Does anyone know what happened to SUMO Electronics?

I just did a web search and found piles of Sumo info…Jason Stoddard of Schiit was very involved, Jim Bongiorno…a Sumo fan Youtube site, etc.

The SUMO trademark appears to have been cancelled in 2009.  Here is the record from the U.S. Trademark and Patent Office --
http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=73714069&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch

The company was bought by Califone International in the 1980s.  Here is an interview that mentions it, originally published in 1988.
https://www.stereophile.com/interviews/rich_may_of_sumo_an_audio_dynasty/index.html

The former president of Califone, Michael Custer, is now CEO at Chatsworth Products, an IT services company.

Thanks James.
That’s about all I found also.

JD

Thanks very much wolf_garcia!
I rarely go to YouTube, and never would have thought of it! I’ll also try to track down Jason Stoddard. As I was looking at the Freya as a possible replacement.

JD

Jim Bongiorno, the founder of SUMO and GAS, died in January 2013.

RIP James Bongiorno.   One of the truly great engineers is no more.

Randy Patton last owned Sumo.... Rich May took over design after Jim died, He designed the Andromeda II and Polaris. Jason Stoddard was one of their last product designers,  Jason Did Polaris III, Andromeda III Athena II.  Randy had PS Audio, Meitner, Threshold and Sumo.  He sold off what he could and closed down the rest.  

Curiousjim…no problemo, and full disclosure (!), I bought a Freya last November and it's a fun thing that's great for tube rolling. Also Stoddard wrote a book (or made a book out of a book length bunch of posts) about his adventures in the audio biz…haven't read it but I might.

I have an original Athena and Andromeda from when James Bongiorno ran the company. After he left later versions may not have been as good! Sumo closed long before James died!

@roberjerman 

Jim's Sumo Preamp was the Electra... Rich May did some tweaking and the called it the Electra Plus, Rich May then did the Athena.  
Jason Stoddard tweaked the Athena and that was the Athena II. 
James did the Andromeda... bipolar outputs.  Rich May did the Andromeda II with Mosfet outputs and Jason Stoddard did the Andromeda III with Mosfet outputs... Jim would not use Mosfets in an output stage. 

Rich May did the Polaris amp version 1. There were two more after that but I like the first one better. Had it for 25 yrs and had transistors replaced twice. But it was worth it. A really good amp.
Rich run quite a high bias on those  mosfets in the Polaris. Might be why it sounded so good and I had to replace them a couple of times.

@marqmike 

Yep,  Rich Did Polaris and Jason did Polaris II and III.  I've listened to the Polaris many times,  I sold that piece, It had a slight coloration that was pleasant.  I've not sat in front of the Jason's Polaris models. I've been told that the III is quite good. 

My first encounter with James Bongiorno was a SAE amp I bought new around 1975. In 1978 or 79 (memory failing), I bought a GAS Son of Ampzilla and the sound was a revelation. It was stupid good, especially for the 500.00? that it sold for. (guessing on the price). The only reason I didn’t buy his newest amp was because I despised the looks of it and that it didn’t come in silver. I called Spread Spectrum and begged James to make me one in silver, but was told they weren’t tooled up to do it. He was truly one of the great designers and was also an accomplished Jazz or was it Classical pianist.

A few years back I had a Sumo CHARLIE tuner. Wish I would have kept it. It was a cool piece of gear.

GAS made "Charlie", the Tuner back in the 70's.  I always loved Jims humor.

Yep,  Jim Made Charlie the Tuner under Gas and Sumo Labels both.  The Sumo was a better sounding piece, the best sounding tuner that I have heard, but its reception was mediocre at best.  

Just received a response from Jason Stoddard.  He said he never heard of the Sumo Electra, and would only talk about Schiit. So with this said and Jim gone, I looked on YouTube, and there are two videos about Sumo. A Diana pre and Ten poweramp, and  a Sumo, Nine Plus amp. No help at all.
I think I found a schematic, but  am not sure if it's the correct one. The model number matches, but  It doesn't look complete.

Going to continue the hunt.

JD

JD, am I understanding that you are after an Electra Schematic? I'm not sure, but I may have one.  Please confirm before I go crazy looking. 

Here you go,  this should help. 

http://www.davidsaudio.com/Electra.pdf

Thank you timlub!

This will go a long way to helping me repair the pre amp.
I was correct, I only had half of it.

Thanks again for filling in the the other half!

JD

The Charlie tuner I had was made by Sumo.

JD,   one of my best friends still uses an Electra.  He has made a ton of cap improvements on this pre and it responded incredibly to the changes.  This pre already uses 1% metal film resistors, but it is full of sub par caps. so if you figure out the repair, do yourself a favor and replace the electrolytic and ceramic caps while you are in there. 
This old pre gets shockingly good.

timlub, Once it's all apart, changing some caps should be no big deal.

Thanks.

JD

My living room system is running the Sumo Andromeda & Athena with Martin Logan Theos. I am the original owner of the Sumo gear. Jim rebuilt the Andromedia in 2011 out of his shop near Santa Barbara, but wouldn't touch the Athena because it wasn't his design.

I worked at gas in the late 70's and Charlie the Tuner nearly bankrupted the company... Ed Miller and Danny Seifert worked on it non stop for years. every time they had a circuit, a new and cooler chipset came out... lol I look back fondly on those years.