01-12-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree Romy the Cat Boston, MA Posts 10,159 Joined on 05-28-2004 Post #: 1 Post ID: 18874 Reply to: 18874 Brian Cheney of VMPS fiogf49gjkf0d With a great sadness I learned that last month Brian Cheney of VMPS passed away from cancer. VMPS, his company, closed the door with Brian death after 35 years of operation. My feeling about Brian death is similar to what Mussorgsky felt when Hartmann died. Mussorgsky  wrote: “Why should a dog, a horse, a rat live on and creatures like Hartmann must die?” Indeed, why audio people like Brian Cheney die but the douchebags that saturated the industry live and flourish. Well, you know the answer… When I first time met Brian he insulted me calling me “ultimate audiophile”, he did not know yet that I recognize audiophile as a diagnosis… Interesting that over all times we met with Brian we never spoke about audio. Never. We never discussed tonearms, amplifier, or speakers. I do not remember we never touched it. What Brian had was a position of that unique quality the almost non-presented among the dominating majority of audio idiots – Brian was the person for whom it was a privilege to play music. If I went to CES for instance then I had two types of CDs with me. One type was good music that I played everyone and another type was the music that requires a listener to be by someone special to understand what the music was all about. Among the thousands people at CES Brian was one of the very few specials who was able to disseminate the true value of performances. Now, Brian is gone and the something like CES will be always lonely, filled with stupid Yahoos who sell to each other meaningless, senseless and expensive crap. Anyhow, it is sad news for anybody who know Brian. In the way audio become a bit lonelier and dumber with Brian departure… Rgs, Romy The Cat "I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

01-12-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree clarkjohnsen Boston, MA, US Posts 298 Joined on 06-02-2004 Post #: 2 Post ID: 18875 Reply to: 18874 Brian R.I.P. fiogf49gjkf0d This is as good a short notice on the truth about Brian, as I've ever seen. He visited me here in Boston many times, certainly for professional reasons but soon as we adjourned the talk was all about music. Also we went to several concerts (Symphony Hall, Jordan Hall) and they all turned out memorably. Same was true whenever I went to visit him. And now we've lost David Manley and James Bongiorno this week. Sad times. clark

01-13-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree Paul S San Diego, California, USA Posts 2,658 Joined on 10-12-2006 Post #: 3 Post ID: 18888 Reply to: 18874 RIP, James Bongiorno fiogf49gjkf0d Clark, I googled but did not see anything on Bongiorno's passing.  I spoke to him several times - I think as late as last summer -  about a center channel; he was an adament promotor of this concept, and his patent solution was well known in the sound industry.  He was for years a colorful character in an industry that's full of them.  Of course, he struggled for years with cancer, but he managed to stay upbeat and iracible, very much his own man. I've just returned to edit in that he was an ace on the accordian. Can you share particulars? Best regards, Paul S

01-15-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree steverino Posts 367 Joined on 05-23-2009 Post #: 4 Post ID: 18896 Reply to: 18888 Bongiorno passed away fiogf49gjkf0d I didn't see particulars but it was stated on audio aficionado that Bongiorno passed away on Jan 10.

01-15-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree clarkjohnsen Boston, MA, US Posts 298 Joined on 06-02-2004 Post #: 5 Post ID: 18900 Reply to: 18896 Great pic of Brian Cheney and James fiogf49gjkf0d From c.2004