J. Gordon Holt

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J. Gordon HoltTonearm Reviews
Formula 4 tonearm
J. Gordon Holt  |  Aug 24, 2015  |  First Published: Dec 01, 1977  |  1 comments
Not the easiest tonearm to set up (let your dealer do it if you aren't overly skilled at such things), this English-designed and Japanese-made device is the best pivoted tonearm we have tested to date, and at a very reasonable price at that. Polk Audio is importing them and distributing to dealers, most of whom sell them for around $130 to $140, and some buyers have managed to purchase them directly from stores in England for as little as $80. We received two samples of this for testing, one directly from the US distributor, Polk Audio, the other from Natural Sound, a Nebraska dealer and (naturally) one of our advertisers. Suffice it to say that both samples were identical in every perceptible manner.
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J. Gordon Holt
Fostex M22RP/S M-S microphone
J. Gordon Holt  |  Jan 07, 2021  |  First Published: Mar 01, 1988  |  0 comments
Coincident stereo miking (footnote 1) has two advantages and one disadvantage. Its advantages are that it gives the most stable, specific imaging of any mike technique, and its outputs can be summed for mono reproduction without loss of quality. Its disadvantage is that, in most of its configurations, it tends to produce an overly narrow, shallow soundstage.
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Floor Loudspeaker ReviewsHistoricalJ. Gordon HoltStand Loudspeaker Reviews
Fulton Musical Industries Model 80 & "J-Modular" loudspeakers
J. Gordon Holt  |  Jun 11, 2006  |  First Published: Sep 11, 1976  |  2 comments
In the last issue we published a rather enthusiastic "Quickie" report on a small, $190/pair speaker system from a new company—the FMI Model 80. It was virtually devoid of low end, even as a stereo pair (pairing effectively doubles bass output), and slightly rough as well as a shade soft at the high end, but it had a quality of "aliveness" to it that almost defied belief. Was it a breakthrough in design? A new transducing principle? No, it was neither. In fact, the Model 80 looks like any one of those hundreds of little bookshelf systems that clutter, the pages of Stereo Review's "Hi-Fi Directory" in tedious profusion.
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HistoricalJ. Gordon HoltTube Power Amp Reviews
Futterman H-3A power amplifier
J. Gordon Holt  |  Aug 08, 2019  |  First Published: Sep 01, 1967  |  14 comments
It is not at all unusual these days to find manufacturers producing "matched" speakers and amplifiers that are designed specifically for one another. But it is very unusual to find this being done by an amplifier manufacturer who doesn't make loudspeakers. The Futterman H3-A is one of these rarities—an amplifier designed primarily to complement one of the best, and one of the hardest-to-drive loudspeakers on the market: the KLH Model Nine.
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J. Gordon HoltStand Loudspeaker Reviews
Gale GS402 loudspeaker
Dick Olsher, J. Gordon Holt  |  Aug 13, 2014  |  First Published: Aug 01, 1985  |  2 comments
885gale.promo250.jpgThe Gale loudspeaker dates back to the early 1970s. As I understand it, the basic design resulted from a collaboration of Ira Gale and Sao Win, who were college classmates at the time. Their speaker proved very popular in England and was subsequently imported to the USA during the mid-1970s by Audio Technica. Recently, Techport (the folks who import the Perreaux line) has taken over US distribution.

While the Gales have undergone same changes through the years, their distinctive appearance and, according to some, their equally distinctive sonic "flavor," have continued to earn the respect of critical listeners all over the world. Nonetheless, these speakers have also sustained their fair share of criticism; not everybody likes them. This sort of continuing disagreement usually means that what is at issue is a "different" kind of sound—a product that sounds quite unlike others, yet somehow offers a high enough degree of musical satisfaction to appeal to a lot of serious audiophiles. Of such products are cults made.

