Dennis Murphy interview

Tom_S

Tom_S

Dennis doesn't actually end up speaking much. I was hoping to soak in some of his knowledge.

Wolf

I met Dennis in 2003 at the second Dayton DIY. He went to Iowa 2007 as well. I have spoken with him more recently at AXPONA, but its been a few years because he was still running with Jim Salk. He plays violin, and knows how it is supposed to sound. That is one of his voicing methods. He always places a small rise in the top octave for a bit more air to help achieve his preferences. I doubt he still does this, but Speaker Workshop used to be his program of choice for xover modeling.
Swell guy, personable and honest.

tktran

I preferred Pjay’s interview with Dennis.

Unfortunately his website is gone… it was titled The Gurus Speak!

http://www.helarc.com/guru/gurusspeaker.htm

Wolf

You've been around longer than I thought...
Yeah, Peter Smith is someone I wish was still active in the hobby.

PWRRYD

Who was the guy at Iowa who measured the FR of my 1st gen RUshers? Wasn't it Dennis Murphy? This was my first DIY event back in 2009 I think. It was the one at the Harris Centet when Wolf did his A/B/X capacitor test.

Tom_S

I think that was Dennis Jarchow. I don't think I've seen him at any of the Iowa events since.

PWRRYD

Thanks Tom. That seems like a lifetime ago. My daughter was just learning to walk

Wolf

Yep, that was Dennis Jarchow. Last I knew, he was doing a coaxial in an MTM as a 3way, but that was likely around the same time frame. Wonder what he's doing now...

jr@mac

@Wolf said:
Yep, that was Dennis Jarchow. Last I knew, he was doing a coaxial in an MTM as a 3way, but that was likely around the same time frame. Wonder what he's doing now...

Sometimes people finally get what they want out of the hobby and never look back.

tommytunes50

@jr@mac said:

@Wolf said:
Yep, that was Dennis Jarchow. Last I knew, he was doing a coaxial in an MTM as a 3way, but that was likely around the same time frame. Wonder what he's doing now...

Sometimes people finally get what they want out of the hobby and never look back.

Like Zaph.

Wolf

Zaph had a kid, and found more pleasurable foci than speakers in family and biking/fitness.
Roman Bednarek found he had a mental illness and stopping actually eased the stress levels in his life.
Paul Verdone, Mark Krawiec, Jay Kim, Wayne Wendel, and Wayne Jaeschke seemed to just drop it unprovoked.
There are many reasons people leave a hobby behind.
The reasons I wonder about those former acquaintances and their experiences is that I hope they are doing well, and that I miss the correspondences I've had with them, intellectual or personal. This hobby has introduced me to a great many people, and the comeraderie and relationships formed from it as a result are a very precious thing to me.
Dennis' kindness in measuring my speakers that year at Iowa with Soundeasy, and his thoughts and explanations of the squiggles at hand helped me out quite a bit. Knowledge is power.

jr@mac

@Wolf said:
Zaph had a kid, and found more pleasurable foci than speakers in family and biking/fitness.
Roman Bednarek found he had a mental illness and stopping actually eased the stress levels in his life.
Paul Verdone, Mark Krawiec, Jay Kim, Wayne Wendel, and Wayne Jaeschke seemed to just drop it unprovoked.
There are many reasons people leave a hobby behind.
The reasons I wonder about those former acquaintances and their experiences is that I hope they are doing well, and that I miss the correspondences I've had with them, intellectual or personal. This hobby has introduced me to a great many people, and the comeraderie and relationships formed from it as a result are a very precious thing to me.
Dennis' kindness in measuring my speakers that year at Iowa with Soundeasy, and his thoughts and explanations of the squiggles at hand helped me out quite a bit. Knowledge is power.

I'm going to read this later. Something stinks.

Tom_S

I recall Jay Kim moved back to his native country, but don't remember where that actually was.

tktran

Ben,

We are of similar vintage- age around 50.

I got into the hobby about 25 years ago. Following the success of my first build, buddies of mine wanted to build their own "column speakers", but wanted subwoofers as well. I’d heard on the grapevine about the affordable but excellent vifa 6.5" midwoofer. I reached out to Dennis via email, who had apparently been working on a design.
To my surprise- he replied, sending me the complete set of plans!

I was in engineering school and with the help of some friends, we built Dennis’ 2 way design with the Vifa 6.5" poly cone midwoofer (P17WJ-00-08) and 1" alu dome tweeter (D25AG-35-06). Other friends heard them, and got in on the speaker building action. But over the past 2 decades, I’m the only one of my local friends who’s continued to build speakers. Some developed other hobbies, others started work+++, others moved away. Some even go back buying retail! Sometimes we need a break, or have to re-prioritize life.

The value of Jim Salk's or Philharmonic Audio products is outstanding when compared to high-end retail.
I've been tempted to purchase one of his designs, so as to hear his voicing.

These days, I continue to forge friendships near and far. Some of those people have been into speaker building for much longer than I have, and some have moved onto other things. Sometimes we disagree, but we always learn.

I agree knowledge is power, but other times, I gotta admit, ignorance is bliss...

Wolf

BTW, found DJ on LinkedIn. He is still apparently working for John Deere in Iowa.

Wolf

@jr@mac said:
I'm going to read this later. Something stinks.

I honestly have no idea what you are referring to.

Eggguy

DJ works for John Deer?

Eggguy

I wonder if he has ever written or received a Dear John letter?