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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
clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 

Hey, which of us DOESN'T want our rig to SOUND LIKE THE REAL THING???

pythonboot
5 posts
 

I was done in by time, history, and the most spoiled, destructive generation of irresponsible brats the world has ever seen. (I refer, of course, to the Boomers.)

Perhaps Mr. Holt would reevaluate the above were he with us today.

 

rodman99999
6,125 posts
 

     He's been dead fourteen years and his perspectives trouble you?

     I'd formed/held those same opinions, years before his first article.

                       It was good to finally see them in print.

hickamore
658 posts
 

"Seeking to reproduce the sound of real instruments in a real space . . .  might be possible to achieve with chamber music (string quartets, etc.) but many people listen to jazz and rock."

Given the large listening space @tomcy6, realism should also be approachable with acoustic jazz ensembles -- Ramsey Lewis Trio at the Lighthouse in Hermosa Beach, RLT at Bohemian Caverns, Brubeck at Brandenburg Gate, that sort of thing. Also very spare rock cuts -- "Six Blade Knife" comes to mind. Plus acoustic folk rock (examples are endless). But as for orchestral pieces, rock concerts & such -- agreed, don't try this at home.

kr4's avatar
kr4
3,676 posts
 

Tomcy6 wrote: While seeking to reproduce the sound of real instruments in a real space is an admirable goal, I don’t think it’s practical for most people. If you have a large room, it might be possible to achieve with chamber music (string quartets, etc.) but many people listen to jazz and rock music. Is there anyone who wants to listen to a jazz or rock band performing in their homes?

I do believe (and JGH would agree) that "seeking to reproduce the sound of real instruments in a real space is an admirable goal," Note, this says "real space" and not your space. Multichannel reproduction can achieve a reasonable simulation of that goal to a degree that stereo cannot and recent developments in "immersive audio" advance that in ways that JGH would have appreciated.

 

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