Stereophile Article - Holt telling it like it is.

I would love to see the double-blind test happen- with our stuff in the test to boot.

I understand JGH's comments, but I fully don't agree- there are plenty of manufacturers out there other than myself who still hold to the ideal of an exact reproduction of the original musical event. There are plenty of others who have gone for 'lush' as a byword- even when the music itself is not. I disagree in that I don't see that the entire industry has sold out. Just some, the way it is in any industry...

He did have Sound Labs at one point in the early 90s when I paid him a visit. His home was a mess, cigarette butts and ashtrays everywhere, equipment laying literally everywhere and piles of magazines and newspapers. The sort of thing where you didn't want to sit down anywhere and you kept your hands in your pockets so you don't getanyonyou. Steven Stone was attempting the Sisyphean task of cleaning the place up...

Chadnliz - right on.

Atmashpere, what has his living conditions to do with his point of view? I don't like cigarette smoke either but I wouldn't anull some guy's opinion on how clean he keeps his place.

Einstein was a slob. Many a genius is so fixated on his pursuits that he neglects the details that govern the more anal amongst us. I saw his place on many ocassions and it was as Ralph describes it. He had Soundlab A-3s sitting out in the hall and a SOTA table with Well-Tempered arm out of use against the wall. At the time he was utterly ga-ga over an array of Tannoy speakers in a surround setup. He had hundreds of those large video discs (can't remember what they were called). He used Boulder amplification at that time.
All in all it looked like he was fairly preoccupied with his work. He's a total geek. And he was a gracious host. Certainly you could say he is old-fashioned. And you might well consider him a genius. I really liked the guy.