The SECRETS Team
| SECRETS Team |
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About The Staff
Matthew has been a Secrets writer since 2002, still has a soft spot for DVD-Audio and holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University.
 Ross Jones Ross is an intellectual property lawyer in northern California's Telecom Valley, where he works with technology companies and manufacturers. He has a background in music theory, and has played bass guitar for 30 years in Los Angeles and Bay Area bands (which explains why he has five subwoofers in his home)."
 Brian Florian Brian has been entrenched in Home Theater since the early 90's, though his interest in motion picture and sound technology extends back to growing up in a musically inclined family and watching movies the old fashioned way: at the cinema. The technical side of high fidelity movie picture and sound presentation are his passion. Articles on the subject and in depth reviews of associated equipment are his focus here at Secrets. Currently employed as an IT Sales Consultant, beyond watching movies some of his preferred diversions include working on scale models or doing some light mountain biking."
He also contributes regularly to the graphic art and design of our site.
The Secrets Contributing Writing Staff Gabe Lowe - Gabriel Lowe has worked in the IT industry for the last 7 years after having been employed in television. Currently he works in technical support for an enterprise storage company. Aside from home theater, Gabriel enjoys a variety of activities including gaming, writing, watching sports, and being a dad. Gabriel has been hooked on home theater since he saw his first one...a McIntosh-based Dolby Surround system at his cousin's house circa 1992 Michael Galvin - Michael is an attorney based in Los Angeles. He is an associate at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges, LLP, the largest law firm in the United States devoted solely to business litigation. A 2007 graduate of UCLA School of Law, Michael's work thus far has focused on intellectual property, representing clients such as Mattel and Nokia. Prior to law school, Michael produced classical music. He enjoys the local music scene in Los Angeles and can be found most weekends at live shows. He is originally from Chicago. Jared Rachwalski - Jared has worked as a Hearing Instrument Practitioner for the past 5 years. This has provided him with a great understanding of the human hearing system and room acoustics. He has been fascinated with music reproduction and stereo equipment since his father allowed him to mess around with his Pink Floyd records and HiFi setup as a child. His musical taste is often described as weird by his wife and has been greatly influenced by his three older brothers diverse musical selections. He is probably the only reviewer ever to use both The Melvins and Norah Jones in the same listening session. His hometheater includes DIY open baffle speakers from RAW Acoustics, Surround speakers by Paradigm, a DIY Adire Audio subwoofer, Marantz surround sound processing and amplification, an Optoma DLP Projector and 92” screen with a Oppo Digital player for both multichannel music and movies. Rick Schmidt - Rick has been into audio ever since 9th grade when he commandeered a Pioneer receiver and Celestion speakers that his dad received in trade for a rusty station wagon. The stereo's original owner was forced into the deal by his newly pregnant wife. Hopefully that kid was re-exposed to hifi at a later date. Rick went on to make many extravagant stereo and home theater purchases of his own, not to mention LP's, CD's and DVD's. All financed by Rick's job as an engineer and engineering manager deep in the computer industry (ASIC design). When he's not listening or watching he might be working on the next screenplay for GenerosityFilms or painting. Kevin Lichterman - Kevin has a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Computer Science. To finance his home theater, Kevin is currently managing a software engineering group in the automotive electronics industry. He is a fearless do-it-yourselfer and has tackled many projects including: building speakers, furniture making, assembling computers, remodeling kitchens and baths, and restoring classic cars. His current project is a 1969 MGB. His tastes are eclectic and he usually sees a raised eyebrow or two when his music and movie collections are examined. Kevin is married to a very tolerant wife and has 2 beautiful girls who are determined to get their fingerprints onto his HDTV. Andrew Yang - Andrew works in business development with a focus on