J. Gordon Holt

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J. Gordon HoltPhono Cartridge Reviews
Shure V15-IV phono cartridge
J. Gordon Holt  |  Sep 10, 2015  |  First Published: Dec 01, 1979  |  7 comments
The Shure Brothers have been making magnetic cartridges since the early 1950s (they had been exclusively microphone manufacturers prior to then), and their continuing R&D program has resulted in new, improved models every few years rather than every 6 months (as seems to be the rule these days). As a result, Shure has the appearance, to most audiophiles, of a stodgy, plodding, rather "establishment" manufacturer that can be trusted to make a solid, reliable product but nothing brilliantly innovative or—for that matter—nothing remarkably good either.
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Stand Loudspeaker ReviewsJ. Gordon HoltBudget Component Reviews
Siefert Maxim III loudspeaker
J. Gordon Holt, Thomas J. Norton  |  Sep 18, 2012  |  First Published: Jul 01, 1985  |  0 comments
While it is not quite accurate to say that $500/pair loudspeakers are a dime a dozen, they are by no means unusual. And since this is a price area where major design compromises are mandatory (footnote 1), the sound of such loudspeakers tends to vary all over the map, from pretty good to godawful—depending on what performance areas the designer chose to compromise and by how much.

I approached this latest half-grander with little enthusiasm, despite Siefert's persuasive literature, I have, after all, been reading such self-congratulatory hype abiout new products for longer than most Stereophile readers have been counting birthdays. This, I must admit, was ho-humsville.

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J. Gordon HoltTonearm Reviews
SME 3009 Series III tonearm
J. Gordon Holt  |  Oct 08, 2013  |  First Published: Jun 01, 1980  |  4 comments
The third iteration of SME's 3009 is one of the most versatile tonearms around. For the same reason, it is also one of the most tedious to set-up because, since every parameter is adjustable, every parameter must be adjusted.
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J. Gordon HoltTonearm Reviews
SME 3009 tonearm
J. Gordon Holt, John Wright  |  Mar 16, 2016  |  First Published: Sep 01, 1965  |  1 comments
This is by no means a new product. It was available in a stereo version as far back as 1961, and apart from a couple of minor refinements—the addition of a bias compensator and a new, lightweight shell—it is still the same arm, and it still has the reputation of being the perfectionist's tonearm.
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Floor Loudspeaker ReviewsHistoricalJ. Gordon Holt
Snell Type A loudspeaker
J. Gordon Holt, Larry Greenhill, Thomas J. Norton  |  Apr 30, 2006  |  First Published: Mar 01, 1978  |  0 comments
One of the less-glamorous speaker systems around today, these have more to offer the critical listener in terms of satisfaction than do most of the more-exotic designs.
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As We See ItHistoricalJ. Gordon Holt
Snob Appeal
J. Gordon Holt  |  Jan 12, 1985  |  0 comments
A number of recent letters have accused us of snobbishness and elitism because we devote so much space to reports about components that "common folk" can't afford. We are "snobbish" because we seem to look down on anything less perfect than a Wilson WAMM speaker system or an Audio Research SP-10 preamplifier. And we are "elitist" because we seem to show little interest in any components which fall short of state of the art. Far from being chastened by these letters, I am proud, to declare that they are right on target.
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CD Player/Transport ReviewsJ. Gordon HoltHistorical
Sony CDP-101 Compact Disc Player
J. Gordon Holt  |  Jan 23, 1995  |  First Published: Jan 23, 1983  |  0 comments
Our long-awaited laser-audio disc player (usually called the CD, for "Compact Disc") finally arrived, along with a real bonanza of software: two discs—a Polygram classical sampler of material from Decca, Deutsche Grammophon and Philips, and a Japanese CBS recording of Bruckner's 4th Symphony, with Kubelik.
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CD Player/Transport ReviewsJ. Gordon Holt
Sony CDP-520ES CD player
J. Gordon Holt, Steven W. Watkinson  |  Feb 26, 2015  |  First Published: May 01, 1985  |  4 comments
Publisher's Note: For the first time since I've published Stereophile, we are running two completely different—and opposed— reports on the same product. Normally, we try to reach some conclusion as to why reviewers come up with opposite views on a product, and resolve the problem prior to publication. In this case, the problem lies in the differing sound systems used for review. Since some readers will have systems like SWW's, and others will have systems more like JGH's, I felt it was valuable to run both reviews.

For the record, SWW's reference system consists of Dayton Wright XG-lO speakers, BEL 1001 amplifiers, a Klyne preamp, a SOTA Star Sapphire turntable, the Well-Tempered Arm (or Sumiko Arm), and a Talisman S cartridge. The sound on analog disc is far preferable to that from CD, being much more alive and present, and with a tendency to exaggerate sibilants. The low end of the system is awesome, the high end extended, and transients are rendered with a great feeling of immediacy and quickness.

