In November 1976, we started The Speaker Exchange in the back of Thoroughbred Music on Nebraska Avenue. In 1977, we moved to the Guardian Center Warehouse complex at 1700 N Dale Mabry Highway (behind the (in)famous Tiger’s Den landmark). In 1979, we moved to 804 West Fletcher Avenue and in 1989 we moved to our current 13,000 sq foot Hillsborough Avenue location.

What Owner Operated Means to YOU

We are a small business offering you small business benefits with over 30 years of large scale experience. We are responsive to your needs. When you call, you can speak to a live person and often you can speak to that same person again and again.  When you email during business hours, you get a same day response. You do not have to go through 10 layers to find someone who can make a decision. We actually do research for your hard to find questions and offer options and suggestions. The owner is on site working and trouble shooting.

Meet the Team:

Cathy Satin- President & Customer Service

Cathy grew up in NY, moved to Florida in 1975 and graduated from the University of South Florida, with a degree in broadcasting. She and her husband Glenn started The Speaker Exchange in 1977.  (Glenn later moved into Audio/Video sales and installations).  In 1979, Cathy went to California for JBL speaker repair training and later received advanced training from Frank Spain, the then head of the Electro-Voice service department.  She has continued to advance her audio education through many CES, NAMM, and CEDIA trade show classes.

Cathy is your contact for everything related to the Speaker Exchange. She is the main e-mail communicator and is in charge of problem resolution. If you have suggestions, both positive or negative, she is the person to contact. Her goal is to keep The Speaker Exchange a dominant force in the industry and is happy to use customer ideas towards improving the company.

Cathy has been married for 33 years and is the mother of two daughters and is waiting for her first granddaughter to arrive later in 2011.

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Randall – Service Manager

Randall started his career in electronics as a sonar technician in the U.S. Navy. His duties were technician, training coordinator and personnel supervisor. He left the Navy and took a position with Lockheed Martin as the final acceptance inspector for electrical components used in the Stealth B-2 Bomber. When that program ended, Randall joined Circuit City Service and their team of audio repair technicians.  In his 7 years with Circuit City he was able to use his Navy training to excel at his job servicing a broad range of home and auto amplifiers, passive and powered speakers, as well as many other electronic units. Eventually he became supervisor of over 50 other technicians and was recognized as top technician many times.

Randall brought his expertise to The Speaker Exchange in 2005. He started as sales manager but then moved laterally to service manager. Today he oversees the cabinet repair department and enjoys working on many different types of speakers and speaker brands. He is proud to state that he is the sole East Coast technician for Adam Audio and the premier South Eastern technician for Velodyne subwoofers.

Randall has been married for 19 years and is the father of two. His long range plans include retiring on an island in the Caribbean where he plans to spend his days relaxing in an x-large Hammock dreaming about how to repair the next speaker.

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Mike- Sales Manager

Mike began his obsession with speakers and electronics at a young age in Ohio. His father, Larry is a pioneer in the field of custom car audio installation and has worked for many celebrity clients. Mike began helping his dad and learning everything he could about car audio and electronics when he was just 9 years old.

The majority of Mike’s professional experience has been in sales and customer service. He has been a regional sales representative and member of an elite sales team for a national foods distributor where he learned that the need for a constant focus on a customer’s wishes, needs & budget is of primary importance. Mike’s knowledge of pro-audio was greatly enhanced when he came to work for The Speaker Exchange. As he moved through the ranks, he learned all he could about audio equipment so he is better prepared to sell the right product to the right person.

Mike has been the Sales Manager for The Speaker Exchange for the last four years. In that role he not only manages the front of the house, but also oversees much of the store inventory. With the right blend of patience, understanding and product knowledge, he has become an important figure in our customers’ happy experiences with us. Mike teaches all new sales associates that it is most important for them to communicate with the customer and to share in his goals to have only satisfied customers. He often says that a salesperson cannot be succesful if he or she does not believe in the product they are selling. In the six years of Mike’s tenure, it is obvious by the number of repeat clients that Mike thinks very highly of the products he sells for us here at The Speaker Exchange.

Mike is married with one child and has lived in Tampa for ten years. He continues to enjoy learning new things and hopes to eventually travel internationally and have many adventures.

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Gene- Speaker Reconing Manager

Gene has been reconing speakers for The Speaker Exchange since 1988. His interest in sound came from early exposure. His father who spent some time in the signal corps during his 27 year army career has a HAM radio hobby and his mother who is a true music lover always had it playing during his childhood. In high school, he became interested in speakers through his association with friends in local bands who often enlisted him to move, set up and tear down their equipment. He has family members who have been involved in a number of local bands so his roadie experience continues to grow. Gene has repaired thousands of speakers since he first joined The Speaker Exchange. He supervises all reconing and refoaming work and controls parts inventories. He has a delicate touch for the hard-to-do vintage speaker  and Ohm F repairs and extensive knowledge of speaker repairs.

Gene continues to be close with his ever expanding family. His long term goals are to complete the few courses he has left to receive his college degree and recone every speaker known to man at least once.

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Tom- Shipping Manager

Tom’s audio career began over 25 years ago. He started helping with car audio installations and then became a DJ for his local skating rink. In college, he worked as both a musician & DJ, but soon set his sights to the other side of the mixing board. He graduated with a Broadcast Media Degree from The Art Institute of Dallas. He then spent four years working as a broadcast DJ for Z-Rock & Satellite Music Network, before he left on a variety of band tour buses to see the world.

Tom worked as a sound engineer, lighting tech, lighting director and rigger for Faith No More, Guns N Roses, Warrant, Slaughter, Marilyn Manson, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Metallica on their national tours.  Eventually, Tom settled down and worked as a house engineer,, installed architectural sound installations before he ran a small home-based business in Tampa.

In 2008, Tom joined the Speaker Exchange and is now able to use his vast experience for Speaker Repairs and Sales. He took over managing the shipping department and makes sure that our products and repairs arrive safely to you.

Tom is a single father of a two; both son and daughter. He is an avid Texas Hold ‘Em player & still occasionally works as a DJ.  His future goal is to become ruler of the universe or 15 time World Series of Poker bracelet holder. .

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Melissa- Social Networking

Melissa joins the team! Owner operated takes on new meaning because Cathy’s daughter in now on board.

Melissa is a native of Tampa and recently graduated from the Univerisity of Central Florida. She decided to join the Spex team because she can knows she can make a difference. Melissa does a little of everything. She could be the one writing up your repair in the store, and you might speak to her on the phone or through email, but you will definitely hear from her through Facebook and Twitter. Melissa is the right generation for social networking. Send her a tweet or become a Facebook Fan or send her a message on our wallhttp://www.facebook.com/TheSpeakerExchange.

Melissa is our own Speaker Exchange G2.

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Glenn- Our very own McGuyver

Glenn is back!  Glenn and Cathy started The Speaker Exchange in 1977. He then branched off to design, sell and install distributed Audio / Video systems. Now although he is still consulting on his projects he is also devoting his unique talents to our special cases here at Spex.

Glenn can repair or modify just about anything. He has a passion for audio and especially speakers. He knows a little bit about most everything and has been around long enough to remember the important details.

Glenn is at his best when he is making up special mods for vintage repairs or when he is designing a custom project, crossover, system… He hates to be bored so be sure to send him a challenge. (he is also camera shy so sorry no picture)