renewables, and green technology. He has a background in fuel cell, and electrolyser development with a B.A.Sc. from the University of Waterloo in Mechanical Engineering. He has a split passion between music and movies, although his home theater might indicate the movies won out. In addition to enjoying his newly completed home theater, he spends weekends running the sound board for his local church praise band. He spends his free time watching sports, playing sports, and taking pictures. Larry Hryshko - Larry has a Ph.D. degree in Pharmacology and is currently a Canada Research Chair in Cardiac Electrophysiology. His interest in home theatre and hi-fi spans several decades. A lifelong audiophile, he continues to spread the gospel and attempts to convert one MP3/IPoder at a time. Exemplifying this crusade, his graduate students build electrostatic speakers during their introductory lesson in Cardiovascular Electrophysiology. He claims “There is no quicker way to understand basic electronic concepts than to see, hear and feel them in action.” Larry’s quest for home theater nirvana is an epic and ongoing battle of good against evil, with his wife currently winning. He has built a number of systems as well as numerous speakers and subwoofers. Other interests include car restoration and woodwork. Jim Clements - Jim is a native of South Texas, and is a Professional Civil Engineer, licensed in both California and Texas. He has been into audio since grade school and cut his teeth listening to his father’s Electro Voice corner horns. In high school, Jim gained frequent access to a system which featured Yamaha NS1000 loudspeakers with beryllium dome midranges and tweeters. This system also incorporated an Audiopulse surround processor and a dbx dynamic range expander! Jim’s middle name is Maverick: he is the great-great grandson of Samuel Augustus Maverick, the venerable Texas rancher and land owner who was unanimously elected by the men at the Alamo to be their delegate to participate in drafting the Texas Declaration of Independence from Mexico. Sam signed this famous document. Sam is also widely regarded as the man whose name became a word in the English language because he was not inclined to brand his livestock. Other ranchers in the area came to recognize that unbranded cattle on the open range belonged to “Mr. Maverick” or they were simply called “mavericks”. Richard Stevens - Richard grew up in a musical household and developed a passion for hi-fi at a very young age. He resides in New York City and has worked in the consumer electronics industry for over 10 years which gives him the opportunity to stay on the cutting edge of the industry, enjoying auditioning new equipment. When he's not kicking back watching a movie with his family or listening to music at reference levels, he's partaking in his second favorite hobby, building custom PC's. Greg Mahoney - Greg worked in the consumer electronics industry for over 20 years as a Manufacturers’ Rep for many companies including Carver, Pioneer, Toshiba, Casio, ESS, Acoustic Research and many others. Currently he is a full time Principal Consultant for Xerox Global Services. Besides his interests in audio and video, he is involved in astronomy, photography and import car tuning. His home theater includes a 100” Carada screen, Sony VPL-VW50 projector, SVS PB13-Ultra subwoofer, Carver Amazing Platinum IV ribbon speakers and Carver AL-III ribbon speakers. His two channel audio front end uses a Sony DVP-9000ES as a transport with a Musical Fidelity Tri-Vista DAC. He is currently ripping his CD collection of over 4000 discs using EAC for use on a future high-end music server. Greg lives in Las Vegas where he takes advantage of the many live concerts and shows.
Kieran Coghlan - Kieran first got into home theater around the age of 12, when he would take his Dad's "good" speakers, pre-amp and amp from the living room, and hook them up in the TV room to watch movies in hi-fi stereo on the family's Sony Betamax. He also developed a love of music at a young age, and as a classically trained tenor has performed in numerous choirs and stage musicals throughout high school, college and beyond. Kieran's interest in science and technology led to a career as a mechanical engineer in the aerospace and telecom industries. He enjoys explaining science and technology to people, and is now back in school working on a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, which may lead to a career in teaching. When not studying, tinkering, or being a husband and father, Kieran loves to ride bikes (mountain and road) and to row crew boats competitively.
