Tom Evans
With a background
of working with defence contractors, with
exposure to components unused in the field
of Hi-Fi, Tom Evans was dissatisfied with
the standard of hi-fi in the late seventies.
He began a journey which took him eventually
into the realms of theoretical physics and
psycho- acoustics. His first commercial product
in 1986 "The Finestra" pre-amp was using multi-layered
circuit boards to optimise signal paths. He
had already developed an ultra linear circuit
and had recognised the importance of the use
of Perspex in case work to minimise eddy currents,
vital in preserving signal integrity in order
to reproduce maximum resolution.
Milestones along the way were his collaboration
with Michell Engineering to produce a phono
stage "The Iso" along with Pre and power amps
for Michell. With the formation of Trichord
Research came the original work on precision
crystal oscillators and the start of his work
in digital replay.
A decision to 'go solo' brought about a rethink
in what was important in CD replay, realising
the potential of what was theoretically possible
from 44.1Khz 16 bit. This fundamental research
eventual bore fruit with the creation of the
Eikos CD player from Acoustic Precision.
One year after the launch of the Eikos CD
player Evans realised that the ceiling of
performance achievable was being compromised
by even the best voltage regulators in key
positions on the board. The regulators had
voltage noise figures equivalent to that of
the output of an average moving coil cartridge
and a transient response/recovery time that
was measured in "Weeks per Volt". Nine months
later he had developed the Lithos regulator,
a discrete fast transient response time ultra
low noise a devise 1000 times quieter, 53
times faster, and five decimal places more
accurate than the best regulators available.
He realised that this was the key that would
unlock the potential of vinyl as the application
of Lithos to an analogue source would move
the goal posts of performance in speed resolution
and dynamic range, in a media unfettered by
sampling rate and bandwidth. He returned to
his roots to design "The Groove" phono stage.
With the advanced Lithos technology providing
a quantum leap in speed and resolution capability
over conventional electronics, the way forward
is open to develop a new range of products
that re-defines the performance of reproducing
recorded music from all sources. The latest
addition to our portfolio utelising full Lithos
regulation is The Vibe Preamplifier.
