In 1972, three John Hopkins University graduates, Matthew Polk, Sandy Gross, and George Klopfer, set out to create loudspeakers that would provide the most accurate, lifelike sound possible. Polk, Klopfer, and Gross opened up shop in a ramshackle 18th-century mansion on Notre Dame Lane in Baltimore. The sprawling twenty-room home, which they nicknamed “The Addams Family house,” was lit by gaslights and was only partially heated. For a few years, it served as both factory headquarters and living space for the founders and their spouses, plus a few friends who were willing to split the rent. By keeping business costs to a minimum and experimenting with materials and parts to develop simple systems designs built around high-quality components built in-house, the trio innovated ways to develop high-performance products that represented great value.