A Wisconsin native, Jeff built his first amplifier from a schematic in the RCA tube manual at age 14. His hi-fi sales career came to an abrupt end when he told a customer to take his big check up the street to the local Levinson dealer for much better equipment. 15 years as a commercial photographer led to writing about the rapidly expanding world of digital imaging at the turn of the century, writing for Macworld, CNet, Studio Photography and many others. He has also been a consultant to Adobe, Roland DGA and Olympus Cameras. He still takes a very active role in the images produced for TONEAudio, contributing a major portion of the magazine’s visuals.
These days, the Pacific Northwest is home, where you can find him in the local record stores, or under the hood of a BMW, working on an article for his latest venture, MYBMWHabit.com.
Jaan Uhelszki was one of the founding editors at Detroit’s legendary Creem magazine. Since that time, her work has appeared in leading publications including USA Today, MOJO, Uncut, Rolling Stone, Spin, NME, Guitar World, and The Village Voice.
Currently the editor at large at Relix, she is the only journalist to have ever performed in full makeup with Kiss. These days she only feels compelled to put on Serge Lutens kohl black eyeliner and Dior mascara when she goes out to grill rock stars over an open pit.
Managing editor and reviewer Rob Johnson spent much of his professional career in technology marketing consulting for a Fortune 100 company. After 25 years in the corporate world, Rob followed his passion and joined the TONEAudio team in 2013.
As an audio enthusiast his entire life, Rob’s other past roles included time as a disk jockey and as a concert hall recording engineer. With all those opportunities to be surrounded by fantastic sound, Rob’s several-decade obsession for great home audio gear took root at an early age.
Ken Kessler is an American-born, UK-based journalist whose articles on hi-fi, watches, pens, and cars have appeared in more than 140 different publications in more than 20 countries. After working as Assistant Editor for the short-lived Stereo – The Magazine, in 1983 he joined Hi-Fi News & Record Review, where he still serves, latterly as Senior Contributing Editor.
Ken is among the most widely published hi-fi journalists at work today, and is the author of Quad: The Closest Approach and McIntosh…For The Love Of Music. He lives near Canterbury with his wife, his son and three cats.
We are thrilled to have Ken bring decades of insight into our vintage audio column.
A confessed HiFi nut, Andre lives and works in sunny San Diego, California. A contributor to a number of hifi magazines/websites, he’s another music enthusiast who was bit by the bug early, thanks to his dad’s Mcintosh system. Never one to stress over VTA, you’ve got just as good a chance at finding him on the tennis court as you do the record store.
Our publisher can’t remember if he first met Jerold at a Badger game at the University of Wisconsin or standing in line waiting to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show on Milwaukee’s East Side.The staff hermit, Jerold now also resides in the Pacific Northwest where he listens to a lot of 60’s and 70’s rock music, restores old BMWs and vintage tube amplifiers. He is the only member of the staff that does not have a Spotify subscription.
A Native New Yorker, Tom is our musical encyclopedia and a discerning audiophile to boot. A devout Jimi Hendrix collector who has “everything but Jimi’s casket”, Tom brings a wealth of knowledge to the staff. If it has anything to do with popular music from the 60’s or 70’s, he’s got it and usually has at least 20 different pressings to compare. (And he’s got a pretty awesome collection of GI Joe’s too!)
Tom lives in the suburbs of Atlanta with his family and his collections.
A true world citizen, Richard Mak can be found wherever there is great food, wine, music and turntables to be setup. His expertise as a turntable master is unparalleled. Creator of the Analog Magik software system and test record, he’s made it easy (but not cheap) for analog lovers to get the most out of their systems. We appreciate his help.
