) totally changed my perspective.