Writing 30 years ago, in the November, 1971 issue, J. Gordon Holt tried to anticipate the cries of Sellout!? as Stereophile began taking its first ads from dealers. Holt wrote, "Before you throw your hands up in horror . . . bear with us for another couple of paragraphs while we explain why this decision on our part need not prompt you to cancel your subscription immediately."A few years later, in 1978, Holt explained why Stereophile could finally say We Did It!. JGH wrote "High Fidelity and Stereo Review are still trying to conceal from their subscribers the fact that some components sound better than others which measure identically. But Stereophile is no longer alone in espousing that heretical view. There are now at least 12 other small magazines all devoted to Stereophile-style testing."In 1987, the 25th year of continuous publication for Stereophile, Holt marked the occasion with Where We Are & How We Got Here. "Here, then, are some examples of how audio has progressed since 1962. (If this sounds like a long time to you kids out there, consider that it took 48 years to get from the cylinder and acoustical horn to the electrically-cut disc.)" wrote Holt.
And then, in 1993, Larry Archibald recounted some of the bumps along the twisty Stereophile path with an editorial leader titled Anniversaries. "I well remember Stereophile's 20th 'anniversary,' which took place in 1982—also in October, according to J. Gordon Holt's memory of Vol.1 No.1's publication date. By that time I had been professionally involved with Stereophile for eight months, a period of time filled with rude awakenings."
