Roger Alan Modjeski (RAM) 1951 - 2019

Thanks @clio09. I don’t know what Cervantes looks like, but I may have met him at one of the appearances Roger made at Brooks Berdan’s shop. He did one for the introduction of the RM-10, which I attended. I was putting together a pair of stacked Quads, and asked Roger if he recommended a single RM-9 to power them, or a pair of RM-10’s, one for each pair. He answered an RM-9, and I countered with questions challenging that opinion (how impudent ;-). The next time he was at the shop he told me he had been reconsidering the points I had made in favour of the RM-10’s, and had changed his mind, the RM-10’s were now his recommendation.

I ended up going instead for a pair of Atma-Sphere M60’s, but now have a single RM-10 on a single pair of Quads, a marriage made in Heaven, where both Brooks and Roger are now listening to Angels sing.

@artemus_5, I'm guessing the review to which you are referring to is from 6moons? If I remember correctly, that was the sound of the amp compared to, say, the RM-200, when used with loudspeakers of lower impedance/sensitivity/large woofers. I can't say, as I don't use the RM-10 with a speaker of that sort (I have an RM-200 for them ;-). Does that describe your Silverlines?

I know atmasphere is insistent that there are no Rock/Jazz/Classical speakers, and in theory that should be and is true. But I find that the limitations of some speakers makes them less good choices for some music that are other speakers. For instance, the original Quad would not be my first choice for Hard Rock played back at concert SPL.

@artemus_5, I turned 69 this year, and my old friends and bandmates started dropping like flies a little over 10 years ago (cigarettes and booze, mostly). Robbie Robertson said Rock ’n’ Roll isn’t conducive to a long life, his bandmate Levon Helm responded by entitling his autobiogaphy Ain’t In It For My Health. Robbie’s still living, Levon isn’t.

By the way, if you decide you want one, there is an RM-10 Mk.2 with RAM tubes currently listed on US Audiomart at an asking price of $1400.

My introduction to ARC's build design and parts quality was when I turned on my new SP-3 for the first time. It immediately made a popping sound, and I learned what a burnt resistor smells like ;-) . Years later, Tom Carione showed me the scorched circuit boards inside all the ARC power amps that had been traded in at Brooks Berdan Ltd. for Music Reference, VTL, and Jadis amps. Power tubes mounted on a circuit board?!

I so wish I had been in a position to get myself a pair of Roger's ESL loudspeakers and direct-drive OTL tube amps. 5,000 volts delivered straight from the tubes to the ESL stators. No power amp output transformer, no ESL step-up transformer---ultimate transparency! I suppose that design has died with Roger.

In his final (third) version of the RM-10 (still referred to as Mk.2, but now 25w/ch Class A), Roger DID go to auto-biasing. He told me my RM-10 (original 35w/ch version Mk.2) ran in Class A up to 15 or so watts, which is where the original Quad ESL has it operating most of the time (especially when high-pass filtered at 100Hz). Also owning an RM-200 Mk.2, I just have to get myself an RM-9 ;-) .

Roger stated he found power amps much more interesting than pre-amps, perhaps why he is better known for the former. As does Nelson Pass, Roger felt that whenever possible (system gain structure, impedance matching, etc.), a passive pre is preferable to an active one. He wasn't driven as a businessman to fill a market demand, but rather to create a design that hadn't been done before. 35 watts out of a pair of EL84's, 100 watts out of a pair of KT88/6550's (into both 8 and 4 ohms!), both with around 10,000 hours of tube life, that he certainly did. And with no burnt resistors or scorched circuit boards ;-) .

Wonderful remembrances @ndevamp, thank you. I would occasionally drive up to Santa Barbara from L.A. for the weekend in the 1980’s and 90’s, before I knew about Roger and Music Reference. I of course now regret missing my opportunity to drop by his place there. Beautiful city, lots of music and record company business honchos have houses there.

Reading your words just reinforces my opinion that Roger understood tubes and amplifier design like few living engineers. Just as a master composer or songwriter sees the weakness in another’s work, so too did Roger in his competitor’s products. His comments about a few of them in his Burning Amp Festival presentations are delightful ;-) .

To read lots of Roger’s thoughts on all things hi-fi (and some musical. I remember him mentioning Emmylou Harris’ and Beethoven’s names, two favorites of mine as well), head over to the Music Reference forum on Audiocircle. His Circle has been closed since 2014 (apparently after a complaint from Ted Denney of Synergistic Research ;-), but is still acessable. Lots of info and ideas to be found there, including Roger’s "informed" opinion on hi-fi reviewing and tweaks. Prepare to have your conceived notions challenged!

For a song I find particularly fitting, give a listen to "No Time To Cry" by Iris Dement. Iris and Emmylou are mutual-admirers, the latter appearing in one of the former’s early music videos. And speaking of videos, let me reiterate that the videos viewable on You Tube of Roger's seminars at a few of the annual Burning Amp Festival events in San Francisco (in 2015 and 2018, iirc) are REALLY something you want to watch. A free education in tubes and tube amp design! Tape them, as you will want to watch them more than once.

I don’t know (perhaps clio09 does?) if Roger left behind an assistant who can continue to provide service for the Music Reference products. But Tom Carione at Brooks Berdan Ltd. in Monrovia California knows the amps well (and appreciates their design sophistication and build quality), and can keep your MR gear working the rest of your life. Tom is a maintenance tech at an L.A. radio or TV station, and is in the shop on Wednesdays and Saturdays. He was Brooks’ electronics man for years, and stayed on after Brooks’ wife Sheila took over in Brooks’ (R.I.P.) absence.

It was Brooks who hipped me to Roger and his amps, of which he was a huge fan. He was happy to take more money from the customers of his who wanted to own bragging rights amps from VTL and Jadis, but those who were looking for value were directed to Music Reference.

BB Ltd., last time I was in the shop, had a healthy stock of RAM Tubes on hand, matched in pairs and quads by Roger himself. Best tubes in the business.

In my last email exchange with Roger (which I just reread, from only a month ago), I asked for his advice on installing a capacitor on the input jacks of the RM-10 Mk.2, to create a high pass filter at 80Hz for use with subs and the old Quad ESL, one of the two loudspeakers Roger used as his load in developing the amp (the other was the Vandersteen 1 or 2). Learning that I own a First Watt B4 active x/o, he advised me to instead x/o at 100Hz (the Quad has a nasty resonance in the 80-90Hz region), using Linkwitz/Riley 4th-order filters on both high and low pass. I offer that info for the benefit of other Quad/RM-10 owners, a magical combination.

In that email, Roger apologized for not responding more promptly, saying that he had been dealing with some health issues. Little did I know.

Thanks for the notice @clio09, and for your tribute to Roger. What a loss, I’m speechless. I spent considerable time talking to RM when he gave seminars at Brooks Berdan’s shop in Monrovia, as well as on the phone (and in an email back-and-forth only a couple of months back).

There is a great You Tube video of Roger speaking for an hour to the gathering of audio engineers at the annual Burning Amp Festival in San Francisco, and trading thoughts on amplifier design with Nelson Pass at same.

It’s a drag to know we won’t see any more designs from RM, but we at least have the great ones he left behind, two of which I own. Thanks Roger, you will be greatly missed.