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CD Player/Transport ReviewsJ. Gordon Holt
Sony CDP-R1/DAS-R1 CD player
J. Gordon Holt  |  Feb 28, 2017  |  First Published: Dec 01, 1988  |  8 comments
Two of the most cherished terms in the lexicon of high end are "no holds barred" and "cost no object." These are usually applied, together, to the most expensive version of something currently on the market. But is either term really appropriate for an audio product? The answer is a flat, unequivocal No. No consumer product has ever conformed to the real meaning of those terms, and it is unlikely that one ever will.
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CD Player/Transport ReviewsJ. Gordon Holt
Sony CDP-X779ES CD player
J. Gordon Holt  |  Mar 08, 2018  |  First Published: Jun 01, 1993  |  1 comments
Sony's first CD player, the much-maligned CDP-1 (reviewed in Vol.5 No.10), did all the things we'd been promised from CD except deliver perfect sound. It met CD's incredible claims for frequency range and linearity, harmonic and intermodulation distortion, and signal/noise ratio, yet—despite my own initial enthusiasm for it—it proved ultimately to be a disappointing-sounding player (footnote 1). Its sound was rather hard and grainy, and quite spectacularly uninvolving to listen to. But considering that it was the first of its kind, it was a good start despite its many sonic shortcomings (footnote 2).
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J. Gordon HoltMiscellaneous
Sony DTC-2000ES DAT recorder
J. Gordon Holt  |  Sep 20, 2013  |  First Published: Nov 01, 1994  |  3 comments
Introduced nearly eight years ago as the first recordable digital format for consumers, DAT both failed to appeal to its target market and was blocked from formally entering the USA for four years by the RIAA, who feared for the copyright of its members' recordings. However, the DAT medium was enthusiastically snapped up by professionals and semiprofessionals, who found its combination of reliability, CD-compatible signal format, and editing ease ideal for mastering. Sony currently offers a small range of consumer models, from the diminutive Walkman-sized TCD-D-7 DATMan to four-head cassette-deck–sized machines for the so-called "prosumer": amateur recordists who make pin money taping local concerts. The DTC-2000ES is Sony's latest entry (footnote 1).
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Digital Processor ReviewsHistoricalJ. Gordon Holt
Sony PCM F1 Digital Audio Converter
J. Gordon Holt  |  Jun 09, 2021  |  First Published: Sep 01, 1982  |  4 comments
In 1978, when I reviewed Sony's first audiophile-type PCM-1 converter, I earned the undying scorn of a large segment of audiophilia by reporting that, on the basis of a rather short testing period (which did however include some live recording), I was unable to hear anything the matter with its sound. Four years later, but after substantially more testing, I am obliged to report the same thing about the PCM-l's son, the PCM-Fl.
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Floor Loudspeaker ReviewsJ. Gordon Holt
Sound-Lab A-3 loudspeaker
J. Gordon Holt  |  Sep 03, 1995  |  First Published: Sep 03, 1986  |  0 comments
The Sound-Lab electrostatic loudspeakers are legendary. Many serious audiophiles have heard of them, and rumors of their existence abound in audio circles. But, like gnomes, UFOs, and poltergeists, Sound-Lab loudspeakers are sufficiently hard to find that it is sometimes difficult to prove to skeptics that they exist at all. Well, I can now report that they do. As proof of this contention, I can point to the two which are actually occupying solid, tangible space in my listening room at this very moment. I have even taken a photo of them, which will be published along with this report if they leave any sort of an image on the film emulsion. (Many such apparitions do not!)
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ReferenceJ. Gordon Holt
Sounds Like? An Audio Glossary
J. Gordon Holt  |  Jul 29, 1993  |  0 comments
Subjective audio is the evaluation of reproduced sound quality by ear. It is based on the novel idea that, since audio equipment is made to be listened to, what it sounds like is more important than how it measures. This was a natural outgrowth of the 1950s high-fidelity "revolution," which spawned the notion that a component, and an audio system as a whole, should reproduce what is fed into it, without adding anything to it or subtracting anything from it.
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ReferenceFeaturesJ. Gordon Holt
Space...the Final Frontier
J. Gordon Holt  |  Mar 17, 1994  |  0 comments
High-end audiophiles are space freaks---we relish the warmth and spaciousness of a fine, old performing hall almost as much as we do the music recorded in it. But my attendance at a series of orchestral concerts held last summer brought home to me---as never before---the sad fact that our search for the ultimate soundstage is doomed to failure: we're trying to reproduce three-dimensional space from a two-dimensional system, and it simply can't be done.
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