Growing up, my mom and sister were the “musical” ones, playing violin, piano and singing; my dad was the engineer building a Dynaco SCA35 integrated amp and FM tuner (which I still have in our little office system) and I mostly played sports, baseball, football, snow and water skiing. I did enjoy listening to music though, getting my first stereo system in college including some kit speakers from Speakerlab with a Kenwood integrated amp and tuner. Back then, I was mostly interested in how loud the system could play, not necessarily the quality of the sound. I started to upgrade my system, following in my father’s footsteps, putting together Hafler DH-101 preamp and DH-200 power amp kits. After getting married and having kids, I took a hiatus from HiFi, just doing the CD and home theater thing, but after my youngest moved out I got back into the hobby with gusto. It has been a great amount of fun trying new pieces of equipment, seeing what improvements can be made by different means and improving my listening skills. Also, being in this hobby has exposed me to new and different music that has expanded the enjoyment immensely.
I am retired and reside in Kona, Hawaii with my wife and dog. It is my pleasure to be a part of the great group of people that comprise the San Francisco Audiophile Foundation leadership team.