From: Nomen Nescio
Organization:
Newsgroups: rec.audio.tubes
Date: Wed, 9 Mar 2005 04:30:07 +0100 (CET)
Subject: Magnequest business methods

(Moved from the thread " A message concerning the health of this group")

west wrote:

What did magnequest do? I'd like to know because I'm ready to but some XFRs
from them (not cheap).
west

As early as 1994 Magnequest Scum already had a history of persecuting
designers
who did not specify Magnequest right off the net. Most of those guys, being
gentlemen of the old school, would run rather than fight. (They honoured the
ARRL code of sharing information without acrimony. Get one of the hams to
explain
to you if you're too young to remember the ARRL. It would be presumptuous of
me as I was never a ham or a member.)

I reviewed an inexpensive amp called the SEX in Glass Audio. This 200 buck
a pair of monoblocs amp used Thordarsen surplus TV-type transformers. The
upgrade
was the least expensive Magnequest TFA204, a copy of the Peerless TFA-204.
I got a pair of these as well from the kit maker. My review did not say much
about their sonic shortcomings, though they were hinted at; the physical
shortcomings
of the outputs were not mentioned at all though one of the photographs showed
them. A while after this review appeared Michael LaFevre of Magnequest decided
it was not flattering enough and announced that he would drive me off the net.


The Magnequest Scum arrived didn't just start a flame war, they assaulted my
livelihood and tried to get me into trouble. They called up every associate
of mine they could discover the name of and spread slanders about me. They
wrote to the Inland Revenue and denounced me for having income that I didn't
report. (This was very dangerous for me as I am a political refugee after whom
the apartheid government in South Africa twice sent assassins for my books,
as did some South American fascists I rubbed when I worked there in my first
exile. Also, I am a tax exile who gets special benefits from my host country,
so such an accusation is doubly dangerous for me.) That's just a sample of
the slimy things Michael LaFevre and his friends did. Among other good people
in tube technology they damaged by smearing anyone with whom I had a
connection
were Westrex, the makers of the WE300B, Lundahl, Velleman (makers of
electronic
kits including a most handy handheld u-build oscilloscope), Lowther (with whom
I had no connection), and several more. The Magnequest Scum threatened my ISP
and forged letters from me in attempts to incriminate me. (Over the course
of two years I made a seven figure sum out of these persecutions; that's what
a professional intellectual does, make a modest living from exposing the
enemies
of society.)

Two small examples of the pettiness of the man you're about to give your money
to: Hi-Fi News and Record Review, the top European hi-fi mag, gave my huge
tube netsite (the biggest there ever was) a glowing encomium. LaFevre called
them 11 times across the Atlantic to abuse them for approving of my work.
Cross
the Magnequest Scum and the next thing they will be calling your employer to
say you are a thief and child abuser. (That's what one of my publishers
reported
to me. Many other RATs had to pay for outside ISP service because they could
no longer use their employers' internet service after assaults by the
Magnequest
Scum on their employers. That too was reported on RAT.)

But you are more interested in what is wrong with Magnequest transformers.
The short answer is that they are poorly conceived and executed copies of
antique
transformers made from plans literally taken out of dustbin. Those which are
new designs are not made to any unified conception of sound but designed by
the cheapest journeyman designer LaFevre can find; one of his output
transformer
designers bragged on RAT that he is fundamentally deaf. LaFevre, despite for
a dozen years publicly pretending otherwise, is not an engineer, never mind
a magnetics engineer; he is by training a political scientist and he learned
his business methods in the smoky committee rooms of Tammany Hall: they are
best summarized as despicable smear tactics. He is notorious for picking
public
fights with customers, reviewers etc. He refuses to publish proper
specifications.
Ask him for the primary inductance of one of his transformers and he will
refuse
to sell you a transformer because you aren't the right sort of customer. (You
think I'm exaggerating, look up LaFevre's public correspondence on RAT with
John Byrns on just such a case.) Make the smallest reservation about one of
his transformers and you will immediately become the subject of a public
campaign
of vilification by Michael LaFever and his gang.

The first Magnequests I had, the TFA204, fell apart in the post because they
were so badly made. They cost 200 bucks but were not even conclusively better
than the ten buck a pair surplus Thordarsen TV-type trannies they replaced.
I binned them. Other Magnequest I had were better assembled but then so they
should be at up to 600 bucks a pair.

