Tim De Paravicini: (1945–2020)

Dec 21, 2020

A Message from Antony Michaelson, on the recent passing of Tim de Paravicini

I am deeply saddened by the loss of my old sparring partner, Tim de Paravicini. My friendship with him goes back to 1978, during the Michaelson&Austin days. It seems like eons ago and yesterday at the same time.

I fondly recall my first meeting him when he was working for Tangent Acoustics (having recently left Luxman in Japan). He was so eager to show me his incredible Moonlight Electronics designs he had done for Tangent. They were astonishing. His hands were shaking because of his passion and enthusiasm, it was overwhelming and intimidating. I was sure that I was in the presence of a near-genius. He then redesigned the TVA-1's circuit, and his work turned it from a mediocre ‘also ran’ to a huge success. Thank you, Tim!

When I started MF I remained friends with him. One day I was at his house and we inevitably began talking circuits. He started getting excited, very excited, and took me into his workshop (piles of car parts, half-finished breadboard circuits, masses of wires and components, a bit of cat poop, un-emptied ashtrays… Yup! Genius at work!) and showed me a small breadboard with a couple of output transistors strapped to it; it looked like nothing. Then he really got into gear: Class A, low cost, amazing sonics, waving hands, blazing eyes. His passion convinced me, and the result was the A1; the bestselling MF product of all time. Thank you, Tim!

Here is an unknown story. All the above happened on trust, with no mention of money. Typically Tim. Some months went by (the birth of the A1 was very difficult and almost put MF out of business) and I asked him how much he wanted for the design. He said ..."Oh, I don't know, give me £500".. I couldn't believe my ears, .."a brilliant design for almost nothing?".... I thought. I replied ..."are you serious?"... meaning you haven't asked enough. Tim being Tim he said......"Well, give me a bag of groceries"..... Then I told him what I thought and put him on a handsome retainer/salary. I'm not a predator and Tim was an un-worldly gift to the world of audio.

You will be sorely missed, Tim. I hope that you have gone to a world filled with cats, exotic tubes, and leaded solder

From all at the Musical Fidelity and Audio Tuning families, our condolences go out to Tim de Paravicini’s family and loved ones as we all bid farewell to a true audio icon.

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