As We See It

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As We See ItJ. Gordon Holt
Don't Just Sit There!
J. Gordon Holt  |  Nov 09, 2016  |  First Published: Aug 01, 1964  |  2 comments
Like every sensible publication, The Stereophile keeps track of the questions raised by readers who write to us, so we can get some idea of what most of you would like to see in future issues of the magazine. To date, the list looks like this, in order of diminishing interest: transistor amps and preamps, loudspeakers, pickups, tape equipment, tuners and, way at the bottom of the list, recordings. We are devoting most of the August 1964 issue to a discussion of commercial recording practices.
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As We See ItJ. Gordon Holt
Merry Christmas Indeed
J. Gordon Holt  |  Dec 20, 2016  |  First Published: Apr 01, 1964  |  3 comments
Editor's Note: The editorial leader for the seventh issue of what was then called The Stereophile, cover-dated April 1964, was the first to introduce a recurring theme to the magazine's first 20 years of publication: an apology to subscribers for being late.—John Atkinson

Those of you who have a mind for dates may have noticed that this issue of The Stereophile is very, very late. This, the seventh issue, was supposed to have been a Merry Christmas November–December issue, but as things worked out, it doesn't even deserve the title of January–February issue. So, we think a few words of explanation are in order.

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As We See ItJ. Gordon Holt
In Praise of Imported LPs
J. Gordon Holt  |  Aug 09, 2016  |  First Published: Dec 12, 1963  |  4 comments
By the time you read this in late 1963 (probably a month after it is written, judging by the speed with which the US mails speed second-class matter on its appointed rounds), Capitol Records will have announced the first bit of really good news for the high-fidelity perfectionist in years: the release of imported disc pressings—taped, cut, and stamped in Europe. London has been importing for years—all the Londons you buy are pressed by Decca in England. But this will be the first opportunity we will have of sampling the products of some of London's overseas competitors.
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As We See ItHistoricalJ. Gordon Holt
Down with Dynagroove!
J. Gordon Holt  |  Dec 31, 2000  |  First Published: Jun 01, 1963  |  1 comments
Editor's Introduction: In 1963, Stereophile's founder J. Gordon Holt published attacks on what he saw as the single largest step backward in high-fidelity sound reproduction at that time: RCA's introduction of "Dynagroove" LP records, where the recorded signal was pre-distorted and dynamically equalized to compensate for the poor performance of cheap phonograph players. "Issue 5...revealed most of RCA Victor's 'revolutionary' new system as nothing more than a sophisticated way of bringing higher fi to record buyers who don't care enough about hi-fi to invest in a decent playback system." Ten years later, Gordon wrote that, "As of 1974, the best we can say for Dynagroove is that there is no audible evidence of it on current RCA releases." (These articles were reprinted in June 1992, Vol.15 No,6, as part of Stereophile's 30th-anniversary celebrations.)—John Atkinson
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As We See ItHistoricalJ. Gordon HoltThink 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..."
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As We See ItJ. Gordon Holt
Too Good to Be True
J. Gordon Holt  |  Dec 08, 2015  |  First Published: Jan 01, 1963  |  16 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?
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As We See ItHistoricalJ. Gordon Holt
The Weakest Link
J. Gordon Holt  |  Feb 16, 2016  |  First Published: Dec 01, 1962  |  5 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.
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As We See ItHistoricalJ. Gordon Holt
Don't Tell Your Friends!
J. Gordon Holt  |  Jul 03, 2017  |  First Published: Nov 01, 1962  |  3 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.

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