Mr. Yoav Geva has left YG Acoustics

LL21

Well-Known Member
Dec 26, 2010
14,411
2,509
1,448
No he has not as far as I know. He is still there as chief designer. Josh, Transparent Audio, has bought the company over and is the CEO. So a change of ownership, which is understandable given Andy is probably nearing 60! Transparent and Rockport have had a relationship, I believe, right from the outset going back decades.
Though, i guess it still remains to be seen if directionally Rockport changes courses the coming years.
That makes sense from the way both of them were speaking when I called. Thanks, Sujay.
 
  • Like
Reactions: sujay

adyc

VIP/Donor
Jan 5, 2013
873
399
973
FWIW, I called Rockport several weeks ago, and spoke with both Andy and Josh, the new head, who were still working in the office.

They are still making the speakers in Andy’s house.
 

ack

VIP/Donor & WBF Founding Member
May 6, 2010
6,774
1,198
580
Boston, MA
This is absolutely not true. YG had their best trimester EVER earlier this year, and even closed due to the pandemic, the orders kept rolling in (I know, we've placed a few).
There's no need to spread misinformation like this right now.

I was referring to when he sold the company; if they are doing well now, great. Nonetheless, the CEO has a lot of damage control to do right now with Geva's departure
 
  • Like
Reactions: ctydwn and tima

Barry2013

VIP/Donor
Oct 12, 2013
2,305
487
418
Essex UK
The explanation is most likely the very simple one that Yoav got more enjoyment from designing and developing his range of speakers than he did from running the business.
Nothing new or unusual in that and by no means the first or only example.
 

DaveC

Industry Expert
Nov 16, 2014
3,899
2,141
495
IMO, YG's latest designs are excellent, and arguably the best implementation of a traditional multi-driver box speaker that exists in the world today. I think YG would do just fine simply continuing to build the current speakers they offer for many years to come. Their popularity has grown over the years and this upward trend has not diminished AFAIK. I think the company is doing just fine, but I don't know anything for sure. I really hope the split was amicable and Mr. YG simply wanted to go do something else after accomplishing what he set out to do.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Marcin_gps

vindixon

Well-Known Member
Oct 29, 2012
12
6
910
Radnor, Pa
www.vincentdixon.com
So many marques are absolutely connected to their founders/chief designers. How many can survive once the motive force is gone? Unless of course a successor is carefully groomed.

Eg, I believe Andy Payor has left Rockport, has his successor cemented the company?

Andy Payor has not left Rockport. I met him there with Josh Clark earlier this year.
 

KeithR

VIP/Donor
May 7, 2010
5,144
2,812
1,898
Encino, CA
Perhaps Mr. Geva did not want the headache of running the business and chose to focus on his love of design. Perhaps he found he could not ultimately fulfill that under the current corporate structure, so he left. Or, perhaps not.

Perhaps we can speculate some more ;)

I’m sure all will be revealed in good time. B&W, Sonus Faber, McIntosh, ARC, and others have moved on from their founders. VSA in a different way as well. Will see what happens.
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
16,017
13,346
2,665
Beverly Hills, CA
Nope, hence "I believe".
I thought I read that, and it was confirmed. The Lyra being the result rather than "double Altair" replacement for Arrakis.
Apologies if that's fake news.

It's false, and not news of any kind.

And the Arrakis is a double Altair. What Andy didn't do is a new Arrakis with a double Lyra.
 

metaphacts

Industry Expert
Feb 1, 2011
305
205
950
Lower Provo River
So many marques are absolutely connected to their founders/chief designers. How many can survive once the motive force is gone? Unless of course a successor is carefully groomed.

Eg, I believe Andy Payor has left Rockport, has his successor cemented the company?

Andy Payor has not left Rockport.
 

andromedaaudio

VIP/Donor
Jan 23, 2011
8,350
2,730
1,400
Amsterdam holland
Regarding YG , May be he just thought it wasnt much of a challenge anymore .
He reached his goals time for another adventure .:)
 

spiritofmusic

Well-Known Member
Jun 13, 2013
14,601
5,411
1,278
E. England
  • Like
Reactions: howiebrou

tima

Industry Expert
Mar 3, 2014
5,777
6,818
1,400
the Upper Midwest
Perhaps we can speculate some more ;)

I’m sure all will be revealed in good time. B&W, Sonus Faber, McIntosh, ARC, and others have moved on from their founders. VSA in a different way as well. Will see what happens.

Indeed - we shall see what the future brings.

