Larry Archibald

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Thiel CS1.2 loudspeaker
Floor Loudspeaker Reviews
Larry Archibald  |  Feb 03, 2007  |  First Published: Jan 03, 1989  |  0 comments
Thiel Audio, headed up by Jim Thiel (President and chief designer) and Kathy Gornik (Marketing Director), sets itself apart from other speaker manufacturers not only by making what I feel to be almost uniformly excellent products, but also by serving as a kind of hallmark for the good dealer: Although not all good dealers sell Thiel, just about every Thiel dealer is a good one. This comes about because, in spite of just about uniformly positive reviews and excellent customer relations, Thiel (primarily in the person of Ms. Gornik) has insisted on limited distribution through retailers they know will give their product a good demonstration. There are a few other such companies performing this hallmark function, though only Mark Levinson Audio Systems readily comes to mind. Most other successful companies prefer as wide a geographical distribution as possible, in spite of the occasional necessary compromises in dealer quality.
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Infinity IRS Beta loudspeaker
Floor Loudspeaker ReviewsJ. Gordon Holt
Larry Archibald, J. Gordon Holt  |  Dec 31, 2005  |  First Published: Oct 01, 1988  |  0 comments
In 1966, two avid audiophile/music lovers—a nuclear physicist named Arnold Nudell and an airline pilot named Cary Christie—labored over weekends and evenings for 18 months in Nudell's garage to put together the world's first hybrid electrostatic/dynamic loudspeaker system. It cost them $5000 for materials, launched a company (New Technology Enterprises), and helped contribute to the popular myth that all of the really important audiophile manufacturers got started in somebody's basement or garage (footnote 1). The system was marketed as the Servo-Statik I, for the princely sum of $1795. (At the time, the most expensive loudspeaker listed in Stereo Review's "Stereo/Hi-Fi Directory" was JBL's "Metregon," at $1230.)
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Expensive Electronics/Inexpensive Speakers?
Think Pieces
Larry Archibald  |  May 25, 1988  |  0 comments
I'd like to expand on the "expensive electronics/inexpensive speakers" discussion begun by John Atkinson in his Levinson No.26 & No.20 reviews. "Perhaps because it acts as a bottleneck on the signal," he wrote, "the quality of an amplifier or preamplifier is far more important than that of a loudspeaker when it comes to preserving or destroying the musical values of the signal. This would appear to be heresy in the US where, to judge by the letters I receive, large, complicated, expensive loudspeaker systems are often driven by relatively inexpensive, modestly performing electronics, the rationale behind this being that, to quote one correspondent, 'It is the loudspeakers that produce the sound, therefore they are where the majority of the budget should be allocated.'"
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The Upside of Negative Reviews
As We See It
Larry Archibald  |  Jan 09, 2006  |  First Published: Nov 09, 1986  |  0 comments
Most readers of Stereophile are in it to read about great products—things that make the hobby and art of home sound reproduction exciting. In this respect, reviewers aren't too different—we love sound reproduction and music in general, and products that help bring this to life are the cat's meow. Reviewers that can't respond with this kind of excitement don't have a place writing for this magazine.
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The Big Announcement
HistoricalJ. Gordon Holt
Larry Archibald, J. Gordon Holt  |  Jun 01, 2007  |  First Published: Apr 01, 1986  |  0 comments
The rumors have been flying, and his arrival is imminent—a couple weeks after you read this—so it's time our readers know: John Atkinson, for the last four years Editor of Britain's prestigious Hi-Fi News & Record Review (left), is joining the staff of Stereophile as Managing Editor and International Editor.
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The Case Against Show Reports
As We See ItJ. Gordon HoltHistorical
Larry Archibald, Anthony H. Cordesman, J. Gordon Holt  |  Jan 04, 2010  |  First Published: Sep 04, 1985  |  0 comments
Now that Stereophile's reporting on the 1985 Summer Consumer Electronics Show has ended (I hope!), I would like to express strong dissent with its style and content. In fact, I believe that most of it should never have appeared in print.
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The Highs & Lows of Double-Blind Testing
FeaturesJ. Gordon HoltThink PiecesHistorical
Larry Archibald, J. Gordon Holt, C.J. Huss  |  May 05, 1985  |  0 comments
Editor's Note: In 1985 and 1986, an argumentative thread ran through Stereophile's pages, discussing the benefits or lack of double-blind testing methods in audio component reviewing, triggered by J. Gordon Holt's review of the ABX Comparator. As this debate is still raging nearly 15 years later, we present here the entire discussion that bounced back and forth between the magazine's "Letters" section and features articles. It was kicked off by a letter from C.J. Huss that appeared in Vol.8 No.5.—John Atkinson
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Happy 1985, Music Lovers!
As We See ItHistorical
Larry Archibald  |  Dec 27, 2009  |  First Published: Dec 01, 1984  |  0 comments
Stereophile is happy to start off another year, only one issue behind our published schedule. For most magazine subscribers, this would seem a confession of weakness; underground aficionados will, however, know what I'm talking about. We did in fact publish eight issues last year, but the first one happened to be Volume 6, Number 6 (the last issue in that volume), so that puts us still one behind. Ambitiously, I predict we'll get out nine (count them, 9) issues in 1985 and catch up with our schedule.
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Recording of February 1984: Beethoven/Enescu Violin Sonatas
Recording of the MonthJ. Gordon HoltHistorical
J. Gordon Holt, Larry Archibald  |  Jul 11, 2013  |  First Published: Feb 11, 1984  |  6 comments
BEETHOVEN: Violin Sonata in G, Op.96
ENESCU: Violin Sonata No.3, Op.25 (In Rumanian Style)
David Abel, violin, Julie Steinberg, piano
Wilson Audio W-8315 (LP). David Wilson, prod., eng. AAA.

Oh, what a breath of fresh air this is! An audiophile recording of real music that isn't bombastic, overblown, or high-powered.

Imagine, if you can, a private recital in your own home by two consummate artists who play these works for their own delight as much as for yours. Imagine sound so completely and disarmingly natural that after 30 seconds you're unaware it's reproduced. That's what this record is all about.

I could rhapsodize endlessly about this record, but I won't. Suffice it to say that if you think there's even a remote chance you'll like this music, you will be positively mesmerized by this recording of it . . .

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The Horse's Mouth (Stereo Review's 1983 cable tests)
Historical
Larry Archibald  |  Jun 03, 2007  |  First Published: Dec 03, 1983  |  0 comments
It's not often that you get a chance to have extensive discussions with the horse's mouth, but we recently had that opportunity. Since July of this year there has been extensive discussion in the audio community, particularly the high-end segment, of Larry Greenhill's article on speaker cable listening tests in the August, 1983 issue of Stereo Review (footnote 1). From recent talks with author Greenhill we've learned that the most interesting story was not in Stereo Review; instead it can be found in the varying reactions from different quarters, and what they say about the high-end industry in general.
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