J. Gordon Holt

Sort By: Post Date Title Publish Date

Historical J. Gordon Holt Recommended Components

Recommended Components #1

J. Gordon Holt Dec 17, 2012 First Published: May 01, 1963 0 comments

[Note - this article is from the May, 1963 issue of Stereophile]

Many readers have asked why we don't maintain a permanent listing in each issue of The Stereophile of those components that we feel to be the best available, with or without qualification.

So, we are following our readers' suggestion, and will list in each issue groups of components which, at publication time, we feel are ones from which our readers would be well advised to assemble their systems. The list will change from time to time, as new products appear, old ones are obsoleted, or manufacturers change their quality control standards. Components will be added to or dropped from the list without advance notice if we see adequate reason for doing so, but each change in the list will be explained in the magazine at the time the change is made.

J. Gordon Holt Recording of the Month

Recording of March 1963: Mahler: Symphony No.1

J. Gordon Holt Dec 31, 2018 First Published: Mar 01, 1963 0 comments

Mahler: Symphony No.1 in D ("The Titan")

Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter, conductor

Columbia MS-6394 (LP). John McClure, prod. TT: 52:15

This is one of those rare combinations of a superb recording and a stunning performance. As far as I'm concerned, it is the best Mahler First that Bruno Walter committed to discs during his lifetime, including the last one that he made with the New York Philharmonic. And the fact that this recording is far superior to that accorded Walter when he conducted the New York Philharmonic does not detract one bit from my feeling about this new release.

Historical J. Gordon Holt Phono Cartridge Reviews

Empire 880P phono cartridge

J. Gordon Holt May 30, 2019 First Published: Mar 01, 1963 0 comments

The 880P is a moving-magnet stereo cartridge for use in transcription arms and the few high-quality record changers now available, such as the Garrard Model A and the Lesa units. It has standard ½" mounting centers, and the pickup requires the 47k ohm termination provided by most preamplifiers. The 8mV output, too, is about ideal for nearly all preamps.

Historical J. Gordon Holt Turntable Reviews

Garrard 301 & Thorens TD 124 turntables

J. Gordon Holt Sep 05, 2019 First Published: Mar 01, 1963 0 comments

An editorial note: We recently republished Stereophile founder J. Gordon Holt's 1966 review of the Swiss Thorens TD-150AB turntable. This was the first high-end 'table I bought after leaving university and earning a wage. But as good as I felt the TD-150AB to be, with its belt drive and sprung suspension, it was sonically overshadowed both by Thorens's TD 124 turntable and by the English Garrard 301 turntable.

As We See It Historical J. Gordon Holt Think Pieces

Why Hi-Fi Experts Disagree

J. Gordon Holt Feb 04, 1997 First Published: Feb 01, 1963 0 comments

Dateline: late August 1989. The scene: my palatial office in the Stereophile Tower. Present were the magazine's official technowizard Robert Harley, Circulation Kahuna Michael Harvey, and myself. The subject under discussion was the program for the Stereophile Test CD, launched in this issue, and Bob had been dazzling Michael and myself with a description of the sophisticated signal-processing power offered by the Digidesign Sound Tools music editing system with which he had outfitted his Macintosh IIX computer. (He had to fit it with a 600-megabyte hard-disk drive!) "It'll even do edits as crossfades as well as butt joins," enthused Bob. "Let me tell you about the crossfade I once did when editing a drum solo for a CD master that lasted ten seconds..."

As We See It J. Gordon Holt

Too Good to Be True

J. Gordon Holt Dec 08, 2015 First Published: Jan 01, 1963 0 comments

Two letters from readers (see below) started us thinking again about something we've mulled at, off and on, for the past year or so: Does today's high-fidelity equipment, for all its vastly improved performance, actually sound that much better than the best of the early components?

As We See It Historical J. Gordon Holt

The Weakest Link

J. Gordon Holt Feb 16, 2016 First Published: Dec 01, 1962 0 comments

When the Record Industry Association of America adopted its standard disc playback equalization curve in 1954, hi-fi enthusiasts heaved a sigh of relief and bade fond farewell to years of confusion, doubt and virtual pandemonium. Before the RIAA curve there were six "standard" curves in use, and since nobody seemed to know who was using what, getting flat response from a disc was often more a matter of luck than anything else. The adoption of the RIAA standard playback curve heralded an end to all this.

Historical J. Gordon Holt Think Pieces

Amplifier Power: How Much is Enough?

J. Gordon Holt Jan 21, 2016 First Published: Nov 01, 1962 0 comments

Considering the amount of careful research, cautious theorizing and wild speculation that have been lavished on the amplifier power question, we should expect to be considerably closer to the answer in 1962 than we were five years ago. This does not seem to be the case.

As We See It Historical J. Gordon Holt

Don't Tell Your Friends!

J. Gordon Holt Jul 03, 2017 First Published: Nov 01, 1962 0 comments

Stereophile's founder, J. Gordon Holt, photographed toward the end of his life by Steven Stone.

Editor's Note: The forthcoming August 2017 issue of Stereophile is No.451, but 55 years ago this summer, J. Gordon Holt was putting together the first issue of what initially was to be called The Stereophile. Here is Gordon's editorial leader from that issue, published in November 1962.

Historical J. Gordon Holt Recording of the Month

Recording of November 1962: Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique

J. Gordon Holt Jan 08, 2019 First Published: Nov 01, 1962 0 comments

Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique

Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, conductor

RCA Victor LSC-2608 (LP). TT: 48:40

It is easy to forget that the hi-fi movementsthe "March to the Scaffold" and the "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath"comprise barely a third of the music in the Symphonie fantastique, yet when we listen to most of the available versions of this, we can understand why the first three movements are usually passed up by the record listener. Two are slow and brooding, one is a wispy sort of waltz, and all three require a certain combination of flowing gentleness and grotesquerie that few orchestras and fewer conductors can carry off. It is in these first three movements where most readings of Berlioz' best-known work fall flat. Either they are too sweetly pastoral or too episodic and choppy, or they degenerate into unreliered dullness.