JONATHAN TINN, REST IN PEACE
Jason Victor Serinus
Jonathan Tinn, 63, US distributor of darTZeel and current/former business partner or associate in Evolution Acoustics, Playback Designs, Wave Kinetics, and Blue Light Audio, passed away from intestinal cancer on April 27. He left behind two beloved sons, Charlie and Gabriel, siblings Liz and Eric, and scores of devastated colleagues and associates.
Tinn’s death came as a shock to all who knew and worked with him. On April 11, he informed his business partner of 17 years, Kevin Malmgren of Evolution Acoustics, that he had, at most, a couple of weeks to live. His announcement came after intense rounds of chemotherapy and shortly before he entered hospice care.
“I first met Jonathan by email in the fall of 2002,” darTZeel’s Hervé Delétraz explained. “He had heard my first instrument, the NHB-108 Model One, at the New York Stereophile Show in June 2002. Wes Philips,1 who has since passed away, had written a glowing article in Stereophile about it, and Jonathan let me know he was interested in becoming an importer for the USA.
“We started working together in January 2003 and developed a strong friendship. He played a major role in marking darTZeel as one of today’s leading brands. He was honest and upright, loyal in business and in friendship. He was like a brother to me. I still mourn his passing, so sudden and unexpected.”
Evolution Acoustics and darTZeel assembled what Malmgren describes as “an all-out assault system” in Jonathan’s honor at T.H.E. Show in Costa
