Audio Icon/Idol - Who would you like to meet?


What audio icons/idols would you like to meet? Someone that you regard as an important keyperson in audio development.

I would like to have a chat with:

John Bowers - B&W Speakers, regarding the Matrix 801
Peter Walker - Everything about QUAD
Saul Marantz - His idea of a perfect amplifier
Raymond Cooke - Regarding the KEF 105rr speaker

Regards,
Dewald Visser
dewald_visser
I hope this is on point regarding one "idol" I did meet.
Back in 1975 or so I was selling stereo equipment for a living, having dropped out of college. After doing this for a while I decided I wanted to go back to school, get my electrical engineering degree and design stereo equipment. One of the people who inspired me was Richard Sequerra, who had designed a state of the art FM tuner that was heads and shoulders above anything else at the time. So I went back to school and was doing well towards getting my degree. While at school I went to a stereo show somewhere in NYC and in one room was a Sequerra tuner and Richard Sequerra himself. So I mustered up enough courage (22 years old at the time) and went up to him and said "Mr. Sequerra, my name is--- and I want to tell you your work has been an inspiration for me." He exploded, saying, "That's the biggest bunch of bull--- I've ever heard" and continued yelling at me. He turned off the stereo in the room and kept yelling. I made an embarrassed retreat, but the memory still lingers. I'd like to meet him again one day andÂ…
Mitchell - did mr Sequerra's yelling at you deter you from designing and making audio gear? I know the feeling -

DV

NB - I did get the chance to meet mr Havenga of Valve Audio - a very nice and funny guy. He is actually very supportive towards me...
Phil Spector in the echo chamber at Goldstar would be a lot of laughs. Giorgio Gomelski, Brian Jones, Mickie Most, Kit Lambert all seem like they would be fun to listen to some music with. Jimi Hendrix, not stoned just beautiful. What all these folks did was take it allto the next level by themselves with what they had off the shelf and made it sound like nobody else had. Chester and Lester those dirty old men did it on stage, the recording studio and the lab workbench, They don't make em like that anymore. Yea, that reminds me Sam Philips what a pair of ears he had.
Dewald,

When I was just a foot high my father & Charlize Theron's father, Charles used to work together. She was a little girl with white/blond hair and was spoiled totally by her father with all sorts of gifts...

Now you have me interested........tell us the story about later years when Charlize grew up and longed to see her childhood friend Dewald !
First, I would like to stand over the shoulder of Antonio Stradivari as he works.

And from the modern era, I would like to have a chat with Mark Levinson. For the same reason Aball mentioned about Dave Wilson, I'd love to find out more about the mindset of someone who has masterfully combined quality gear with superior branding.