While the Japanese are busy stamping out mass market media hardware to compete with the all-American products of RCA, Zenith, Motorola, and the other corporate giants, there are a small, select group of electronics craftsmen in this country who have the creative flair and ingenuity of the Japanese, who eschew the worsted wet-dream of owning our souls, and who seem to be content with manufacturing products that are both functional and unique.

Many of these cottage industry electronics firms are located in New England. I guess the Yankee heritage is part of the process. They’re usually headed up by visionaries, and most are tucked away on side streets in small New England towns. There’s Henry Kloss, president of the Advent Corporation, for one. Kloss has spent the last six years and well over a million dollars coming up with a five by six foot color tv screen that he’s recently begun to market for $2,500 — $500 less than a similar Sony video projector of less quality and a smaller screen size. KLH and Acoustic Research are similar firms, attempting to make a quality product that is original and which they can sell enough of to support their on-going experiments with new ideas.