We suspect Bill Rollin has an aging portrait of himself in his attic, because he actually looks the same as he did in 1975 — hair-do and all. Back then, Bill, a confirmed audiophile, had just bought a new system from a local dealer when he ended up having dinner with ListenUp owners Walt Stinson and Steven Weiner. After proudly listing the elements of his new rig he asked the guys what they thought. “I think it’s crap,” said Walt, who went on to explain that the performance of the once-proud audio brands in Bill’s set-up had greatly deteriorated over the years.

Convincing Bill to return the other system, Walt and Steven began bringing components to his house for an extended audition. After three weeks Bill bought a separates-based system with Magnaplanar speakers, and he’s been a loyal ListenUp customer ever since. Of course, he’s also been an employee since 1978, when Walt offered him a job.

Bill became manager of the Pro division in 1979, overseeing the installation of the sound system at CU’s Folsom Field, among others. He later headed up the team that created the state-of-the-art system at Bill Daniels’ home (an abode so advanced it earned its own name: “Cableland”) in 1986, and the next year he took over the helm of ListenUp’s newly dedicated custom install department.

He still gets a kick out of creating integrated systems and taking the technology as far as it will go, but Bill’s eyes really light up when he relates a visit to the recent Rocky Mountain Audiofest. “I was in heaven. It was really cool to be around all these high-end two-channel companies that are still trying to achieve the perfect sound — which is why we all got in this in the first place.”