In post #2 I listed other speaker manufacturers whose founder passed away or left. I danced around asking the question directly: where are those companies now and are they as 'strong' product-wise today as when the founder was still active? (Nobody picked up on that.) Broadly I'm thinking maybe they're not, with a few obvious exceptions.

The d'Agostino family survived and is flourishing. Is the same true of Krell? Are they now what they were under their founder?

What about Sonus Faber since Serblin left?

In some cases we don't know yet. Take ARC for example. Bill Johnson passed away in 2011 after selling the company to 'the Italians' in 2008(?). Despite ultimate consumption by the McIntosh consortium in the 12(?) years since Johnson's sale ARC, seems to be doing as well as ever. That's largely thanks to some core people, primarily Ward Fiebiger who was Johnson's right hand and senior circuit designer. Sadly, Fiebiger passed awy in 2017 at age 58. ARC's current crop of preamps/linestages/phonostages including their Reference 6/6se linestage and Reference 3/3se phono are Fiebiger designs. We haven't seen ARC products yet from the post-Johnson-Fiebiger era.

Not that many (any?) of the iconic brands came out of a committee. It's usually one or two guys in a basement with soldering irons. Subsequent corporations built on singular vision.

What if Alon Wolf left Magico?

Fwiw, Keith, you're actually the first person I thought of when I saw the YG/Geva news. Then I figured your YG Haileys remain just as good post-Geva. :)
 

GSOphile

Well-Known Member
Sep 3, 2017
569
352
173
There's also Charlie Hansen, founder and genius behind Ayre Acoustics. I think Ayre is really missing Charlie.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: analogsa

spiritofmusic

Well-Known Member
Jun 13, 2013
14,601
5,411
1,278
E. England
Interesting to see the founders of well regarded marques like Theta, Wadia and Hovland emerge years later running smaller concerns like Schiit, Exogal and Uptone Audio.
 

howiebrou

Well-Known Member
Jun 29, 2012
2,789
3,635
1,470
Kondo seems to be doing okay under Masaki-San but imagine Robert Koda without Robert Koch or Zanden without Yamada-San or Techdas without Nishimura-San o_O
 

Ron Resnick

Site Co-Owner, Administrator
Jan 24, 2015
16,017
13,346
2,665
Beverly Hills, CA
Gayle Sanders sold MartinLogan to a private equity firm, which put together a group of audio-related companies. MartinLogan, since then, released a number of new, well-regarded hybrid electrostatic loudspeakers, and continues to offer the Neolith (which I like very much), and seems to be doing pretty well.

But MartinLogan never released a long-rumoured 15" driver subwoofer, or a Statement E3 (which I designed for MartinLogan free of charge). I suspect that low volume "passion projects" like that don't pass muster under private equity return on investment-type analyses.
 
Last edited:

Elliot G.

Industry Expert
Jul 22, 2010
3,286
2,958
1,360
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
www.bendingwaveusa.com
Gayle Sanders sold MartinLogan to a private equity firm, which put together a group of audio-related companies. MartinLogan, since then, released a number of new, well-regarded hybrid electrostatic loudspeakers, and continues to offer the Neolith (which I like very much), and seems to be doing pretty well.

But MorganLogan never released a long-rumoured 15" driver subwoofer, or a Statement E3 (which I designed for MartinLogan free of charge). I suspect that low volume "passion projects" like that don't pass muster under private equity return on investment-type analyses.
FYI Ron,
some of what you posted is true however them doing well is not so much. They moved most everything out of Kansas and since then its been very much downhill. When the bean counters take control of a company they don't usually succeed for long. I know nothing about YG but history is clear in the other instances. I think the pandemic will push the knife in very deep !
 

About us

  • What’s Best Forum is THE forum for high end audio, product reviews, advice and sharing experiences on the best of everything else. This is THE place where audiophiles and audio companies discuss vintage, contemporary and new audio products, music servers, music streamers, computer audio, digital-to-analog converters, turntables, phono stages, cartridges, reel-to-reel tape machines, speakers, headphones and tube and solid-state amplification. Founded in 2010 What’s Best Forum invites intelligent and courteous people of all interests and backgrounds to describe and discuss the best of everything. From beginners to life-long hobbyists to industry professionals, we enjoy learning about new things and meeting new people, and participating in spirited debates.

Quick Navigation

User Menu

Steve Williams
Site Founder | Site Owner | Administrator
Ron Resnick
Site Co-Owner | Administrator
Julian (The Fixer)
Website Build | Marketing Managersing