Possibly ListenUp’s most erudite employee, Jack Rubinson came to us after stints as a sociology professor at several universities and 34 years in the A/V business on the East Coast. He had visited Denver several times over the years and really enjoyed it, so in 2006 he heeded Horace Greeley’s advice and went west.

Like so many of our salespeople, Jack started as a hobbyist — he owns over 2,000 CDs — and his avocation eventually became his vocation. “When I was in college I had a philosophy professor who loved classical music, and he introduced me to the joys of high-end sound,” Jack recalls. Though he is more than conversant with all the latest home theater technologies, he jokes that he’s “a two-channel guy trying to survive in a 5.1 world.”

The move to ListenUp has apparently been to Jack’s liking: “The average length of tenure at an A/V store is about two years, but here it’s over 12. I think that has to do with the unique spirit that pervades this organization. The corporate culture allows people to operate at the highest levels. A colleague of mine in New York — and this is a guy with a pretty big ego who owns his own store, so he’s not exactly pre-disposed to handing out compliments — says that ListenUp might just be the best store in the U.S.”

Well, who are we to argue with the professor?