My Dad was a TV repairman and had me testing tubes as soon as I was old enough to read the letters and numbers. My uncle built a Dynakit 70 in 1964 that I’m still using to this day. Those two each had their own influence for sure.
In 1984 I formed the "Kodak Audio Club" in Rochester, NY and got to know many other audiophiles. It was there that I connected with two very talented young audio designers, both based in Rochester, but in different disciplines of the business, that changed my audio trajectory in ways I would not have imagined....Bobby Palkovic from Merlin Music Systems (speakers), and Kenny Stevens from Convergent Audio Technology (CAT tube electronics). It’s hard not to learn stuff when you spend time with guys with that kind of passion and knowledge, and just the sheer exposure to some incredible audio gear is noteworthy. I went to many CES shows with either Bobby or Ken, or both, and got to meet a lot of audio insiders through them...Charlie Hansen back when he was designer of the Avalon Ascent speakers, Richard Vandersteen (who actually flew to Rochester to address our audio club), Harvey Rosenberg, Ray Kimber, George Melos, Roger Modjeski, Art Ferris from Audible Illusions, George Cardas, Eddie Mutka and Steve Kaizer of B&K, Bill Firebaugh from Well Tempered, David Hall from Velodyne, Nelson Pass, the Chesky brothers, Sal D’Amico, Ray Schab, and countless other really interesting folks. The shows were always several days of total audio overload...twice a year, and I loved it.
Bobby has since passed away, but I still see Ken Stevens for the occasional listening session.
