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Tim deParavicini RIP

Even though I've bought a bit of kit over the years and maybe picked up a few titbits of information, I don't profess to know much about the subject. One thing I do know though, is that Tim's innovation is a thread that runs through hifi - that thread hasn't broken due to his sad passing and his memory will live on through his designs. RIP
 
I met Tim when my recently departed friend Len Gregory AKA The Cartridgeman persuaded him to make and fit one of his Leak Troughline stereo decoders to my Troughline Stereo years after he stopped selling them I still use it to this day.
Not been a great last part of the year; Rest in Peace.
 
This is sad news to read. Tim leaves a great legacy. He more than made his mark.

My first high-end amplifier was a used Musical Fidelity 3A Pre and P140 Power. I had no idea at the time of purchase of who, the designer, Tim de Paravichini was. However, it has left a lasting memory in my audio journey. I regret selling it to this day, but the pre hiss did irk me. I hope one day to return to a 3A/140 setup to at least reminisce.

I've also been fortunate to own and use some of Tim's EAR equipment. In fact we exchanged messages earlier in the year on Facebook regarding Tim servicing my EAR preamp and he was going to contact me when he got out of Japan due to the Covid situation. My sincere condolences to his family and friends.

RIP Tim
 
This year keeps on giving us terrible news. Met him a few times, always struck me as quite witty, bit gruff, very intelligent. Scott's piece tells us so much - thank you for that. Truly sad and i now dread logging onto PFM to see more death notices. This year eh ............. :(
 
Over the years, being a dyed in the wool Naimee, Tim's EAR amplifiers would have been the only other amplifiers that I would have considered for my system. I remember, back in the day when I used to go to hi-fi shows, some manufacturers would use Isobariks to demonstrate their equipment, and they would always sound disappointing, but one year, Peter Comeau (Heybrook) used an EAR with ‘briks in his room and they sounded fantastic! And that turntable, the EAR Disk Master! Wow, well beyond my price range, but one to lust after! I always enjoyed his rooms at the shows more than any other. A true character and he will be greatly missed, RIP Tim.
 
Very sad news. I had spoken to him a few times at shows and also when having my amp or pre amp serviced, I always found him very giving of his time. I remember once when he fixed an 864 pre i had and refused to charge as he was embarrassed that the transformer failed. A man who certainly stood by his products. RiP Tim.
 
Tim de Paravicini: King of Tubes

How many hi-fi professionals can say that they've designed at least one of every part of a complete recording system, from microphones to tape recorders to vinyl-disc-cutting electronics? Probably only Tim de Paravicini

GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ is a proprietary cutting system built and designed by legendary design genius Tim De Paravicini, with consultation from one of MFSL’s founding fathers – Stan Ricker, an audio engineer responsible for many of MFSL’s most heralded past releases. assisted with the internal circuitry to ensure your analog system at home faithfully reproduces the music buried in the grooves of your LPs.
The GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ system is comprised of a Studer™ tape machine with customized reproduction electronics* and handcrafted cutting amps that drive an Ortofon cutting head on a restored Neumann VMS-70 lathe. (*It is worth noting that independent studies have confirmed that the GAIN 2 Ultra Analog™ system can unveil sonic information all the way up to 122kHz!)
 
Very sad news. I’ve owned a pair of his 509s for decades. I’m not using them at the moment, but I really must get them serviced/repaired next year.
 
Stunsworth said:
Very sad news. I’ve owned a pair of his 509s for decades. I’m not using them at the moment, but I really must get them serviced/repaired next year.
Click to expand...

Yes, it was the 509's that I was refering to in my post above; an excellent amplifier and well worth getting serviced I would say.
 
Such a great loss. Never knew him (met him, once, briefly, many, many years ago as a mere punter at a hifi show, and he impressed me greatly then). The germ 'genius' is bandied about far too casually for my liking nowadays, but I think it could apply to TdP who, as has been amply said upthread, had a level of understanding of his topic that was really true mastery. Never owned or used EAR kit, but have always lusted after it. One day, perhaps. Rest in peace, remarkable man, and condolences to his family and friends.
 
RIP. I've got an integrated amp & phono stage. Wonderful sounding pieces of kit. My dealings with the company for servicing & repair were first class as well.
 
RIP Tim. Such sad news and "this time it's personal" as I knew Tim for many years. I'd met him and briefly chatted at a couple of hi fi shows in the 80's and then when I went to That London and was working for Musical Fidelity he was a regular visitor and a popular one at that... "The Baron's here" someone would say, often Andy Light, later a founding partner of Alchemist. It wasn't till about five years ago I realised he really was a Baron! Always thought it was an affectionate nick name Andy had given him and based on his eccentricity and larger than life presence!
I worked on many of his designs there and even the super rare Michaelson Audio Chronos pre and powers and the Odysseus integrated plus the legendary and even rarer SA570 monoblocks.
I once had to prototype a valve matching rig Tim had designed and he'd jotted it down literally on the back of a fag packet!

Later at Alchemist Products Tim had by then fallen out with AM and was very willing to help the new rivals... He was again a regular visitor and he designed the top of the range "The Alchemist" "The Mono's" etc plus updated TdP Signature versions of a couple of models. For "The Alchemist" pre Tim designed all the audio circuitry and I designed the more mundane bits...

I recall visits we had to Tim's farm in Cambridgeshire that would start out with a grumpy Tim who would then get more and more enthusiastic and chatty until on a couple of occasions we ended up leaving around 7 am the next morning! On one such occasion Olivia came running in and gave him a right dressing down in front of us all after he'd demonstrated the sort of dynamics that a hi fi really needs to be capable of... by playing a large drum kit he had in his listening room... at 4 am!!

He wasn't always that keen on chatting hi fi but if you got him on to cars and motorbikes he was rather more enthusiastic and very knowledgeable. There are tales of people who accepted lifts from him in his Cortina which he had fitted a Jaguar V12 engine to and of them getting out with rather greyer hair than they had entered it with....

One of the cleverest people I've ever met, an eccentric, and a truly legendary audio electronics engineer.
 
Learnt of his demise this morning on my class A thread and commented there. Apart from bumping into him once in a small room at (probably) the Remada Heathrow hifi exhibition, I had a nice long chat with him about 4 years ago in his showroom whilst waiting for my 509s. I was intrigued by his record deck project (magnetic suspension?) displayed in the cabinet there.

He was interested in my teaching career and couldn't understand why anyone would want that purgatory as a career choice. Truculent, testy and eccentric he may have been according to reputation, he was also a very interesting and amiable person to talk to, as well as a hifi design genius of the old school.
 
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