Dubbed “Golden Ear”, Mark Levinson came to prominence in 1972 with the JC-1 pre-amplifier. He recently joined LG Electronics as chief audio adviser. Izwan Ismail meets up with him in Hong Kong.

Levinson believes in breaking rules and change to progress.

Q: Describe your role as LG’s chief audio adviser.
A: I help LG engineers come up with better sound systems for their products.

Q: How did you get involved in the audio equipment industry?
A: When I was the bass player for jazz artiste Paul Bley, I realised our music sounded differently on a sound system. That was when I built my own sound equipment. In 1971, at the age of 25, I established Mark Levinson Audio Systems Ltd, making hand-built amplifiers.

Q: You have always been linked to companies which specialise in sound such as Mark Levinson and Cello Ltd. Later, you became chief executive officer at Red Rose Music and Daniel Hertz Advanced Audio Designs. What draws you to LG, a consumer products manufacturer?
A: I have gained much experience and knowledge related to the sound industry and wish to share it with people by making quality and affordable consumer-type sound systems.
One way to do this is through big companies like LG, which has US$40 billion (RM131 billion) in revenue and products with mass appeal.

Q: What is lacking in today’s consumer electronics products and how can we overcome this?
A: Many vendors do not focus on audio. As a result, their products’ audio sounds unnatural. This can be overcome by collaborating with experts who can help in designing and fine-tuning the audio system.

Q: What is the secret to produce a professional-quality sound system?
A: The secret lies in tuning.

Q: What is your work philosophy?
A: I believe in breaking rules and change if we want to progress. Some people do not like change, but if we do not change, we cannot progress and create new solutions.