At Ohm With The Wizard -- Inventor Bob Munger Builds One-Of-A-Kind Electronic Devices You Won't Find At Radio Shack. Remember `Vacuum Tubes'?

BELLEVUE

Bob Munger is a man on the slow track.

Visit him in the windowless electronics shop he calls his bunker, and you'll quickly see he marches to a different drummer in a high-tech world where ambition is the order of the day.

Munger, 59, is doing pretty much what he did four decades ago: He talks to people about their electronic needs, figures out solutions and invents new products along the way. Some say he's among the last of a breed.

His longtime friend Warren McPherson calls Munger "a throwback" and "an Old World-type craftsman."

Munger maintains a small shop on the lower level of Vetco Electronics, the store McPherson owns on Bellevue's Northup Way. Munger helps Vetco by answering customers' technical questions. The arrangement also helps Munger by giving exposure to his business: building home theaters and other custom systems.

On a recent afternoon, Munger advised customers on how to link a sound system to a camcorder; whether a 90-cent, 3.6-volt battery would work as well as an $18 version; and the proper use of capacitors.

Each afternoon, after leaving Vetco, Munger goes down the road to a 2,000-square-foot manufacturing space he rents in a light-industrial district. There, his one-man company, Audisar, produces transformers, loudspeakers and other products for industrial customers.

His Audisar products are used in LucasFilm's THX commercial-theater systems, in the trams at Universal Studios, at

radio and TV stations, and in the U.S. Senate.

"I invent interesting electronic things that work well and don't break," he says.

"They don't break." This phrase is Munger's mantra.

One of his recent one-of-a-kind creations is a stereo preamplifier using vacuum tubes. An audiophile's audiophile, Munger eagerly demonstrates the system's big, lush sound by playing a 33-rpm vinyl record of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" - and offering an informal lesson in how to listen to music.

Munger's passion for building things goes back to the days when his grandfather would set him loose with scrap wood, a hammer and nails. As a high-school student in Yakima, he joined the Civil Air Patrol, where two older members introduced him to the basics of electronics.

He honed his electronics skills during his four years in the Air Force, then spent a year at Boeing. "Boeing's a good company to work for, but not for me. I don't like punching a time clock."

For more than 12 years, he built custom devices at the University of Washington. His epileptic nephew was the first patient to undergo surgery with a monitoring device Munger designed.

In 1978, Munger set out on his own, selling his first product, a specialized transformer, to hundreds of broadcast stations. Since then, he has steadily expanded his product line and his customer base, but never hit a commercial home run.

That could change with his latest invention, an improved FM antenna. He says it's "half the size, half the money and works four times better" than the best product now on the market. His idea of venture capital is asking his friends each to invest $500.

What if the antenna is a commercial failure?

Munger isn't overly concerned. He seems more nervous about the possibility that he could make a lot of money.

For a fellow like Munger, money just isn't what it's about.

It's about solving a problem. It's about building an audio system that can produce beautiful music. Building something that lasts.

Some electronic devices - such as computers, which he calls "emotionless" and "pit vipers" - hold little charm for him. But when it comes to making high-fidelity sound: Ah, there's where his passion lies.

For Munger, business is a matter of the heart. "I don't go out and look at the competition," he says. "I build what I want to build. I don't really care what somebody else does."

-- Eastside Profile is an occasional feature of The Seattle Times Eastside edition. Have a suggestion on someone we should write about? Contact us via the addresses at the top of this page. -- Keith Ervin's phone message number is 206-515-5632. His e-mail address: kerv-new@seatimes.com