Bill Voss first sold a Technics turntable in 1975, as a high school student working part-time at the Audio Den in New Haven, Connecticut. He retired in June 2026 after 44 years with parent company Panasonic, the past decade as US Business Development Manager during Technics's successful relaunch as a hi-fi major player.
While at Panasonic, Voss was involved in sales, marketing, and education as the company brought new technologies to market. He took part in Panasonic and Technics product launches for the Compact Disc, HDTV, plasma TV, digital still cameras, DVD, DAT, Digital Compact Cassette, DVD-A, and other products and technologies.
Perhaps most important to present-day Stereophile readers, starting in 2016, Voss shepherded the reintroduction of Technics turntables, and then electronics and speakers, into the US market after the brand nearly died out. Attendees of recent US audio shows have probably encountered Voss in a Technics-centric room talking up the company's latest digital and analog tech.
Prior to Panasonic, and after his time at Audio Den, Voss was a salesman and store manager at Connecticut audio retailers Absolute Audio and Sounds Alive. He is a longtime hobbyist recording engineer, and he remains member of the Audio Engineering Society.
Voss told Stereophile that during his retirement, "I hope to play a lot of tennis and golf but also rekindle my interest in recording engineering as it applies to headphones and spatial audio, to learn what all the fuss is about."
An email exchange with Voss about those old Connecticut audio stores stoked nostalgia. "You got me reminiscing tonight," he wrote. "All in the heart of Yale (New Haven). We had Rhymes Records upstairs, Cutlers Records four doors down, David Dean Smith across the street selling Mcintosh, JBL, and Yamaha, great restaurants, and an art house cinema next store. I think it's an Apple Store now."
