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Does anyone know where this J. Gordon Holt comes from?

Interviewer: “Do you see any signs of future vitality in high-end audio?”

JGH: “Vitality? Don't make me laugh. Audio as a hobby is dying, largely by its own hand. As far as the real world is concerned, high-end audio lost its credibility during the 1980s, when it flatly refused to submit to the kind of basic honesty controls (double-blind testing, for example) that had legitimized every other serious scientific endeavor since Pascal. [This refusal] is a source of endless derisive amusement among rational people and of perpetual embarrassment for me, because I am associated by so many people with the mess my disciples made of spreading my gospel. For the record: I never, ever claimed that measurements don't matter. What I said (and very often, at that) was, they don't always tell the whole story. Not quite the same thing.

Remember those loudspeaker shoot-outs we used to have during our annual writer gatherings in Santa Fe? The frequent occasions when various reviewers would repeatedly choose the same loudspeaker as their favorite (or least-favorite) model? That was all the proof needed that [blind] testing does work, aside from the fact that it's (still) the only honest kind. It also suggested that simple ear training, with DBT confirmation, could have built the kind of listening confidence among talented reviewers that might have made a world of difference in the outcome of high-end audio.“

fusian
jonwolfpell
342 posts
 

@tomcy6 . Great album by a great band! Susan is a really good guitarist & a great singer & Derek is probably the best rock / blues guitarist of our time now. 
 

So funny how you described their concert. Not 20 minutes into the show, a fairly young woman ( all relative) in the seat directly in front of me was drinking & passed out & had to be carried off. Additionally, everyone was standing & half dancing the whole show which is fun but at 65, it’s a bit much for over 2 hours straight. It was worth it but thankfully my home system reproduces their music quite faithfully 

jimmyblues1959
115 posts
 

J. Gordon Holt was one of the earliest pioneers of high-end audio.  Having founded Stereophile magazine back in the 1960's, his candor and steadfast intent to improve the quality of home audio systems would become the foundation for the hobby that so many of us enjoy in the modern day.   The Absolute Sound's Harry Pearson followed suit and both TAS and Stereophile would help to define and foster the high-end audio industry in the decades to come.  IMHO, this hobby would not be  where  it is today without Gordon and Harry.  May they both rest in peace.

assetmgrsc
57 posts
 

@pythonboot  touche.  Our younger generations, X,Y,G, whatever don't seem to have much respect for truth.

viber6
2,440 posts
 

Gordon and Harry both emphasized that the supreme goal of a high quality audio system is high fidelity to real sounds in a real space.  Nowadays, the lesser goal of merely what sounds good is pursued.  The latter goal merely relegates such an audio system to a toy, not necessarily devoted to reality.

The other day I was in a subway car in NYC.  Guys came in with unamplified guitar and accordion.  Even in a crowded car, the snap of the strummed guitar strings was instantly apparent.  Almost no audio system of today recreates this live excitement. That's because of lousy recordings drenched in muddy processed effects, warm dynamic speakers and tubed or euphonic SS electronics.

You don't need fancy concert halls to experience this live quality of sound.  People should get exposure to close encounters with the real thing, not audio shows and dealers who promote high priced goods that still don't deliver the excitement of real music.

jon_5912
584 posts
 

Holt's main system had a pair of active ATC 50 towers, the anniversary edition I believe.  I'm pretty sure they were sold here on Audiogon after he died.

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