Musical Surroundings Hires Industry Veteran Chris Thompson As Service and Product Manager

customer support and product repairs are critical, yet importer/distributors often shortchange or ignore both

Oakland, CA. Feb. 10, 2025—Musical Surroundings is excited to announce the appointment of Chris Thompson as Service and Product Manager. Chris was the Quality Control and Special Projects Manager at Parasound in San Francisco for 11 years. One of Chris’ many responsibilities was developing and supporting the Parasound line of John Curl designed phono stages.

Moving across the bay to Oakland, Chris now works with Mike Yee, designer of the Musical Surroundings’ Phonomena phono stages. Future phono stage projects include a flagship MC phono stage and an optical phono stage for the DS Audio cartridges.

Chris supports our dealer network and end users for all brands, including Clearaudio, DS Audio, Hana, and the AFI Flat.Duo record flattener and relaxer. He works directly with our vendors in both Germany and Japan. Chris will participate in major audio shows, including AXPONA in Chicago, Munich High-End, and leading Clearaudio factory tours.

Chris’ duties include assisting Garth Leerer and Ken Bowers with dealer training at our Oakland headquarters and at our under-development Sonoma wine country corporate retreat. He oversees our demonstration room in the Oakland warehouse (pictured above) as well as technical areas, and our new demonstration facility in Sonoma County.

Chris brings to the new position his audio engineering education background, plus experience in mechanical and electronic repair with his passion for music as both a multi-instrumentalist and critical listener. Musical Surroundings welcome Chris to the team!

Chris Thompson