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Ijaz has been a customer of Loricraft since the mid 1990s, and a well known Garrard afficianado. He started by getting Terry to rebuild a Garrard 401 for him, and has since done the same for a 301. Ijaz was one of the first to purchase Terry's newly designed 501 which builds on the old designs and adds an improved drive system. He likes to experiment, and is still looking for his best system.  This shows his main turntables - Garrard 301, 501, and the 501 Inspiration we demonstrated at Las Vegas in 2003, all with Schroeder Reference arms and one designed for the 501. His 401 was out of the picture. In the foreground are Roger, Martina, Terry, Ruth and Ijaz, with Frank at the rear. Ijaz has just moved to a larger house and this was the first time the equipment had been put together. The following photographs are from his old house.  As you can see the emphasisis is on listening and experimentation. It is not a sterile listening room. The amplification is done by some tube amplifiers designed and modified by Sid Smith, the main driving force behind the important Marantz tube designs. These include modified Marantz 7c tube pre-amp, model-8b and model-9 amps, and a pair of push pull 300b prototypes. The tuner is a modified 10b and the speakers are Quad electrostatic ESL 63s. He has Goertz interconnects and speaker cables. The Loricraft Missing Link phonostage can be seen on the amplifier below the tuner. It was being compare to the 7c and it came out very well. The turntables and Quad speakers are powered by Loricraft Stabilised Power Supply Units (PSU). 
These are some of Ijaz's LPs in his basement. He is not just a collector. He knows what he has, and plays them. They cover a wide variety of styles with jazz and clasical music dominating.
Ijaz likes to discuss his HiFi and it might be possible for potential purchasers living near to Washington to visit him and see some of our products in use. Ijaz lives in Silver Spring, Maryland and can be reached by phone at 301-431-0580.
Sid Smith
In October 2001 the audio world lost one of the pioneers of home audio. Sid got his start in the US army in Burma, working on radio and
radar equipment. On his return after the war he joined radio craftsman and designed several notable Williamson type amplifiers. He moved to New York in the 1950s to pursue a career in opera. He teamed up with Saul Marantz and became the chief engineer of the Marantz Audio Company, designing such classics as the model 7c preamp, the model 8b and the model 9 amps, and the model 10 tuner. Sid also designed the Sequerra tuner, together with Dick Sequerra.
After retiring, Sid continued to refine his designs. He remained actively involved with audio and towards the end of his life was finalizing prototypes of his new amp and pre amp. In addition to audio he was an avid amateur astronomer and keen singer. He also loved working on pipe organs.
Ijaz first met Sid when he wanted to build one of Sid's modifications to his model 7c. He discovered that Sid lived nearby and they became good friends. Ijaz has the last pair of amps designed by Sid, plus a pair of 300b push-pull amps using 8b transformers. Later, he introduced Nigel and Terry to Sid and they spent a wonderful evening listening to his equipment working with the Garrard 501 turntable. Some of the recent Loricraft developments arose from the wide-ranging discussions which followed from this meeting. |