stereo review magazine

I do miss the annual “Directory”.

I was a subscriber of SR in the ’60s and early ’70s. Julian Hirsch, whose column was featured in every issue, did a great disservice to the budding audiophile community of the ’60s by repeatedly promoting solid state amplification over vacuum tube electronics because the latter measured better. We know those measurements were largely meaningless. He downplayed the importance of cabling which we know to be false and he frequently repeated the mantra that amplifiers that measure the same sound the same.

I cannot think of any contribution he made to the audiophile community which in retrospect, has withstood the test of time.

The question I have in retrospect is, did he ever really listen to music or did he just sit behind his bench and make measurements. I think the latter.

What is IAR?

It was about 1960 when I first saw and listened to a hi fi system (yes, it was mono) that a friends father had put together. I was 12 years old and I was hooked, so the next time I passed by a news stand I spotted HiFi Review, spent my hard earned pennies and took it home. Picked it up every month from then on, and continued when it became HiFi/Stereo Review and finally Stereo Review.

A good introduction to a life long pastime, but time and experience have both enlightened me. I've heard that Julian Hirsch was a really nice guy, but in the context of Mr. Hirsch's work at the magazine he was a hack. I vividly remember being conned by his review of the Acoustic Research "The Amp". I was so impressed by this review that I went out and bought one. I was very young and did not listen to the wise advice from others and purchased it without being able to take it home and listen to it in the environment in which it would be used. BIG MISTAKE. This thing was horrible! Thank goodness I kept the Fisher 500 that it was going to replace. I tried "The Amp" for about two weeks before selling it at a loss.

Julian Hirsch must have been tone deaf at the least. I really don't want to speak ill of the dead - they're not around to defend themselves - but I'd  like to know if it was Stereo Review or Consumer Reports who was sued by Bose. I seem to remember reading Hirsch's review of the 901 in SR and it didn't seem that bad - certainly not bad enough to trigger a lawsuit. But then again, I'm 75 yrs. old and my memory might not be as good as it once was.

Ah Stereo Review. Prior to that my only access to available Hi-Fi was Telefunken radio and the Lafayette radio catalogs. The year I purchased my first "Audiophile type" system in 1973 I was in Lafayette Electronics main store in Syosset NY. I had saved up for two years and was purchasing the upgraded version of what my friend had.  His was no longer available. The turntable I purchased (DUAL 1229) was instead of The Garrard 40A. The salesperson upsold me from a 40B. "You will see the DUAL in Stereo Review" said the salesman . He even gave me a copy to take with me.
Just like music History it reflected the time in which it was written. It was a good introduction.