My late associate Bill May conducted thorough ABX tests on thirteen
transformers,
including a couple of the most expensive Magnequests. He found that by
measurement
and in blind tests the Magnequests were beaten by output transformers of half
and less the price of the Magnequests. (The overall winner against Tangos and
other expensive Japanese iron was the Swedish Lundahl.) Magnequests are
therefore,
even when competently assembled, poor value for the money. On the sighted
tests
they came much higher: Magnequest hype works. Bill, even after he was in his
grave, was of course relentlessly smeared by the Magnequest Scum.

Conduct a simple test: A key specification of any output transformer is how
much current it can handle. Try to find a definitive answer for any Magnequest
transformer and you will be surprised. The answer you will receive is: As much
as you want, more than the spec, a torrent of abuse if you insist on a
definitive
professional answer. Many examples of this sort of rubber Magnequest
specification
stand on the public archive of RAT.

So, if you want quality transformers with the best sound, shop elsewhere. If
you are a fashion victim, there may be some street cred still in having
Magnequests.
It's an expensive consolation. Some of the Magnequest faithful have been stung
for large losses when they tried to sell on Magnequests. They have very poor
second hand value. But hey, that's like any religion: what price a secondhand
Bible or Koran? Magnequest transformers are, judging by those who defend them,
a sort terrorist religion.

Two tips if you're still shopping Magnequest. Make sure they are absolutely
what you want because the smallest lack of perfect enthusiasm will embroil
you in much public nastiness with LaFevre and his gang. And buy them not from
LaFevre himself but from Dan Schmalle of Electronic Tonalities in Poulsbo WA
who undertook, after the disaster with the TFA204, to open the box and check
that at least the Magnequest is bolted up right before passing it on to the
customer. You will find Dan, a decent man, easier to deal with than the
demented
Michael LaFever.

If you're having second thoughts, consider the winders who have connections
to broadcasting. Their transformers are superb value for money because the
broadcasters paid for all the development costs which in boutique winderies
are loaded onto the customer. (Turner's transformers, far from being
expensive,
if they do the business at all, may indeed be cheaper than the labour that
went into them precisely because there is no one else to share the development
cost.) If the Europeans that come instantly to mind (Lundhal above all,
followed
by Sowter, Bertolucci et al) are too expensive in carriage, you may want to
consider that simply overspeccing a Hammond tranny for the circuit gets you
a most capable output for a relatively modest price, that if you have
Magnequest
money the Plitrons are absolutely superb (my most expensive amps, 75W SE, use
Plitrons), or that there are good American transformers like Electraprint and
UBT from designers who are qualified engineers who won't abuse you in public
for daring to make a suggestion for improvement.

In short, Michael LaFevre is the enemy of fidelity.

HTH.

Andre Jute

west wrote:

What did magnequest do? I'd like to know because I'm ready to but some XFRs
from them (not cheap).
west



West,

I was not party to the original fray, but I have spoken in the past to Henry
Pasternak, of the infamous "Magnequest Gang" about the cause and nature of
the ruckus. Suffice it to say that his version of the events bears no
resemblance whatsoever to Jute's account.

Henry probably doesn't monitor this group any more. I'm certain that he's
not interested in rehashing this putrid old battle.

I've never met Henry in the flesh, but I've bought stuff from him and
communicated via phone and e-mail. I'm listening to one of his designs right
now. In every transaction, Henry has been honest and credible, and a
straight shooter (for the sake of contrast, I should add that he is
rational, too).

Henry is a bona-fide EE. That perhaps has some bearing on the relative
competencies of the parties involved, although it has little to do with the
spat, which centers on personalities and alleged actions.

Sometimes HP comes across a bit arrogantly, but he's not in the same league
with some of our current RAT posters. Based upon my experiences with both
parties, I'd put all of my money on Henry's version, and not a farthing on
the other. But again, I wasn't one of the original combatants.

To answer your question anecdotally, I have spoken to other designers and
tube crafters and none had anything bad to say about Magnequest. Some claim
there are much better designs, but nothing negative on that score.

I wonder if other RAT posters -- besides Jute -- have actually had a bad
experience with the Magnequest product. I'd be surprised . . .

Jon

Hi-Fi News and Record Review, the top European hi-fi mag, gave my huge
tube netsite (the biggest there ever was) a glowing encomium.


bull****!

I have been on the Net longer than anyone (and more hours per day) and I
recall NO SUCH site

I would not have missed "the biggest there ever was"

therefore, you lie here, and your credibility = 0