I'm not really sure where I should begin, just as I am not really sure when it all began.  It may have been all the time spent with the family “Stereo” playing Beatles 45’s and Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane, and Iron Butterfly LP’s until the copies wore out.  Perhaps it first emerged when I saw Jascha Heifetz play his Stradivarius from the fifth row at age fifteen.  It might have been while photographing rock bands “Uriah Heep” or “The Edgar Winter Group” in a small War Memorial at age seventeen, or maybe even the time I caught Miles Davis, completely by chance, in a small club at age nineteen; it's hard to say.  But it started early on, and its hold is deeply rooted.

All I know is that I have a passion for this thing we call music. It has taken me on many wondrous and rewarding adventures. Not the least of which caused me to cut up my car doors in 1972 to allow for the installation of a rather unorthodox car stereo system. After dissecting a pair of EPI Standards (the model 100), I placed a one-inch inverted dome tweeter into each door panel and the pair of eight-inch woofers into the back deck, all fed from the required crossover buried in the kick panels. It's not that I was an innovator.  I was simply unsatisfied with the sound of speakers offered for the automotive environment at that time. I mean, how could I be blamed after hearing a pair of AR 3A's driven by a Heath Kit receiver and fronted by a Rabco ST-7 linear tracking turntable while visiting at a friends house? It just seemed, given the alternatives, to be the only logical thing to do! This apparent insanity, combined with my Craig PowerPlay^TM 8 Track player/AM/FM Receiver (cassette players with Dolby noise reduction were no where in sight yet), made me the most popular kid in the school, at least among the music lovers! If only I had known then what I know now, I could have started the 12-volt audio revolution some decade earlier than it began!

Peter Clark at RMAF 2007 with a banner sporting a quote from my review...

This was to be only the beginning of a lifelong love of music and the subsequent quest to be able to reproduce recorded music as realistically as possible, with all the power, nuance and emotion of the live event.  It's been a thrilling trip, one that inevitably brought me closer to the equipment used to reproduce my beloved music. My first real experience was with the family's Motorola Stereo. It was an odd beast, with one oval shaped speaker mounted in the base that also housed the record changer and amplifier.  A second, different sized speaker was located in the detachable top that could be placed up to ten feet away from the base unit.

The next logical step took me to all the audio retailers I could find, both in department stores and in the dedicated stereo shops.  I naturally wanted to pick the brains of all the sales people to learn more about electronics and electrical applications. I became terribly fascinated with the loudspeaker and undertook learning all I could about their design. I researched the effects of loading, the differences in drivers, the effects of the cabinet and its construction, the mysterious yet crucial crossovers, and everything that affected a loudspeaker's resultant sound. This began an ongoing electronics education, covering DC to digital.

About 1974 I discovered two magazines that were really out there! These were of course J. Gordon Holt's Stereophile and Harry Pearson's fairly new the abso!lute sound. Some of the things they were saying were outrageous and highly provocative to a nineteen-year-old. Nevertheless they only served to fuel the fire.

I had some friends who had bucks to spend on nice toys and they went nuts on "stereo gear." What a joy I found at friend John's. He had a BIC 980 belt driven 'table fitted with the latest Shure V15 cart along with the Phase Linear 700B amp and 4000 pre-amp combination to drive his EPI 400 Mini Towers. What power, what authority, what dynamics! And there was friend Gregg who had gone off into the ten-inch open-reel tape machine world with dbx at seven and a half or even fifteen inches per second. Wow! And yet another friend John who opted for McIntosh power and pre-amplification to drive his Dahlquist DQ 10's. So that was what imaging and staging were all about!  What resolution, what detail, what a revelation!  How could I forget Jeff, with the Transcriptors Saturn Turntable fitted with the Vestigial arm and Supex Cart feeding Quad electronics and driving a Double Larger Advent system?

The next step in my voyage required me to become a successful salesman on the electronics store floor, and for two distinct reasons. Firstly, I had acquired all the information I could gather from the people in the business. After only a few visits it became apparent that I wasn't there to buy the Dahlquist speakers, the Transcriptors Saturn Turntable, the Sequerra tuner or even the Rotel amplifier. I simply wanted to play with/listen to/learn about these high priced and magical items. Secondly, working in the business gave me access to accommodation pricing; now I could begin to afford some of these wondrous toys! Oh yes, there was also the added bonus of being able to call the manufacturer and speak with the technicians and engineers who could really answer my questions

Because of my hobbyist knowledge and love of music, I was soon quite proficient. By that, I mean that I regularly outsold the other sales people with whom I worked. I firmly believe that it was because I sold people a means to enjoy their music, not merely this months special. It wasn't long before I started taking pieces home for evaluation and became astounded with the differences I was able to identify. About this time, at least among my peers, I had become the acknowledged expert. No one I was acquainted with made a purchase without first finding out how I felt about the piece or pieces in question.

By this time, my overwhelming fascination with the loudspeaker lead to what must surely be seen as the inevitable; experimentation with designing and building my own creations. Over the years I have built dozens of loudspeaker systems for some very diverse applications, including some very forward thinking car components, some unique home two-channel and theater products, background systems for large stores and fitness centers, even some reinforcement speakers to provide the drive on the dance floor of several dance clubs and pubs. I used a number of different methods and picked everyone's brain when I was designing. I bought drivers and crossover components from places like Audio Concepts, (WAY before Mike Dzurko started building his own products), SpeakerLab, and Madisound. I even wrote my own computer software in the mid '80's to help assist me with the number crunching associated with crossover design. What is surprising to me is that I have recently learned that MANY of those systems, designed and built starting in the early 1970's through the late 1980's, are STILL IN SERVICE!