Cory Potts - Cory is a graduate from Texas State University with a degree in microbiology and has worked at a major pharmaceutical research firm for about 5 years on multiple infectious disease projects for big pharma as well as with NASA and the U.S. Government. Cory worked in home theater sales in college which started him on a life-long quest to discover the best bang-for-the-buck home theater equipment and this fascination for unearthing “Giant-killers” in home theater continues today. Other passions include travel, spicy food, movie marathons, craft-brewing and hunting with his bird dog. Cory lives in Austin, TX with his wife, Crystal and German Shorthair Pointer “Kate.” Chris Heinonen - Chris’s interest in home theater began when his dad bought an early Yamaha Dolby Surround processor so you could hear the jets fly around you on his VHS copy of Top Gun. He continued to enjoy his dad’s interest in home theater until leaving for college, where he began assembling his own system and still has not stopped. Chris has a BS in Computer Science and spends his days as a .NET and SQL Server programmer. He has started to combine his interest in computers and audio with an interest in computer based audio servers, but also still uses a turntable and has a broad interest in all areas of AV hardware. He lives in Chapel Hill, NC with his wife Janne, who thankfully deals with their living room being overrun by electronics. Greg Zakrzewski - Greg developed his first taste for Audio Hifi as a child when he had to walk very carefully around the house to avoid any vibrations that might interrupt his father as he dubbed and converted LP’s to cassette. Walter Meger - Walt is a retired 56 yr old Physicist and former head of Research and Development for a Fort Worth, Texas oilfield instrumentation company. This Minnesota transplant moved to Texas in the mid 70’s and in the mid 80’s finally settled in SW Ft Worth. His original audio exposure began with 45 rpm polkas played on the family RCA radio/phonograph. Later (in his early college years) he upgraded to recording 8 tracks and acquiring true separate hi-fi components. With his first engineering paycheck in hand, he began his current lifelong chase for “his best value” home system. Fortunately, his understanding wife of nearly 30 years tolerates his obsession and often assists in his pursuit of A/V nirvana. As a 2 time (2005 & 2006) NHRA Division 4 Top Alcohol funny car championship team member, Walt also spent much of the last 13 years at the track collecting and analyzing car performance data, trying to go quicker and faster. Tyler Stripko - Tyler's interest in music started at a young age. He began instruction in classical guitar at the age of 7 and gradually progressed towards rock in his early teens. He expanded his musical horizons in college, earning extra cash as a DJ spinning house and trance music and learning the basics of sound reinforcement. Starting with a humble 27” Sony Trinitron CRT television, a Pioneer DVD player, and just two channels of sound, his home theater system has continued to evolve over the years in an effort to recreate the sense of energy and emotional excitement that comes from attending a live performance. Tyler holds a B.S. in Business Information Systems from Lehigh University and will be completing his M.B.A. at the University of Massachusetts in 2009. He is currently employed as a Systems Analyst for a large health care organization in northern New Jersey where his primary specialty is in the area of digital cardiac imaging. Brian Alvarez - Since the age of 14 Brian has built countless hi-fi and home theater systems to get closer to the music and movies he loves. This desire to connect with the artist’s vision is what drives his passion in hi-fi and home theater. A passion that led him to create his own artistic works. First, as a DJ/Electronic Music artist and later as a sound designer and music producer early in his career. While studying industrial design in college, Brian became deeply involved in digital imaging and video, sparking a life long passion for all things video. After working in the audio industry Brian re-focused on the emerging field of digital video and compression. During the past nine years Brian has been involved in the world of video production and post. His experience includes everything from working on Sundance indie productions, to highly technical R&D positions in the area of video and image compression. Currently Brian is the CTO for Los Angeles based Dogma Studios, a company specializing in digital compression and IP media delivery. Ed Becker - Ed has worked in the fields of sales, marketing, and finance for nearly 30 years. He managed businesses for others, and he owned and managed his own successful sales and marketing organization. His passion for the finest affordable audio gear started in his early teens, building speakers with the help of his dad who was a master carpenter. Ed designed and finished the projects, and his father built the cabinets from Ed’s design. His quest took a turn toward the best affordable commercially produced gear during a military tour in Europe. He cut his teeth on the still highly regarded Scott, Dynaco, Hafler, Quad, Phase Linear and Marantz gear produced during the early to mid seventies. There was an affordable audio revolution going on at that time, and Ed was in hifi heaven. His quest continues for the best affordable gear of today, for both dedicated audio and home theater. When Ed isn’t auditioning gear, he’s hiking, biking and skiing in the Colorado Rockies with his family. Life is good. Robert Kozel - Robert has worked in the IT industry for over 24 years. He has a Bachelor of Science degree with a double major in Computer Science and Mathematics from John Carroll University. He is currently the Chief Technology