Please allow me to introduce myself, I’m a man of wealth and taste.
Well, taste anyway!
As you can see from the lyrics I brazenly lifted from the Rolling Stones, I’ve always been obsessed with music. And movies, too. When I was in the seventh grade, I saved my Christmas, birthday and allowance money to buy my first music system — a portable Philco record player with built-in speakers. I also began to buy records whenever I had enough coin, and I started and ended every day by listening to my favorite albums.
As much as I loved that little player, over the next year or two I became exposed to a few really good stereo systems belonging to the parents of some of my friends. When I heard a familiar song on one of these rigs, it was a revelation. There were often pieces of the music I had not been able to make out before — a drum fill here, a snippet of rhythm guitar there — and I soon realized that these seemingly subtle details actually had a huge impact on how I experienced the song.
So I worked the whole summer after eighth grade to save up enough money for a real component system, which I bought from a mail order place in San Luis Obispo, California. It consisted of a Sherwood receiver, KLH speakers and Garrard turntable, and once I got it properly set up (with the help of my cousin) it was such a leap in sound quality over the Philco that I almost cried.
Fast forward to the present. I’ve now worked in the consumer technology industry for 23 years and I still get a thrill out of experiencing a great system. Of course today that system might include not only wonderful sound but a 4K video display and the ability to control lighting, window coverings, HVAC and more IoT devices than you can name. It’s all about electronic elegance in the home. I consider myself hugely fortunate to get to be around architects, interior designers, builders, technology designers and other craftspeople who can make it all happen.
I look forward to sharing new technologies, techniques and tricks with the readers of Technology Designer Magazine and the Technology Insider Group as we chronicle and champion this intersection of science and art. That special place on the far side of the Twilight Zone, where technology meets design.
