ABOUT

Here’s a little about me. In my younger days, I played a bit of piano and later, drums. I was raised in a home filled with classic jazz of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Lee Morgan and Cannonball Adderley. In high school my band performed music of Jimi Hendrix, Mountain and Grand Funk. Later, after becoming a more proficient, I joined a new band that had desires for more gigs. Contemporary music of the day was our repertoire – pop and R&B, while continuing to play jazz/rock and fusion for personal gratification. Ultimately, I returned to my roots, listening to all forms of jazz, reggae as well as some classical music. My favorite musician is Joe Zawinul and the complete works of Weather Report – the group he co-founded with Wayne Shorter. This really defines me. Explore the group’s vast catalog and you’ll see why.

My sonic taste prefers accurate reproduction of the recording engineer’s efforts where instruments have tonality and texture. I frequent live concerts and, because I have musician friends who perform nationally and internationally, my need to play is suppressed. More importantly, it keeps me in touch with the reality of the live performance. It was when I stopped playing did I have the realization that my audio system was not true to my playing experience. That’s when my search began – visiting, and later working in, high end audio stores.

My first real audio exposure was when my uncle came to live with us in 1972. He had a Marantz Model 9 receiver and played Weather Report’s new album “I Sing the Body Electric” for me. Since then, years of experience working in audio stores, as well as personal ownership of many major brands, I understand about what works. When listening to components we’ve chosen, you become aware of natural detail, transparency, and micro-dynamics, but in a true form – not artificial or emphasized.

All this is to share that my musical tastes are far ranging; therefore, my speakers, electronics, and cables must perform to a level of “correctness” to my ears. I care about natural tonality (not nasal, tinny, muddy or veiled) with dimensional presence. Musical images should have realistic height and body, rather than flat and two-dimensional or bombastic and larger than life.

I’ve chosen brands with ability to sound as powerful and dynamic as large-scale music requires while, at the same time, be subtle with the finesse small-scale music requires.