Interviews

This tale might have been scripted by Barry Levinson, the Baltimore-bred filmmaker who has set four pictures in his hometown, where much of the Sandy Gross story has also taken place. The young Sanford Gross moved there to attend Johns Hopkins University, and subsequently, in one of the city's Civil War–era houses, got Polk Audio rolling with fellow alumni Matthew Polk and George Klopfer. The company flourished, but Gross, who had minored in film at Hopkins, had an itch for Hollywood. He moved to Los Angeles, only to find the movie business tinged with illusion—much as Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett had portrayed it in Sunset Boulevard, their merciless 1950 film noir. So Gross plotted a new scenario, returned to Baltimore, and re-entered an industry committed to low distortion.

David Lander: You were a teenage entrepreneur. In high school, you were involved with slot cars—miniature electric race cars that run on slotted tracks.

Sandy Gross: Actually, very sophisticated miniature electric race cars. I was considered one of the top builders and racers. My friend Howie Ursaner and I were hired by American Russkit. We helped them develop products and, as Team Russkit East, represented them in major races, as well as visiting local raceways. We were known as the Gold Dust Twins, and we're still remembered in the slot-car world. Howie was an early investor in Polk.

Lander: At Johns Hopkins, you started out in engineering.

Gross: That choice was influenced by my slot-car experience, but engineering at Hopkins was more like theoretical physics, with a tremendous amount of math. I was more interested in creating concepts and products. I switched majors, to social and behavioral science, with a focus on creative writing.

Lander: When did you get interested in music, and what did you listen to?

Gross: I was in school bands and orchestras in elementary, junior high, and high school, and grew up with the music we played. When I was 10 or 12, I got my first little transistor radio, a Spica—I still have it, though it doesn't work—and I listened to the New York Top 40 stations every night. I gradually moved into folk music, rock, and jazz. I was at Woodstock, and I saw most of the signature acts over the years. Now I listen mainly to jazz.

Lander: When did you get interested in audio gear?

Gross: By the time I graduated from Hopkins, in 1972, I was a fanatical audiophile. All through my college years, I bought and sold used audio gear. It was a tremendous time for that, with people getting rid of classic tube gear they considered outdated: Marantz 9s, 7Cs, 8Bs; McIntosh 30s, 60s, 275s. I got together with Matt [Polk] and George [Klopfer] after graduation, and we originally did sound reinforcement. I was the mixer, and once had the pleasure of mixing the Duke Ellington Orchestra, with Duke on piano.

Lander: Polk started with one model, the 9, in 1972, when wannabe speaker manufacturers were everywhere. How did you get the attention of dealers?

Gross: The proliferation of speaker companies was a running joke, but I suppose dealers appreciated my enthusiasm. Initially, we took on a rep firm for the New York metro area, but I visited dealers with them. We soon parted company with the reps in favor of dealing directly with dealers, something I've continued to this day. I believe direct contact is important.

Lander: How were Polk's products conceived?

Gross: Most of the product concepts were mine—as at Definitive [Technology] and GoldenEar [Technology]. Basically, I provide an elaborate napkin sketch, pretty detailed in terms of drivers, technologies, dimensions, and so forth. This then goes to engineering—at Polk, originally Matt. There was, and is, a lot of back-and-forth.

Lander: The Monitor 7, a bookshelf speaker designed to compete with the Large Advent, really got Polk going. Tell us how.

Gross: I loaded a pair into my 1967 Volvo station wagon, and drove around the country for four summers opening up dealers. I used the Audio Research dealer list as a target, and went from town to town. Dealers along the way were receptive, and would suggest other dealers. Fairly early on at Polk we hired a national sales manager, but I still ran sales and marketing, and did all Polk's advertising in conjunction with a graphic artist—as at Definitive and GoldenEar. Part of the success, I feel, at all three companies, was a head of marketing and sales who had pretty good product knowledge and defined the products to engineering.

Lander: You owned KLH Model Nines, which you've said influenced your designs.

Gross: What I liked best about the KLH Nine was [its] very low coloration, super imaging that makes the loudspeakers seem to disappear, and the ability to make it seem like the musicians are in the room—or that you are where the musicians were performing.

Lander: The Polk Monitor 10 was popular with audiophiles.

Gross: Matt came up with the 10, a larger version of the 7, one summer when I was out on the road. There's an interesting story about it. We were quite friendly with Jon Dahlquist and his partner, Saul Marantz. In fact, Saul was something of a mentor to me. One day, I got a phone call from Saul. They had taken a two-room suite at the upcoming Washington Hi-Fi Show, and had planned to show the [Dahlquist] DQ-6 in the second room. It never materialized, so Saul was wondering if we would like to show with them. They were quite a prestigious entity, and this was an incredible opportunity, which we graciously accepted. You could say the Monitor 10 became what Dahlquist had hoped the DQ-6 would be.

Lander: What was the point of Polk's Stereo Dimensional Array?

Gross: The SDA concept was an attempt to minimize interaural crosstalk by means of a cancellation signal from a separate driver dedicated to this. The result was vastly improved imaging—bigger, more three-dimensional. SDA was included in a range of models quite different from any other speakers on the market.

Lander: There was also an RTA 12.

Gross: The RTA 12, with its open-mounted tweeter, was perhaps the best pure audiophile product in the line. RTA stood for Real Time Array.