J. Gordon Holt

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Where We Are and How We Got Here

J. Gordon Holt May 03, 2010 First Published: May 03, 1982 0 comments

As another Consumer Electronics Show rolls around, we are seeing some interesting and not-entirely encouraging things taking place in the audio field. The people for whom high fidelity was originally intended—so-called serious music listeners —have abandoned audio almost completely, leaving the pursuit of perfect music reproduction to a group of hobbyists who have more interest in hardware than in music. This, plus the recession, has almost killed middle-fi, which is now flailing out in all directions looking for a new market. Here's how it all came to pass:

J. Gordon Holt Recording of the Month

Recording of May 1982: The Sheffield Drum Record

J. Gordon Holt Jun 30, 2015 First Published: May 01, 1982 0 comments

The Sheffield Drum Record

Improvisations by Jim Keltner and Ron Tutt (drums)

Sheffield LAB-14 (LP) (1981). Reissued as FIM DXD 001 (CD) (2010). Bill Schnee, Doug Sax, prods.; Lincoln Mayorga, exec. prod.; Steve Haselton, Bill Schnee, engs. TT: 13:49.

There was a time when drum records were as common as records of steam locomotives and thunderstorms. It has been so long since anyone has tackled any of them that a lot of technology has gone over the dam, but they are precisely the kind of program material which illuminate the state of the audio art like nothing else. Thus, Sheffield's Drum Record emerges as a landmarka technological tour de force that should discourage anyone else from issuing a similar disc until the state of the art advances by a few more years.

As We See It J. Gordon Holt Audiophile Essentials

Chasing Rainbows

J. Gordon Holt May 07, 2010 First Published: Apr 07, 1982 0 comments

There was a time, very recently in terms of human history, when high fidelity promised to free the music lover from the constraints of the concert hall and the local repertoire, allowing him to choose at his whim any orchestra in the world playing any work he desired under the baton of any conductor he preferred. "All the pleasure of concert-hall listening, in the comfort of your home," was the way one display advertisement painted this musical utopia which, only 20 years ago, seemed right around the corner.

J. Gordon Holt Recording of the Month

Recording of April 1982: Williams: Film Music

J. Gordon Holt Jul 08, 2015 First Published: Apr 01, 1982 0 comments

Williams: Suites from Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra, Zubin Mehta.

Mobile Fidelity MFSL-C.008 (cassette).

Originally released on London Records, then re-released with better sound on a Mobile Fidelity disc (now a cutout), these are stunning performances of these popular film scores, rivaling the composer's own performances of them. (Composers aren't always the best conductors of their own music, but John Williams is one who is.)

Sonically, this is simply a tour de force: Without a doubt the best commercially made cassette I've ever heard (and I've heard a lot of them). Last month, I expressed some doubt that the high end on any cassette could rival that of a half-speed LP and, indeed, there is a softening at the top on this cassette, when compared with the Mobile Fidelity disc. But the truth of the matter is that the cassette's high end is substantially more natural than that from the disc, which was one of Mobile Fidelity's first and had a slightly steely edge to it.

As We See It J. Gordon Holt Historical

What Makes a Good Recording?

J. Gordon Holt Jan 04, 1982 First Published: Mar 04, 1982 0 comments

The sound, of course, but here's a checklist of 16 specifics to consider when evaluating your own or somebody else's live-recording efforts.

As We See It Historical J. Gordon Holt

Changes of Everything

Larry Archibald, J. Gordon Holt Jan 02, 1995 First Published: Mar 02, 1982 0 comments

As of February, 1982, the ownership of this publication passed to other hands. In total despair about its precarious finances, JGH accepted with alacrity an offer by Larry Archibald (an occasional contributor in recent years) to purchase the magazine. This has now come to pass, and it is because of the resulting infusion of money that you are holding this issue in your hot little hands now instead of three months from now (and that is probably being a little optimistic about the way things were).

J. Gordon Holt Recording of the Month

Recording of March 1982: Elgar: Orchestral Works

J. Gordon Holt Jul 14, 2015 First Published: Mar 01, 1982 0 comments

Elgar: Orchestral Works

Falstaff, The Sanguine Fan, Fantasia and Fugue in c (transcribed from J.S. Bach), excerpt from The Starlight Express

London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Adrian Boult

Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab 2-501 (half-speedmastered LP, pressed in Japan, 1981). Originally released as HMV ASD 2970 (LP, 1974). Reissued as EMI CDM 7 63133 2 (CD, 1989). Christopher Bishop, prod.; Christopher Parker, Stuart Eltham, engs.

We have never before bestowed an award on anyone for anything. We felt obliged to do it on Mobile Fidelity for their remastering of the EMI Elgar Falstaff recording because it is the first time to our knowledge that a single classical release has combined a performance and a recording which are both good enough that neither need be done again. Our congratulations to Mobile Fidelity's Gary Giorgi. Now, let's have some more, from Mobile Fidelity or any other source. We have more awards to hand out when and if.J. Gordon Holt

As We See It Historical J. Gordon Holt

Plain Talk About the Unmentionable

J. Gordon Holt Nov 05, 2014 First Published: Dec 01, 1981 0 comments

Editor's Note: On the 52nd anniversary of Stereophile's founding in 1962 by J. Gordon Holt, we are publishing this mea culpa "As We See it" essay from 1981, in which he explains why Vol.4 No.10 was almost six months late in mailing to subscribers. Gordon had relocated from the Philadephia suburbs to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1978, and as he had explained in the April 1978 issue, the move had not gone well. "Much of the equipment necessary for testing got damaged or destroyed in transit," he wrote, adding that "What had promised to be a superb listening room turned out to have some sticky acoustical idiosyncrasies."

J. Gordon Holt Recording of the Month

Recording of November 1981: Citadels of Mystery

J. Gordon Holt Jul 06, 2017 First Published: Nov 01, 1981 0 comments

Bernie Krause: Citadels of Mystery

Mobile Fidelity MFSL 1-505 (LP).

This is a very hyped, contrived recording, but then nobody ever pretended that this kind of musical construction was supposed to approximate the sound of a live performance. The strings are quite steely on this but, in all other respects, the recording is is stupendousunctuously rich, smooth and limpidly clear, with some awesomely taut low end and cuttingly crisp percussion sounds.

As We See It J. Gordon Holt

Credibility Gap

J. Gordon Holt Nov 19, 2014 First Published: Jun 01, 1981 0 comments

To audiophiles who are aware that their household line voltage changes under varying loads, and have observed the absolutely fantastic differences in the sound of their system when the next-door neighbor turns on Junior's night light, it may come as a surprise to learn that there are folks out there who think you're full of crap. That's right, Virginia, they don't think you can really hear all those things you pretend to hear. (You are only pretending, aren't you?) They can't hear all those things, so how can you? Well, sometimes they can. They'll even admit that. But those tiny little differences are so trivial that they don't matter no more than a fruitfly's fart. That's the word in scientific circles these days. Or haven't you been following the "establishment" audio press lately?