Innovative loudspeaker designer Siegfried Linkwitz passed away at his home in California on 11 September.
I am deeply saddened by his passing as he was the fountain of knowledge on all things dipole and shared what he had discovered freely. He was a generous and friendly man, who I never got to meet personally, but had several email conversations with him when I was looking to build his LX521 speakers. We have lost a true innovator and audio pioneer who will probably be remembered most for the development of the Linkwitz-Riley crossover, (together with his Hewlett Packard workmate Russ Riley). His home-based research has had a huge impact across 2 channel and home theatre reproduction. He was science driven, but understood the importance of listening, too.
"The best loudspeakers for stereo sound reproduction are those that disappear chameleon-like from the listening room and simultaneously withdraw attention from the room. What remains is an acoustic scene of phantom sources and spaces in front of the listener; an illusion that the brain creates from the naturalness of the sonic cues imbedded in the recording, which the two loudspeakers reproduce."
His LX521 loudspeakers have opened up new musical horizons for me over the last few years. An audio great - he will be missed.