My career in audio progressed quite nicely, from salesman to sales manager to general manager. From mass merchant to high-end salon. At one point, in 1992, I was one of only four candidate's nation wide for the proposed National Product Trainer's position with Onkyo, USA. Even though the position was never filled because of budgetary constraints, Ted Green, Onkyo USA's director, informed me that the job would have been mine had it been created.

Maynard '63, signed "To Greg"

In the early eighties, I decided to formalize my electronics education by enrolling in Control Data Institute's Digital Electronics course.  In 1984, I graduated with a certificate in Digital Electronics (with honors) and was now much more comfortable dealing with things from simple DC all the way up to microprocessors.

In the late eighties, while still working in the business, I also partnered a small electronics repair shop.  As owner/operator, I repaired consumer electronic products, computers, coin operated video games and pinball's.  One of my more enjoyable tasks associated with owning RGB Electronics was the installation of 12-volt audio and security systems.  I did contract work for several of the local automotive electronics shops as well as OEM work for several car dealerships.  It got to the point that I could complete the installation of a head unit and two speakers into Honda's in 25 minutes - from garage door opening to closing!  I also built a couple of competition sound systems for IASCA car audio competition events.  My association with car audio throughout the eighties and nineties included me being a Sound Quality Judge for Region 2, IASCA, often being asked to assume the role of head judge.  I regularly enjoyed inviting other SQ judges to my listening room to hear the virtues of vinyl and eight-foot tall electrostatic loudspeakers.  It was an eye (or should I say ear) opening event for many a judge! Another was the freedom to do things like repair Commodore C64's and tweak CD Players. I have no idea how many Magnavox CDB model CD players I modded in those days, but the results were so overwhelming for the money that the users kept sending their friends...

In 1989, after some two decades of pursuing this passion, I founded the audio analyst©. I had come to feel so strongly about my love of music and, having rigorously cultivated an expansive knowledge in the area, felt that I simply had to find a forum from which to share my cumulative understanding with those who might benefit from that experience. 

That limited venture proved fairly successful in that one of my articles, "Loudspeaker Cables: Why Do They Sound Different", (now updated and appearing on SoundStage! after being reprinted in Positive Feedback) was used as in-house training material by Balaton Marketing, who represent B&W loudspeakers here in the US!  It was also pointed to by the fine folks at both Nordost and Goertz Alpha Core cables as a reference work on the subject.   Robert Lee, the designer of the original Harmonic Technology cables and now the head of Acoustic Zen, Albert Von Schweikert of Von Schweikert Audio, and many others have found it to be the most comprehensive single work ever written on the subject.  

My efforts with the audio analyst©, even though it was a terribly small and limited publication, were fairly well received in the industry and were a contributing factor to my beginning to write for Positive Feedback in 1996.  My work there next led me to a three and a half year stint at SoundStage!, where besides reviewing music, DVD’s and electronics, I created the very successful monthly “Synergizing” column.  In October 2000, I joined the masthead at The Stereo Times, and, in July of 2001, became their Executive Editor.  When Positive Feedback went to an online publication in June of 2002, I had an article in that first issue, and I continue to contribute to that forum to this day. March 2003 saw me resign at The Stereo Times for non-payment for my work. To this day, the publisher of The Stereo Times still owes me money.

Then, in late April of 2003, my colleague and dear friend Jim Merod of BluePort Jazz posed a serious question; why not start our own journal?  Well, within just a few weeks, and with the contributions of Audio High owner Michael Silver, the concept had been fleshed out and we had made the decision to breath life into that idea.  We aspired to create a new journal that would be the first in any medium to cover all three related areas of our industry; music, the recording process and the equipment.  We really wanted to cover the equipment and techniques used to make recordings, a long overlooked area of the industry to our way of thinking.  And we very much wanted to deal with the music itself, in all its aspects, from its creation, the live event, to its playback in your home, and all stages in between.  Thus, on 17 June, 2003, On Sound and Music was born.

Something that might be seen as almost inevitable when there are multiple chefs preparing just one dish, there were some differences of opinion that could not be completely resolved, at least to my satisfaction. I am unquestionably difficult about some things. For my failings, I accept full responsibility. But it was time to move on... So in mid August 2004, I resigned and my work moved to a new, or more aptly, returned to an old, home, Positive Feedback Online. As mentioned elsewhere on this page, I first joined the staff of the paper iteration of Positive Feedback in 1996, and this turn of events was nothing if not a warm homecoming. On January 25, 2005, after conversations at the PFO Staff Party held Saturday, January 8th during CES in Las Vegas, I was promoted to Senior Edit

I think it only fair that you know that I am a staunch analog adherent.  "LPs Rule", as they say. That is even one of my AOL Instant Messaging names!  If you are someone who thinks an "old fashioned" turntable, tonearm and cartridge couldn't possibly sound as good as a CD player, just make arrangements to drop by.  You will be allowed to develop a more correct understanding of the world of the 12" Long Playing vinyl record.  To this date, no one who has undergone this head to head comparison has ever departed anything less than thoroughly convinced of vinyl's ability to render music in a more lifelike, realistic and spacious manner than the compact disc.  "Perfect sound forever," my eye!

In memory of Katana - one of the worlds few true audiophile felines....

From the time he was 8 weeks old until a year and a half after taking my position with the Office of Information Technology at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, I shared my listening room with one of the worlds few true audiophile felines.   Katana was a twelve-year-old Siamese/tabby who offered me subtle clues in my search for new ways to wring the most from my system.  He died on February 2, 2001.