About Wes Bender

I love music. From my first memories of life, it has comforted me, stirred my soul and moved me emotionally. We always had music around us. My mom played the piano and had a great collection of records. At any given time, our turntable was spinning everything from Mahalia Jackson singing great spiritual hymns, Johnny Cash singing "will the circle be unbroken", Richard Tauber, Jussi Boerling and the late great Luciano Pavorotti soaring to great operatic heights and Sir Georg Solti conducting the Chicago Symphony. Handel, Bach, Mozart & Tchaikovsky also regularly made the playlist. 

Since then, my musical tastes have twisted, turned, veered to everywhere and back again. But whatever the style, the music itself still moves me. And I can tell a lot about what's working and what's not working with an audio system by listening inward, by finding that visceral, emotional place where music has always taken me. The more the music strikes those inner chords, the more I know that what's coming out of the system is real, unvarnished, and uncompromised. In recent years, I've learned that the way I experience music can also help other people get the music they want out of their system and be moved by it. 

And that's really what it's all about.  Listening to music and being moved by it. 

— Wes Bender

Specs:

Wes Bender receiving the Stereophile Product of The Year Award, presented by John Atkinson.

• Professional commercial photographer specializing in fashion / portraiture and still life luxury goods.

• High-end audio brand development for leading audio manufacturers.

• Well-respected force in the audio industry whose projects and associations have been featured in leading magazines like: Stereophile, The Absolute Sound,  Architectural Digest, The Robb Report’s Home Entertainment, etc.

• Unrivaled perfectionist approach to system set-up and display.

• Passionate collector and music lover.