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HistoricalJ. Gordon HoltTurntable Reviews
Garrard 301 & Thorens TD 124 turntables
J. Gordon Holt  |  Sep 05, 2019  |  First Published: Mar 01, 1963  |  1 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.
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J. Gordon HoltStand Loudspeaker ReviewsSubwoofer Reviews
Genelec Studio Monitor 1031A loudspeaker & Studio Monitor 1092A powered subwoofer
J. Gordon Holt  |  Apr 11, 2019  |  First Published: Aug 01, 1999  |  14 comments
Which loudspeakers do audio professionals listen to? And why should we care? After all, it's not as if recording engineers are the kind of refined, sensitive, music-loving types who read Stereophile. As much as they may love music, many audio pros appear only to view the original sounds of musical instruments as raw materials to be creatively reshaped and manipulated. (Okay, there are exceptions. But recordists who care about the sounds of real instruments usually record them in real acoustic spaces rather than in studios, and use as little signal processing as they can get away with.)
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As We See ItJ. Gordon Holt
Getting into the Music
J. Gordon Holt  |  May 07, 2010  |  First Published: Nov 07, 1984  |  0 comments
I had an experience at last summer's CES in Chicago that bordered on the religious. I heard the legendary $42,000 Wilson WAMM system.
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As We See ItJ. Gordon HoltHistorical
Getting the Notes Right (Midrange Madness)
J. Gordon Holt  |  Nov 07, 1985  |  0 comments
Almost 30 years ago, Columbia records issued a unique disc called The Art of Jonathan and Darlene Edwards. Darlene sang and Jonathan played piano, and the jacket notes rhapsodized about the depth of feeling they brought to their duos, despite some imperfections of technique.
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As We See ItJ. Gordon Holt
Give CD a Chance
J. Gordon Holt  |  Sep 10, 1986  |  0 comments
According to a recent newsletter sent to its regular contributors, our "competition"—The Absolute Sound—sees "controversy and confrontation" as the core of its editorial policy. By contrast, Stereophile sees as its modus schtickus an unflagging devotion to, and pursuit of, truth, reason, all of the eternal verities (including some you never heard of), and the intelligent exchange of informed ideas. In honor of all of the above-mentioned precepts (as well as some I didn't mention), this issue of Stereophile is largely devoted to the confrontation between knowledgeable writers for whom the widely proclaimed perfection of the Compact Disc remains a controversial issue.
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As We See ItJ. Gordon HoltHistorical
Good Bets, Possibilities, & Improbables
J. Gordon Holt  |  Sep 07, 2009  |  First Published: Apr 07, 1983  |  0 comments
During the past 10 years, perfectionist audio has garnered for itself an impressive accretion of lore, much of which has never been accepted by the so-called scientific community.
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As We See ItJ. Gordon Holt
Grabbing the Crystal by the Ball
J. Gordon Holt  |  Dec 04, 2009  |  First Published: Mar 04, 1988  |  0 comments
Every once in a while, and particularly around the first of the year, news writers (of which I am one) get the urge to play oracle, laying our credibilities on the line by attempting to divine what the coming year will bring. Since I am writing this at the end of January, the chances of my miscalling my shots have already been reduced by a factor of 0.083. But there are still 11 months to go, and some possibility that a prediction or two may be wrong. Nonetheless, I shall intrepidly grab the bull by the horns, the crystal by the ball, and the opportunity of the moment to take an educated guess at what the rest of 1988 holds for audio.
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HistoricalJ. Gordon HoltPhono Cartridge Reviews
Grado Model A phono cartridge
J. Gordon Holt  |  Nov 13, 2020  |  First Published: May 01, 1966  |  0 comments
One of the best pickups we've heard to date, the Grado A was introduced with some fanfare in the fall of 1964 (footnote 1) and then, for no apparent reason, was withdrawn just one year later. It is probably still available, though, either used or, discounted, as new stock at some dealers.
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J. Gordon HoltSolid State Preamp Reviews
Great American Sound Thaedra preamplifier
J. Gordon Holt  |  Dec 11, 2019  |  First Published: Aug 01, 1976  |  3 comments
Our first sample of this preamplifier was returned to the manufacturer before we had completed our tests on it, and was replaced with the latest version (ours is serial number 500108). Enough time elapsed between the time we shipped back the first sample and the time we got around to auditioning the second that we are unable to report on any sonic differences between the two.
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Solid State Power Amp ReviewsJ. Gordon HoltBudget Component Reviews
Hafler XL-280 power amplifier
J. Gordon Holt  |  Mar 03, 2010  |  First Published: Jan 03, 1987  |  0 comments
Some time ago in these pages, Anthony H. Cordesman observed rather ungraciously that the whole line of Hafler electronics "could do with reworking." This was interpreted by many readers—including the good people at the David Hafler Company—as meaning that AHC felt the entire Hafler line to be mediocre. In fact, he does not. (He had given a Hafler product a positive review a few issues previously.) Tony's comment, however, did express a sentiment that most of us at Stereophile have shared for some time: a feeling that Hafler products had slipped from the position of sonic preeminence which they enjoyed during the 1960s and '70s to one of mere excellence in a field where only preeminence is acclaimed.
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