Whart,
I did meet Marc at Opus One, but we spent very little time f2f since I was in Indiana and only seldom in Pittsburgh. I had more time with Doug Smith, in part because he drove his Lotus Elan (not so old then) up to Indiana from time to time, usually bringing a some Glenlivet with him to share with me, Denny, Rich and Jon (Barletta) in the Indiana store. It's likely Marc wouldn't remember me at all, except possibly for hearing I sold a hell of a lot of gear!
All in all, I was amazed to find out Tasso is still kicking, given his intensity, blood pressure, excitability and elevated heartbeat! The pain management therapy realm he's been involved in is the kind of logical extension you'd expect for his post-hifi days. Tasso was never happier than when he was simultaneously sharing, helping, proselytizing and convincing someone of a PoV he held dear.
Tasso taught his mind to interpret sound and mine convincing fidelity from any scrap of aural evidence available to him, and then judge the relative merits of the soundchain that produced it. At a time when people were thinking about individual components, Tasso sold synergies and systems, everything being imperfect to start with. It led to Opus One having the most unusually pure selection of convincing sound for the era, of any store I'd experienced in that era. I learned acute discernment in audio quickly working for him and with people around him who he had trained to listen. Opus One employees developed a fast, reliable "ear."
Phil
