About UpTone

Since this is the place on a web site where a company explains its history, the background and credentials of its owners, and what its mission and goals are, let's give that a shot:

Our mission is to keep introducing affordable audio components and accessories that produce clearly audible improvements in fine music systems. [UpTone will never sell audio "snake oil."  The engineering and sonic effects must be real, otherwise we won't bother.] Our goal is to grow and conduct our business with personal and professional integrity, and to enjoy interaction with audiophiles worldwide.

I, Alex Crespi, am the sole owner of UpTone Audio and I coordinate all product design, production, and operations. The circuits of UpTone Audio products are engineered by John Swenson, and we work closely together on a range of groundbreaking projects. I have known John for almost 15 years, and feel privileged to be able to work with him, to co-create and produce products from his inspired circuits and concepts, and to count this brilliant man as my dear friend.

If you would like to learn more about either of us, here are links to some articles and biography you may find interesting:

• My own lifelong journey as a music lover, audiophile, and high-end industry entrepreneur is probably typical for this cottage industry. I just started at a VERY young age and never let go—of audio or the music. I was a co-founder of Hovland Company. We incorporated in 1999 and closed in 2009, but the adventure with them really began with four of us back in Robert Hovland's garage in the late 1970s. I have been selling MusiCap capacitors around the world since the 1980s. I also spent 13 years in the early personal computer industry, spotting future trends and doing distribution deals for a major wholesaler.  Here is a link to a photo album of my office/studio and some other audio-biographical items that may be of interest.  At the end of 2013 I caused a bit of a stir with several reports about a series of experiments and discoveries I made while optimizing my own Mac mini-based computer music server.  One in particular got a lot of attention and to this day I receive thank-you e-mails about it: Boot Mavericks from an SD card, load a RAMdisk, dismount your internal SATA drives, and pour a drink for the musicians walking out of your speakers! 

• John Swenson wrote a short biography on his background at the end of Part 1 of the Q &A series about digital audio on AudioStream.com (By the way, Part 2 of that same series gives terrific insight into the thorny issues that lead to the development of the USB REGEN—highly recommended reading!) Over the years John has shared a great wealth of technical knowledge with the audiophile and DIY communities via many clear and detailed posts on ComputerAudiophile.com, AudioAsylum.com, and diyAudio.com.  His user names are always the same as his real name, so his writings should be easy to find.

• ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I wish to thank my friend, ex-partner at Hovland Company, and mentor of 36 years, Jeffrey Tonkin.  As president and chief industrial designer, all of the immensely beautiful Hovland Company products you may have seen on the covers of audio magazines (and many that never came to be), emanated from his pen and computer.  He is now back in the architecture field, but continues to generously loan his talents, time and CAD expertise to help realize each of the UpTone Audio products.

CES Las Vegas, 2006 (Me with a pair of Hovland Stratos amps)

Me in 1964; Where it all began, in front of my parent's Fisher 600, clapping to Dave Brubeck, Nina Simone, Miles Davis, or The Romeros. Thanks mom and dad!