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

Saul Marantz was old when I met him back in the 1970's, but he was a pretty interesting guy.

David Hafler--really neat guy: DYNACO!, and  James Bongiorno, of course: Hadley, Dynaco, Marantz, and SAE as well as GAS.  They worked with John Curl, as well, another neat guy, and you want to work with him, not Mark Levinson, obviously.

Henry Kloss--never met him, but Acoustic Research, KLH, Advent and.Kloss Video...neat guy on the cusp of the revolution into today's "high end" in both audio and video.  All he lacked were today's microprocessors and code...he saw the future, certainly.

Jim Winey was a true pioneer, and his son continues the magic today.

Bob Fulton was a neat guy, and Bill Johnson was cranky but very dedicated to his work.

Too many to choose from, I guess...many, many more I did not list.

Neat thread!

Cheers!

Nelson Pass or Julius Siksnius of Audire.  Both were/are great designers and builders.  I knew Julius for decades.  He personally answered the phone whenever a customer called.  Nelson actually asked a job applicant if he did crossword puzzles.  Apparently, Nelson thinks some problem abilities are helpful in audio design.

I met Paul Klipsch in 1978 or 1979 and sold a lot of his speakers, though they were not my personal favorites, they were basic, very well made and not a single purchaser wanted to return the speakers after the sale.

Paul was an interesting guy.  He had multiple wrist watches on his arms, each set to a different time zone.  He was also a very curious guy.

I do remember how many manufacturers had these very complicated dealer agreements, demanding certain display and stocking levels, etc.  Paul basically had a credit agreement, you agreed to pay for the inventory he shipped to you within 30 days, none of all of those other demands the other manufacturers put on their dealers.

My Dad would be number one. He was an architect and I pass by many of his designs today that still stand the test of time. He was very creative and original for his time. I only helped him out for a few months for a summer back in high school.

Second would be Ed Duda who was one of the designers of the Lafayette KT-550 tube power amplifier. Mine still kicks ass! I was getting around to meeting with him a few years ago but he was sick and passed before I could meet up with him. R.I.P Ed!

Happy Listening.