Just heard today that Jim Winey passed away yesterday, January 11, 2024. Sad day... 
R.I.P. Jim Winey
- Thread starter DonH50
- Start date
I remember walking into a stereo store in St. Louis when it was a slow day. The owner took me into a dark shoebox shaped room and said listen to this. A pair of the oddest looking speakers I'd ever seen - large rectangular panels maybe two inches deep. He played a record. From between those panels emerged Ella Fitzgerald almost big as life, extremely realistic with a drop-dead gorgeous voice. A week later I traded-in my Bose 901s for a pair of Magnepan 1.5s (?) and a DH-500 Hafler amplifier kit. My first "high-end" speakers were Maggies. Thank you Jim Winey, rest in peace.
Sad day. RIP Jim. I really enjoyed my Magnepans when I owned them and have wonderful remembrances of listening to the evolving lineup over the years.
Just heard today that Jim Winey passed away yesterday, January 11, 2024. Sad day...
Sad news indeed ....
Me, too. I bought a pair of 2167-F's which later morphed into the MGII's, way back in the late '70s. First pair of high end speakers. Three years later after our first child was born and about a year old, I heard a crash and she had pulled herself to stand up using one of the Maggies and it toppled over. They were in the paper for sale ads within a couple of days. Sorry to see them go. Larry
Jim Winey championed a more affordable high end and gave many audiophiles and music lovers access to a sound that made instruments like a concert grand virtually come to life in your lounge room… it can be such a surprising and transformational moment when you hear your first really good panel speaker. There is something fundamentally authentic in the ethos of a design approach to bring a level of greatness to the less than stratospheric end of this hobby. Rest in Peace Jim Winey.
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I don't know if he had anything to do with the 30.7 speaker, but it destroys 99.9 of speakers I have heard when in a proper room... the audio research thing I don't get however.... most of their products are leaner than a 14 year old anorexic model, more bleached than an albino bleaching his skin, and as much jump factor with a maggie (and most box speakers I have experienced) than a wheel chair basketball playyer
I just saw this. A lovely tribute by Frank Doris
www.psaudio.com
There are some audio experiences you never forget.
I will never forget my first Magnepan experience. It was in 1971 at Paul Heath Audio in Rochester NY. The Tympani I (U) were set up with all ARC gear (SP3 and D75) playing Switched on Bach and I was smitten forever. I begged Paul Heath to let me work in his store part time (I was a student at Univ Rochester) and receive credit rather than cash so I could buy that system at dealer pricing. He agreed and my life long journey as an audiophile took flight. When Wendell Diller came into the store in '73 he bet me a dinner that the speakers and both pieces of ARC gear would receive the top rating by HP in the next edition of TAS. They did not. He lost the bet and I reminded him that he owed me a dinner for the next 50 years. He still hasn't paid up but he was always kind, friendly and helpful. (Wendell, even Chick-Fil-A would be fine. Ha!)
What a monumental accomplishment, those Maggies! Not everyone gets to change their field essentially overnight. Thank you, Jim, for countless hours of musical joy.
Magnepan’s Jim Winey: In Memoriam
I heard the news on January 16 – Jim Winey, the founder of Magnepan, maker of Magneplanar loudspeakers, had passed away at age 89. As I’m sure so many in the industry and so many listeners felt, it was a moment of great personal sadness. You see, Jim Winey and long-time employee Wendell Diller...
www.psaudio.com
There are some audio experiences you never forget.
I will never forget my first Magnepan experience. It was in 1971 at Paul Heath Audio in Rochester NY. The Tympani I (U) were set up with all ARC gear (SP3 and D75) playing Switched on Bach and I was smitten forever. I begged Paul Heath to let me work in his store part time (I was a student at Univ Rochester) and receive credit rather than cash so I could buy that system at dealer pricing. He agreed and my life long journey as an audiophile took flight. When Wendell Diller came into the store in '73 he bet me a dinner that the speakers and both pieces of ARC gear would receive the top rating by HP in the next edition of TAS. They did not. He lost the bet and I reminded him that he owed me a dinner for the next 50 years. He still hasn't paid up but he was always kind, friendly and helpful. (Wendell, even Chick-Fil-A would be fine. Ha!)
What a monumental accomplishment, those Maggies! Not everyone gets to change their field essentially overnight. Thank you, Jim, for countless hours of musical joy.
LMAO My experience almost identical:
In 75 I was off to Grad school on a full R,B,T scholarship. So what did I do? Took out a student loan and bought some gear:
Tympani 1C's (maybe D's) ,SP3A, and a Quatre Gain Cell amp, all from Stereo Emporium in Buffalo,NY. Maybe in the Spring of 76 I bought a D75, upgraded to D76 specs from Paul Heath to replace the Quatre. Later, working part time at an audio store in Syracuse, I reached out to Magnapan to bring their speakers in to the store. Low and behold one afternoon Wendell Diller walks into the store unannounced! Dinner that night (he drank cheap wine!) which was sort of an interview and we were Magnapan dealers....
In 75 I was off to Grad school on a full R,B,T scholarship. So what did I do? Took out a student loan and bought some gear:
Tympani 1C's (maybe D's) ,SP3A, and a Quatre Gain Cell amp, all from Stereo Emporium in Buffalo,NY. Maybe in the Spring of 76 I bought a D75, upgraded to D76 specs from Paul Heath to replace the Quatre. Later, working part time at an audio store in Syracuse, I reached out to Magnapan to bring their speakers in to the store. Low and behold one afternoon Wendell Diller walks into the store unannounced! Dinner that night (he drank cheap wine!) which was sort of an interview and we were Magnapan dealers....
