About Mark Porzilli

Mark’s career began in 1974 when he was only 16. He was hired by Bender Laboratories to design a timer for Bausch & Lomb’s contact lens cleaners. His minimalist timer was chosen based on its use of the least number of components and its insensitivity to temperature and humidity. During the same year Mark designed a series of cutting-edge multiple channel biofeedback and alpha wave monitors for a children’s specialized hospital in New Jersey. An avid student of physics and chemistry Mark began his studies at Rutgers University while still in high school.

In 1979, Mark was introduced to the world of high-end audio by George Bischoff, the owner of Personalized Audio, a local audio salon in Dunellen, New Jersey. They partnered with Charlie Gavaris, US importer of Strathern Ribbon speakers for the Infinity QRS speaker to form the now iconic Melos Audio.

Over two decades Melos Audio became the third largest vacuum tube audio component manufacturer in the world. Ten Melos products were listed in Stereophile’s Class A and B Recommended Components for 10 consecutive years. Melos received 17 Editor’s Choice awards from The Absolute Sound and enjoyed over 400 positive reviews in audio magazines around the world.

Melos Audio’s amplifiers were purchased by Dudley Moore, Bette Midler, and Keith Jarrett, and were even featured on an episode of Seinfeld! In 1992, the Melos SHA preamplifier won Stereophile’s Product of the Year.

Six years later in 1998 Mark designed an ultrasonic noding line array loudspeaker called Pipedreams. The ultrasonic nodes played a key role in the design of a contiguous line array with multiple drivers.

After being acclaimed “the finest speaker in the world” by the late Harry Pearson, editor-in-chief of The Absolute Sound in 2000 the Pipedreams were awarded The Golden Ear and became the first product to be featured on the cover of The Absolute Sound. The Pipedreams loudspeakers were also praised as the world’s best by Jonathan Valin of The Absolute Sound and Ross Wagner of The Audiophile Voice. In 2003 the Pipedreams design was awarded US Patent Number 6628793.

In 2003 Mark designed the Scaena line array ceramic loudspeakers. Scaena won Best of Show six years in a row at CES, T.H.E. Show and the Rocky Mountain Audiofest. Scaena also received three rave reviews in The Absolute Sound and won The Golden Ear.

In 2005 Mark formed Nova Physics Group with George Bischoff and Rod Handley in order to develop and market The Memory Player. Mark met Sam Laufer in 2006, who purchased The Memory Player and its associated technology before launching their partnership. They were awarded two US patents in 2013 and 2015 for the jitter reduction techniques used in The Memory Player.

In his spare time, Mark is a tropical fish keeping enthusiast and an accomplished amateur photographer. He and his wife Carolyn live in Southern California.