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Interview: Garry Lambert

By Michael jones

November 2010

Kiwi audiophiles know the name Garry Lambert in relation to his Lambert Audio range of loudspeakers. But what has he been up to since the? AudioEnz asks.

Q. After you closed Lambert Audio you headed off overseas. What were you up to?

A. Immediately after closing Lambert Audio, I went to work for Perreaux, as Technical Manager. While at CES in Las Vegas with Perreaux, I visited Matthew Bond, of TARA Labs. I had for a time made Lambert Timekeeper speakers for them, under the Space & Time Brand. On returning to NZ after the show, Matthew called me and offered me a job as Chief Engineer at TARA Labs, to develop a range of Power Conditioners, amongst other things. I basically packed my dog, a guitar, some motorcycle riding gear, and moved to the US. I was there for 7 years, designed the Zero, the famous “Vacuum Dielectric” Cable, and also during that time we purchased EAD (Enlightened Audio Design), which I managed as well as by then being GM at TARA Labs.

Q. Last time I saw you was in Auckland. You were involved with car speaker design. How did that come about?

A. TARA Labs decided to drop EAD, and reduce staff, so I found myself jobless, in a country where without a visa, I could no longer officially work. I had often, at CES each year, caught up with an old friend, Peter Maire, and his son Nick, who were there with NAVMAN. They had recently taken an interest in Fusion Electronics, and suggested I move back and take a position with them, joining the team designing Car and Marine Speakers.

Garry Lambert inspecting Fusion car woofer production

Q. And then you went to China. How did that happen? And how are you enjoying the very different culture?

A. With Fusion I often had to go to China to check factories, parts, production, etc. At one stage I was going back and forward up to nine times in one year. It became apparent to me that, to do speaker design efficiently, you needed to be in China. After all, 90% or more of all speakers are made there, and the parts suppliers are all there. So I moved my own small consulting business there, and currently I am Technical Consultant, and Vice Chief Engineer to a very large loudspeaker company in Ningbo. It’s a part time job, and that leaves me some time to pursue other ideas, and also to design for other clients.

Culturally, I enjoy China. The food is generally very good, but Ningbo is a modern city (although it’s been there 7000 years!), and there are a number of foreign owned universities there. So there is a fairly large ex-pat community, (the Foreign Clinic is run by a doctor from Hamilton), and Brazilian, Italian, American restaurants, run by ex-pats. They even have Guinness on tap! Importantly to me, a part-time musician, there is a lot of night life, featuring live bands, mostly Filipino, so it’s really a great place. Oh, with the exception of the driving. Please don’t get me started on that!

Garry receiving an award from the city of Ningbo, for his contribution to the
city economy. "Probably based on Guiness consumption," says Garry

Q. Last time we were in contact you mentioned a cable line you were developing. How is that going?

A. I had, like a number of people, often regarded the high end cable business as a crock. While at TARA Labs, I had the opportunity to test, listen, measure, and compare fact with fiction. And believe me, there are very audible differences in cables, for very good reasons, not often borne out by the “fiction” that passes for “fact”. And I’m not putting down TARA by saying this. They tend at least to understand why they do things their way. It’s just that many of the claims made by high end cable manufacturers, sometimes have nothing to do with why they sound different. Maybe they don’t know, maybe they don’t want you to know, so they make stuff up. Whatever.

Being in China, I have access to factories with all the right machinery to make good cables. If some one would just ask them. A US distributor had been pushing me to do just that, so I have designed a cable (you only need to get it right once, not at many different price points), and it’s just entering production. The first samples have been in the hands of a number of distributors, and the results are as expected. Importantly, by making them in China, I can control the quality, and produce a cable that competes with very high end product, at around 1/8th the retail price.

There is no “unobtainium” used (that just adds cost), and no “secret materials” (also adds cost). Just good, and appropriate, engineering. There will be RCA interconnects, XLR Balanced interconnects, and Musical Instrument cables as well, all to the same design. You’ll have to wait a while for further news, as I don’t want to pre-empt my New Zealand distributor.

Q. Any thoughts about resurrecting the Lambert Audio speaker line?

A. For some time, I have received calls and e-mails from Lambert Speaker owners, asking me this very question. And of course, I haven’t spent the last dozen or so years not thinking about how I’d like to build a speaker.

So yes, there will be a new Lambert speaker. Not that I envisage a range, just one model. It will be the sum of everything I’ve learned about sound and the reproduction of music over the years. But you’ll have to wait. This is a project I am doing for me, and then I’ll sell some if there is any interest. So it will happen when it happens, although it is fairly well down the track at the moment. I have the advantage of access to a huge anechoic measuring facility, with an array of measuring and design software, as well as the ability to have parts made the way I want the. The current prototype is up and running, and I’m very pleased with the progress at this stage.