ABOUT THE DOCTOR

Hello, my name is Roger Spohn, and I am THE Home Theater Doctor. I got interested in electronics in the mid seventies when I bought my first hi-fi system. I graduated from Arizona Tech (later sold to ITT Technical) in 1977 at the top of my class.

My first job in electronics was as a repair technician in a little TV shop in Apache Junction. My first day on the job was intimidating. I knew all kinds of electronic theory, but that didn’t prepare me for the realities of electronic repair. I repaired 8 track players, cassette decks, CB radios and all other types of home audio equipment. It was challenging, but the older techs were good teachers.

I was there for a couple of years, and was offered a job in San Francisco with Hohner Inc. (the harmonica people). So, I packed up my old ’64 Dodge Coronet and headed off toCalifornia.

They hadn’t had a repair tech for a while, and there was a huge pile of keyboards, guitar amps, effects pedals and other assorted musical electronic devices needing repair. It took a couple of months to clean up the backlog. After that, new repairs trickled in, but not enough to keep me busy. I found my self sweeping floors and tuning guitars.

That wasn’t my idea of a career, so I moved back to Phoenix. I worked for a company that installed disco lighting and sound systems for a few months (it was the seventies!). My next job was as a tech with Tangent Systems in Phoenix. This company manufactured musical mixing boards and studio recording consoles. My job was to test and troubleshoot custom built consoles.

In 1980 I went to work at HI FI Sales in Mesa. I was hired to repair home and car stereo equipment. The last couple of years that I was there, I worked on only car stereos, and worked closely with the installation department to resolve issues with complex installations.

I left HI Fi Sales in 1985 to pursue my own business. After a few months, a friend of mine begged me to do repairs for the shop that supported his company. I was reluctant, but went down and interviewed with the owner of C.S. Electronics anyway. I was hired on the spot for what I considered to be a part time job. As it turned out, the volume was so high that it ended up being a 50 hour a week job. I repaired all types of car and home audio, and musical and PA equipment.

I worked at C.S. for about 6 years, and then had the opportunity to buy it. I remodeled the shop and added installation and sales to the mix. In the late nineties, the repair business was dropping off dramatically. New electronic devices were cheaper than ever before, and the cost of repair kept rising. I closed the shop in the fall of 2000 to concentrate on my growing installation business.

Since that time, I have had many happy customers. There are lots of installers in the valley, but very few with my technical background. Not only can I install the simplest or most complex audio video systems, but I can make existing systems work when everyone else has given up. I have built a reputation of being prompt and thorough, with a high level of attention to detail.​