J. Gordon Holt

Empire 880P phono cartridge
HistoricalJ. Gordon HoltPhono Cartridge Reviews
J. Gordon Holt  |  May 30, 2019  |  First Published: Mar 01, 1963
The 880P is a moving-magnet stereo cartridge for use in transcription arms and the few high-quality record changers now available, such as the Garrard Model A and the Lesa units. It has standard ½" mounting centers, and the pickup requires the 47k ohm termination provided by most preamplifiers. The 8mV output, too, is about ideal for nearly all preamps.
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Genelec Studio Monitor 1031A loudspeaker & Studio Monitor 1092A powered subwoofer
J. Gordon HoltStand Loudspeaker ReviewsSubwoofer Reviews
J. Gordon Holt  |  Apr 11, 2019  |  First Published: Aug 01, 1999
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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Linaeum Model 10 & Center-Channel loudspeakers
Floor Loudspeaker ReviewsJ. Gordon Holt
J. Gordon Holt  |  Apr 11, 2019  |  First Published: Jul 01, 1997
666linneumIt's been a long time since we've seen a really new tweeter design. Only five basic types have ever been developed: cones, domes, panels, ribbons, and ionic plasmas. And the most recent of these—the long-defunct DuKane "blue-glow" Ionovac—was introduced 40 years ago. Since then, tweeter development has been more evolutionary than revolutionary, a series of refinements that has made them more efficient, more reliable, and smoother and more extended in response.
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Carver Silver Seven-t monoblock power amplifier
J. Gordon HoltSolid State Power Amp Reviews
Robert Harley, J. Gordon Holt  |  Apr 09, 2019  |  First Published: Jan 01, 1990
In 1988, Bob Carver set out to design the best amplifier he possibly could, without regard for cost. It was more of an ego exercise than an attempt to build a product with wide commercial appeal. The result was the four-chassis, $17,500 Silver Seven.

Interestingly, Bob Carver chose vacuum tubes to realize his dream of building the ultimate power amplifier. The Silver Seven uses fourteen KT88 output tubes per channel, and puts out 375W into 8 ohms. Bob built three pairs of Silver Sevens, not expecting to sell many at the $17,500 asking price. When those sold quickly, another 10 pairs were manufactured. Now, demand is so great that Silver Sevens are built in groups of 30 pairs.

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The Pros & Cons of Electrostatic Loudspeakers
HistoricalJ. Gordon HoltReference
J. Gordon Holt  |  Feb 07, 2019  |  First Published: Jul 01, 1985
The main inherent advantage of the full-range electrostatic loud speaker system is that it allows a single diaphragm to embody the conflicting attributes needed for optimal performance at both extremes of the audio range. Its thin-membrane diaphragm can be made exceedingly light, for superb transient response and extended HF response, yet it can be about as large in area as desired, for extended LF response.
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Surround Sound: High Tech Meets the Beast Within Us
HistoricalJ. Gordon Holt
J. Gordon Holt  |  Feb 05, 2019  |  First Published: Jan 01, 1995
It's a tense moment during a suspense thriller. A cannibalistic serial killer has escaped from a maximum-security detention unit and eluded capture for long enough to work up a healthy appetite. Two small children are playing hide-and-seek in an overgrown lot behind their home.
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Recording of November 1962: Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
HistoricalJ. Gordon HoltRecording of the Month
J. Gordon Holt  |  Jan 08, 2019  |  First Published: Nov 01, 1962
Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique
Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, conductor
RCA Victor LSC-2608 (LP). TT: 48:40

It is easy to forget that the hi-fi movements—the "March to the Scaffold" and the "Dream of a Witches' Sabbath"—comprise barely a third of the music in the Symphonie fantastique, yet when we listen to most of the available versions of this, we can understand why the first three movements are usually passed up by the record listener. Two are slow and brooding, one is a wispy sort of waltz, and all three require a certain combination of flowing gentleness and grotesquerie that few orchestras and fewer conductors can carry off. It is in these first three movements where most readings of Berlioz' best-known work fall flat. Either they are too sweetly pastoral or too episodic and choppy, or they degenerate into unreliered dullness.

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Recording of March 1963: Mahler: Symphony No.1
J. Gordon HoltRecording of the Month
J. Gordon Holt  |  Dec 31, 2018  |  First Published: Mar 01, 1963
Mahler: Symphony No.1 in D ("The Titan")
Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter, conductor
Columbia MS-6394 (LP). John McClure, prod. TT: 52:15

This is one of those rare combinations of a superb recording and a stunning performance. As far as I'm concerned, it is the best Mahler First that Bruno Walter committed to discs during his lifetime, including the last one that he made with the New York Philharmonic. And the fact that this recording is far superior to that accorded Walter when he conducted the New York Philharmonic does not detract one bit from my feeling about this new release.

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Recording of December 1963: Music of Edgar Varèse, Vol.2
J. Gordon HoltRecording of the Month
J. Gordon Holt  |  Nov 19, 2018  |  First Published: Dec 01, 1963
Music of Edgar Varèse, Vol.2
Arcana, Déserts, Offrandes, Chanson De Là-Haut (Song From High)
Dona Precht, soprano, Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Robert Craft, conductor.
Columbia Masterworks MS-6362 (LP). John McClure, Thomas Frost, prods. TT: 24:45.

In electronic music, the sounds of musical instruments, natural noise-makers and electronic signal generators are recorded on tape, modified by running them at higher- or lower-than-normal speeds and manipulating their tonal content, and then combined in rhythmic and tonal patterns to create entirely new forms of music.

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Recording of June 1964: Joan Baez In Concert, Part 2
HistoricalJ. Gordon HoltRecording of the Month
J. Gordon Holt  |  Nov 13, 2018  |  First Published: Jun 01, 1964
Joan Baez In Concert, Part 2
Joan Baez, vocals, guitar
Vanguard VTC-1679 (tape), VSD-2123 (LP). Maynard Solomon, prod., Reice Hamel, eng. TT: 48:00.

Well, we finally got ourselves equipped to review 4-track open-reel tapes, via a slightly modified Ampex F-44. All the tapes we have auditioned had noticeably higher hiss than the average stereo disc, but this was not loud enough to be distracting except when the tapes were reproduced at very high levels. Even then, we found the smooth, even hiss to be less objectionable than the ticks and pops from some discs played at the same level.

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