Officer for a marketing and communications company in Cleveland. When Robert’s wife Jamie wanted a CD player, who would have guessed that the receiver that came along with that purchase would have sparked a passion for music and movies for over 18 years. Robert has cultivated the opportunity to upgrade whenever time and budget allow, and he takes great pride in his wife enjoying and sharing in the progress. He is especially interested in processors, media servers, and DVD benchmarks – having auditioned over a dozen players before finding one he could live with. When not working on computers or enjoying a good movie or music, Robert enjoys hiking, cycling and travel. Jason Crawford, aka "Georgia" - Jason Crawford is a freelance writer from Georgia currently residing on Nob Hill in San Francisco. Some folks find it odd that his hair grows sideways. His interests are far-reaching and varied, from horseshoes to whole foods. He does not like lettuce. Jason may have little formal training with regards to writing, but he talks a lot and writes like he speaks. (Editorial Comment from the Editor of SECRETS: we are honored to present the work of a musician who not only knows of what he talks, but who can put-it into-words…..) He is also a songwriter who sings, plays guitar, piano, mandolin, bass, and harmonica - not simultaneously. Jason is a dedicated fan of rock 'n roll, and would rather remove his ears with a rusty, dull blade than subject himself to what is on the radio today. He also enjoys traditional country, old jazz, big band swing, hip-hop, rhythm and blues, and gospel which he listens to on Sunday while he cooks breakfast. Feel free to contact him through this website any time if you would like to talk about music. He'd love it if you did. Stephen Hornbrook - Stephen was introduced to the seductive world of 2 channel music reproduction at an early age. He has an uncle who shared with him the joys of a quality system - Quad ESL 63's powered by Audio Research tube gear. That experience got him interested and with the help of a part time job, allowed him to build a decent 2 channel system. He was most likely the only student at University of Oregon with a set of Chapman T-7's (small speaker company from Vashon, WA) and Jolida integrated tube amp. Stephen graduated from U of O with a BS in Computer Science and a minor in fine arts. He loves painting in oils, or just about any medium he can get his hands on. Stephen also loves to compose his own music on piano. Currently, Stephen keeps busy working on web applications written in PHP and MySQL, and also .NET and SQL server applications. Nicholas Bedworth - Music and electronics have both played important roles in Nick’s life from an early age. He takes great delight in many musical genres, listening during the day on a computer-based office system, with reference gear in the living room for evenings. Nicholas is a New England native, and spent countless enjoyable hours in Symphony Hall, Boston. But eventually, the continuing prospect of six months a year enduring cold and darkness, plus the sale of a high-tech scientific image-processing startup, prompted relocation to Hawaii. Eventually landing on Maui, where the music scene is quite lively: Willie Nelson lives there part-time, sometimes materializing in North Shore hang-outs unannounced, with almost “everyone” coming through for R&R after a long tour. Nick is the Chief Technology Officer for DigitalDirect Development Corp and as a balance to his current “real” work in knowledge-visualization software, he enjoys writing for the consumer electronics press, starting with the original incarnation of The Perfect Vision in 1987 (“HDTV is just around the corner.”). Nick also enjoys the usual Maui enthusiasms of world-class yoga, meditation, swimming, and attempting to train parrots.
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John E. Johnson, Jr., Ph.D. -- Editor-in-Chief. John has published numerous textbooks and dozens of scientific articles on biomedical research topics as well as imaging technology. He holds several patents, including one on high resolution image analysis. Dr. Johnson has been affiliated with NASA, The Johns Hopkins University, The University of California at Berkeley, and is Editor-in-Chief of two international medical journals, as well as Secrets of Home Theater and High Fidelity. John has been involved in audio and video for 45 years, having built radio transmitters, amplifiers, turntables, and speakers from scratch. He is President of the consulting firm Scientific Design and Information, Inc., which is based in Redwood City, California. He is also the founder of the Northern California Audio Video Association, which is now called The Bay Area Audio Society. 
Matt Abel - Matthew put together his first home theater system when he was 16 and his financial well being has never been the same since. Currently a doctoral student in chemical engineering, Matthew is modeling process systems for the pharmaceutical industry. When Matthew is not debugging his models, he enjoys golfing, watching Formula 1 and thinking about receivers
Sandy Bird - Sandy calls Eastern Canada home, but he is rarely there, which is why we are writing his bio for him…..and thanks to Facebook, we have a picture. Sandy has been immersed in audio and home theater since…..forever. He is involved in the computer security world…..primary architect of leading edge software. He lives on a plane and can be anywhere in the world at any moment, which is why it is a rare treat when he has the time to review a new amp or some new piece of complicated technical gear. Sandy has been a key architect of the SECRETS magazine and because of his travels, we have enjoyed frequent visits from him here in our Redwood City location…..and he likes his beef RARE and bacon on everything!
