Stereophile Article - Holt telling it like it is.

I resent the reviews of ultra-expensive equipment; yet thirty years ago I couldn't understand why a publisher would waste paper printing a road test of a Ford or Chevy or Toyota--it was easy enough to go to the dealer and DRIVE IT YOURSELF. So bring on the Astons, Lotus, Porsche, Ferrari, etc.

I wish I had a $ for every time a dealer told me about some piece of equipment that no one would listen until there was a review on it.

"I need to know what it sounds like so that I can decide whether or not it is worth my time to audition it."

I realise that not everyone who is interested in "high-end" thinks that way, but the sad fact is that too many do. The magazines exist for those types, and those types live for the magazines. Between the 2 of them..........well, fill in the blanks to your satisfaction.

My take on their attitude is a bit more cynical. My premiss is that they have to know what it is SUPPOSED to sound like. Whether it does or not is not important. The real matter is that the people who live and die by reviews need to be reassured that they can hear just as well as the next guy.

Yeah, call it insecurity. Call it pack mentality.

When you spend as much time in high-end stores as those of us who build this stuff, hearing the same song-of-the-month, over and over again, in every city that you go to, you will come to the same conclusion.

Dcstep, a audio club recently did and discovered they could not hear any difference between items under test. Interesting comment by them-but what does it say?

I have several DVDA which I claim do produce the effect of a live performance with frightening accuracy. They are TACET DVDA of classical chamber music where each channel of the multichannel program carries (predominantly) one instrument. The performers are in the room with you. The audio quality is first class, but, as Holt suggested, it is the spatial effect that makes it real.

why not acknowledge that electronics and speakers are flawes and attempt to voice one's stereo system consistent with one's sonic preferences ?

Sure....but isn't this akin to throwing in the towel and giving up on the pursuit of an ideal ? Mediocrity...isn't that what Gordon Holt fights against?

...systems voiced to sound nice rather than accurate
...ecstatic reviews for every flavor of sound because surely it will suit someone's tastes, pocket book or aesthetic requirements!

12-02-07: Mrtennis
Why not acknowledge that electronics and speakers are flawed?<<

No more so than some reviewers and their reviews.