Meet the Team

With Meet The HARMAN Luxury Team, our goal is for you to get to know us better. In each edition we feature a different member of the team, and this month it's Mark Glazer, Principal Engineer.

How would you describe what you do in your current role?
I best describe myself as creating and developing the acoustic performance of loudspeaker systems for the audiophile community. Achieving this also branches out to a wide range of responsibilities such as: developing the concept with our marketing team, joining forces with colleagues and suppliers to define the working parts, writing documentation and specifications and keeping track of the schedule.

What did you study in school? Did you always imagine yourself doing something like what you’re doing now, or did the fates just take you in that direction?
In my early teens I developed a fascination with loudspeaker design and made my academic and career goal to obtain an engineering degree and become a loudspeaker design engineer.

How did your career path lead you to HARMAN?
At the start of my career I obtained employment as an apprentice loudspeaker engineer for almost four years at Jumetite Labs in Vancouver, Canada. We designed and manufactured high-end loudspeakers. My next move was in the telecommunication industry as an electro-acoustic engineer.

In 1989, I made a major career jump to HARMAN by obtaining employment as a loudspeaker engineer for Infinity Systems. My next advancement with HARMAN was transferring to a new start up loudspeaker brand, Revel, in 1996, where I have been responsible for its loudspeaker engineering to this day.

What is the most important thing you have learned over your career?
Regardless of your personal loudspeaker design successes, "it takes a village" of specialists to design and manufacture our great loudspeakers

Any other advice you would offer people just starting out in this industry?
Connect with a mentor in the audio industry and learn from them. This type of experience is priceless.

What are you most proud of in your life?
To have met and even exceeded my goal from my early teens of becoming a loudspeaker engineer. A big part of my success is being so fortunate to have spent over 32 years at HARMAN in high-end loudspeaker design. My proudest accomplishment to date, the Revel Salon2, even after 12 years is still considered one of the top loudspeakers on the market.

When did you first realize you had a passion for music or audio? Was there any one song, band or movie that did it for you?
As a teen, I enjoyed listing to music on my family’s stereo console. In 1971, I attended an audiophile show and was amazed to hear the wide bandwidth and dynamics from speakers such as the JBL Paragon and Acoustic Research AR 3a. The music was Santana Abraxas, Strauss Also Sprach Zarathustra and Bizet Carmen Suite. I can still envision that sight and sound 50 years later.

What kind of gear are you rocking at home these days?
I have Revel Salon2 speakers with Mark Levinson associated equipment.

What current technology impresses you the most?
Music streaming. Using Qobuz, this amazing technology sounds great and has essentially replaced my CD collection with an even much more expansive library.

What's your favorite music genre?
Classical music, followed by traditional jazz and opera.

The desert island question, of course. If you were marooned for eternity and could listen to only three albums, what would they be?
Mussorgsky/Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition, Reiner, Chicago Symphony. Classic Records Remaster
Dave Brubeck: Time Out, Acoustic Sounds 45 rpm remaster
Mahler: Symphony No.2, Mehta, Vienna Philharmonic, Decca, Project 45 rpm Remaster

By the way, I would also require my Revel-Mark Levinson sound system.

You have the floor. In closing, tell us anything else you want us to know about yourself.
In writing, I look back at my long career at HARMAN. Being involved in amazing audio products, participating in industry events worldwide and working with great people. I tell myself, "Only at HARMAN could I have ever achieved all this."