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For some singer-songwriters, the match of voice, style, and original material is instantaneous. The songs of Bruce Springsteen, for instance, always sound best and feel most genuine when he sings them. It's fair to say that, even if you don't like The Boss or his voice, you have to admit that they fit his material and vice versa.

Yet, among manufacturers, there are notable exceptions to this all-boys club, and I thought I might learn a thing or two if I spent some time chatting with some of the more prominent…

Krell Industries, 45 Connair Road, Orange, CT 06477. Tel: (203) 799-9954. Web: www.krellonline.com.

Steve Guttenberg: Rondi, when did you become an audiophile?

Rondi D'Agostino: I had my first serious case of audio lust when I was 13. I babysat for a couple with a great Fisher system, and it totally blew me away. And then I fell in love with that small KLH rig—you know, the all-in-one system with the turntable on top.

Guttenberg: So you were always into music?

D'Agostino: Oh, sure. I went to the first show Bill…

D'Agostino: [chuckles] I'll play it safe here and go back to when we were in business for just for about a year. We had been approached by an investor—and we really needed the money. Dan was all for it, but I argued that we didn't know enough about business; we were mere babes in the woods. I was afraid that an experienced businessman might try to take our company places we weren't prepared to go. So we didn't accept the offer. In any case, let's just say it's very hard to succeed in business, and it's very easy to put yourself…

Thiel Audio Products, 1026 Nandino Boulevard, Lexington, KY 40511. Tel: (859) 254-9427. Web: www.thielaudio.com.

Steve Guttenberg: Kathy, how did you and Jim Thiel connect?

Kathy Gornik: I met Jim when we were both attending the University of Dayton [in Ohio]. Years later, Jim was building preamps, amps, and mixers for studios and stage musicians, but when he wanted to market something of his own, he thought he could make the biggest difference in speaker design. This is when I came back into the picture, and Jim set about…

Gornik: Listening to and loving music is not the same as being an audiophile, but yes, I've become an audiophile, though that took some time. My interest in audio was first driven by the desire to own and operate a business.

Guttenberg: Which leads to my next question: Why aren't there more female audiophiles?

Gornik: I think it's because men relate to machines and mechanical things in ways that women do not. Steve, this is really treacherous territory, and I don't want to get into trouble…

Transparent Audio, 47 Industrial Park Road, Saco, ME 04072. Tel: (207) 284-1100. Web: www.transparentcable.com.

Steve Guttenberg: Karen, you founded Transparent Audio in 1980, but it must have taken at least a few years to turn a profit.

Karen Sumner: Yes, it took five years. Over the past 20-plus years I've had three or four careers. I packed boxes, did the billing, and coordinated the advertising. My partners—my husband, Jack [Sumner], and Carl Smith—pitched in on evenings and weekends to keep the whole thing going. We didn't…

Sumner: It's just that sometimes audiophilia is in direct odds with what music is all about. And I do agree that women may listen differently to an audio system, because they don't have an interest in using the system as a toy to manipulate sound. They look at it as a vehicle that brings them an experience.

Guttenberg: Based on my experiences selling high-end for 16 years, I can tell you that women are not so terribly interested in the process as much as the result.

Sumner: Yes, and when audio becomes a pursuit in and of itself, a system's…

It's easy to mistake maturity in the art for maturity in the artist, but, after more than 30 years and 18 albums, and in a business that encourages heroic infantilism, Joni Mitchell seems to have become a certified grownup…