Charles Hansen RIP
 

Sad news Charles Hansen passed away yesterday on 11/28/17.

One of audio's bright lights - he will be missed.

Very sad. RIP Charles Hansen.

From Facebook:

what a loss to our hobby and the industry at large. RIP Charles.

I spin Irrational, But Efficacious periodically on my disc players. RIP, Mr. Hansen.

db

What!!? That’s terrible! What happened? Awful news.

That's really sad news! :sigh:
Thoughts and prayers to his family.

It all started with a serious accident several years ago. Charlie was hit by an out-of-control motorcycle rider while riding his road bike.

http://www.dailycamera.com/ci_13078648

Tom

More than a few years, 8 years ago. At the time I had an Ayre KX-R preamp and was blown away by the sheer genius of his design. So sad that he had his life ruined and taken away from him by a reckless person. RIP C.Hansen.

Deeply sorry about this.

Wow, I don't know what to say. Well I'll say this much. His QB-9 DAC gave me years of joy until this year. He was one of the best preamp/amp designers in the industry. Tragic loss for our hobby and industry.

RIP. Thank you.

Had to have been tough since he was run over by the motorcycle. May he RIP.

Terrible and very sad news...prayers for his family and all at Ayre...

I am sorry to read this.
RIP.
Ayre is fabulous.

Awfully sad news. I live his audio legacy and I loved his politics.

RIP Charles. Ayre Acoustics is fine legacy.

RIP Charles and thanks for sharing genius with us.

This is so sad. He still had so much to give, but that bike crash was too severe. I am glad I have several of his components, and I hope the company continues to keep his legacy secure. RIP.

first time over here since he passed. So sorry about this. I was just talking to him like 10 days before this. So sad. He and Patel made GREAT speakers back in the day. Those Eclipse were wonderful instruments. I know that he had a bunch of stuff in the pipeline. Hope we get to see a bunch of it eventually. Genius.

Also posting for first time since his passing.

I got my rig up and running again in more than a month. New house and dedicated audio room now, and I dedicate my relaunch to Charley.

It was an interesting few hours in getting back up and running, actually. I had everything hooked up and there was no sound. I freaked out. I checked the connections and cabling a half-dozen times. Still no sound. CDs were playing, being read, though. Decided to take a shower, regroup, think straight.

Went back and discovered it was the C-5xeMP that became wonky, apparently from the month of shutdown. Thought the laser might have went kaput because of age, but that can't be because discs were playing. Tried SACD. Sound! Ok, so maybe there was an issue with redbook.

Then, I remembered Charley answered a post of mine on another forum like 10 years ago when I had a glitch with the player and taught me how to reset and reboot it. I saved that post, and it's on my computer to this day. Did the reset and eureka, there was CD sound. A big sigh of relief.

So even in passing, Charley continues to help me out! Rest in peace, Charley!

R.I.P Charles, thank you for your genius.

Will, are you willing to share that 'reboot' procedure, never know what the future will hold.

Of course. Unplug the power cord for around a minute and reinsert. Then, press the standby button and while keeping that pressed, press the Stop button. That will reset the unit to the Pioneer transport default, according to Charley. Then, on the remote, hit 5-4-3-2-1 sequentially. You should then see the left-side sampling rate lights on the front panel flash sequentially. That will reboot the player to the Ayre default settings.

Very saddened by Charles having left us so early. Rest in Peace, Charles, your drive for excellence and perfection was such an inspiration to us all.

Cannot help but remember his personal comments here on my review of QB-9 DSD--not bragging about it, but what a nice man!

Thank you will, extremely useful and very much appreciated.

Thanks Will (and Charley). I copied the directions and emailed them to myself.

db

Only fitting, since your handle is AudioGremlin. Definitely audio gremlins at work in my system yesterday, haha.

No problem!

The AudioGremlin is a wiley little critter, he especially loves ageing capacitors, low emission tubes and corroded junctions. Feeds off self-satisfaction waiting for his moment to strike. Otherwise he's quite a happy liitle chap..

Haha, I was pretty self-satisfied when he struck, as I stood there following initial hook-up and admiring the gear sitting on a newly acquired and installed rack. He is definitely one wiley critter. Pops up at the most inconvenient times.

Obituary for Charles. It has some nice biographical details.

http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nam...?pid=187405944