Jason Victor Serinus Jason is a music critic, audiophile reviewer/commentator, and professional whistler. His writings requently appear in Secrets, Opera News online, American Record Guide, San Francisco Magazine, sfcv.org, San Francisco Examiner, Bay Area Reporter, Gay City News, Stereophile, and other national and regional publications. He is also an award-winning whistling entertainer, and was "The Voice of Woodstock" whistling Puccini in an Emmy-nominated Peanuts cartoon. For more about Jason, see 
Ofer LaOr - I grew up in Israel, later moving to the US for a few years where I gained primarily a heavy metal based musical education. I earned an A.Sc degree in electronics before going into the Israeli army as a programmer. After that, I moved to the us for a few years, where I earned a masters degree in software engineering. I have 3 kids aged 11, 8.5 and 2.5. I listen to a few types of music ranging from progressive rock, classical rock, heavy metal (80s through today) and some alternative.
Steve Smallcombe - Besides now setting up two front projector-based home theaters, Steve has helped many others tweak their systems with his product called SMART, and through the CC filter tweak he also developed. Steve has a Ph.D. in Chemistry and worked for more than 30 years for a major manufacturer of scientific instruments in the San Francisco Bay area. He is now retired and has moved to the Sierra Nevada Mountains near South Lake Tahoe where he enjoys working outdoors on the home and land he shares with his wife, dogs and cats. Other hobbies include stargazing, using his 20-inch telescope, hiking, skiing, and sailing on Monterey Bay. Steve is taking a hiatus from SECRETS while he and Rosemarie build their new home near Yosemite.....and he promises to write a feature about the design of his new "green" home theater upon his return! 
Ms. Cynthia Johnson is on the Editorial Staff and is our Marketing and Public Relations Director. She has a degree in Business Administration, and Visual Design. She is currently working in San Francisco, California where she shares her new home with a fat puppy and two well fed cats. She enjoys the quiet side of music listening, and her equipment consists of separates: Sony CD player, Toshiba DVD player, Yamaha receiver, Krix and Velodyne speakers, and one Velodyne subwoofer. (There used to be 3 subwoofers, but the neighbors complained!) 
Sumit Chawla Sumit received a Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1997 and has been working in the software industry in Silicon Valley ever since. He currently works on implementing image processing algorithms for Foveon, a startup company that makes image sensor chips for digital cameras. Prior to joining Foveon, he held engineering positions at Shutterfly and SGI, where he developed software for digital image enhancement and video capture respectively. Sumit enjoys retreating to his A/V room to listen to music or watch movies. He lives in San Carlos, California with his wife and a soon to be daughter who he hopes will grow up to be an audiophile!
Piero Gabucci. Piero, a native of Alberta, Canada, is an architect living in northern New Jersey with his wife and two sons. Receiving his architectural degree in Michigan, Piero was heavily influenced by the modern masters like Saarinen at Cranbrook, Louis Kahn, and of course Frank Lloyd Wright. His love for art and architecture is a natural transition to his enjoyment and passion for music and movies. His taste in music is eclectic from rock, traditional jazz and classical music. But if Piero is not designing architecture or reviewing equipment, he’s probably playing or watching ice hockey.
Chris Groppi. Chris Groppi is a radio astronomer and electrical engineer working as a research scientist at the University of Arizona. He received his Bachelor’s degree in astronomy from Cornell University in 1997, and his Ph.D. in astronomy with a concentration in electrical engineering from the University of Arizona in 2003. He studies how stars and planets form, and designs and builds millimeter-wave and terahertz receivers for radio telescopes. He became interested in HiFi during high school the first time he listened to a real high-end system (B&W 801s with Mark Levinson electronics). His first system in college was a Headroom headphone amplifier powering Sennheiser HD 580s, and graduated to a real HiFi system in graduate school. His first love has always been 2-channel audio, although his current system has added home theater capability.
Adrian Wittenberg developed his passion for HI-FI growing up in a musical household where his brother practiced classical piano music for up to eight hours a day and his father listened to LP records on some of the earliest Marantz solid state amplifiers and Klipschorn loudspeakers. Also a musician, Adrian has been involved in many aspects of musical entertainment ranging from playing in bands, recording music in studios, and even hosting his own musical variety show on public access television. A photography and film buff, Adrian’s interest in visual media has also expanded to include contributing to the DVD Benchmarks at Secrets. Adrian holds a Bachelors degree in marketing with a minor in graphic design and is currently employed as an IT Service Technician. When not working, Adrian likes visiting Japan, where he gets the scoop on the latest gadgets and practices speaking the Japanese language.
