You could work for any manufacturer, past or present...

It would have to be somewhere in the Western Electric days or even Bell Labs. Telephony had a strong interest from me, and to witness the development early on would be priceless. No doubt, there were other interests as well, given that radio was changing every couple of years or so, which by that days standards, was lightning fast.

Pierre Spray or Peter Belt. Oh, snap! I did work for them. John Curl and Bob Crump, too, technically. Never mind.

Without knowing any audio designers personally I tend to think that those who would be best to work for are (a) those having well established top-notch design talents, and (b) those whose companies are known for being conscientious, responsive, and supportive when dealing with customers and potential customers. I believe that how a designer/manufacturer treats his customers and potential customers would generally tend to correlate with how he treats his employees, and with the culture that exists within the company.

Among those who are still living that I would include in that category are Nelson Pass, Ralph Karsten, Keith Herron, Lou Hinkley, Kevin Hayes, and Dan Wright. There are many others, of course.

Best regards,
-- Al

Lou Ottens

"...make a fortune having cornered the directional audiophile cable market,"

...by abandoning cables altogether. Tesla was a "wireless" kind of man.

"Nicola Tesla"

Nikola Tesla.