Chad
Stelly
 Grew
up in southern Louisiana until the 5th grade when our family moved
to Houston. The Audio bug had already bitten as I was completely
blown away at the Marantz gear on display at our local department store
in Lafayette. After moving to Houston I quickly subscribed to High
Fidelity and Audio Magazine in order to quench my thirst
and keep up with the technology and marketing of Home Audio. I
found it interesting through the late seventies and into the 80’s
that Lafayette was way ahead of Houston in terms of Audio Stores and
gear offered. While returning to Lafayette on a regular basis
for Holidays, I would always look forward to visiting the two main Audio
Retailers where I could see the latest and greatest offerings.
Lafayette was experiencing a phenomenal growth
during this time due to the boom in Oil and Oil Field related services. It
seemed as if these Cajuns were insatiable in there quest for quality
sound reproduction as compared to the more conservative population
back in Houston.
It was during this time that I was exposed to
innovative products from such manufacturers as GAS, Theta, Mission,
Meridian, Sony Esprit, Hill Plasmatronics, A & R Cambridge (Arcam), Luxman, Yamaha, B & O,
Nakamichi, McIntosh, Gale, Celestion, B & W, Quad, Dayton Wright,
Linn as well as the excellent recordings from M & K and Sheffield
Labs to name a few.
It wasn’t long before I was bringing home boxes of gear from these
guys into my bedroom. A typical morning consisted of drinking
coffee in bed with my audio system knocking the cobwebs out for around
30 minutes or so before getting ready for school. I was also very
likely to return to my bedroom after school, with fresh coffee in hand,
to decompress by listening for 3~4 hours in the afternoon instead of
hanging out with my friends. I call it music therapy and I would
practice it on a regular basis. Something that a great system can
do for me is allow me to be transported to the recording without fatigue. If
I can listen to a system and the time clock goes out the window, then
everything is working!
After finishing High School, I promptly moved
back to Lafayette to attend College and be around the cool Audio Stores. I knew that Audio
would always be a big part of my life and I was exploring its opportunities. Upon
graduating from College with a B.B.A. in Business Management, I decided
that I would have to get the Audio Retail Bug out of my system so I took
a job in Houston with a leading Dealer by the name of Home Entertainment,
Inc. where I sold gear at their fourth and newest store located in the
vicinity of Compaq Computer. It wasn’t too long before I
was managing the store. I did such a great job that they decided
to close the place! That was when I decided to try my luck working
for a local Rep. Firm where we handled products from Denon, Adcom, KEF,
Meridian, Quad, Nakamichi, as well as 12volt car audio lines and video. It
was during this time that I became aware of the excellent scene down
in New Orleans and had the opportunity to meet and become friends with Clark
Williams, my cohort at Acoustic
Sounds. While the Rep job
was short lived, I never stayed out of the Audio Business for very long. I
continued to keep in touch with the market, products and dealers
and even moonlighted with several High-End dealers in the Houston Area
by helping them out with sales and equipment set-up when I wasn’t
busy with a real job.
After a nice 10 year run in Houston making a living
in the Structural Forensic investigation field working for various
Insurance companies, I crossed paths with Clark Williams again after
seeing his name in an Acoustic Sounds, Inc. catalog. After a year of contemplating a move to Salina Kansas,
I decided to take Chad Kassem’s offer in April 2005 and become a
part of the Acoustic Sounds, Inc. team. It’s the closest job
I could find that’s not like work.
Also Read Stelly's
Soapbox 8/26/06 |
