J. Gordon Holt
Encyclopedia
Justin Gordon Holt was an audio engineer and the founder of Stereophile
magazine, and is widely considered to be the founder of the high-end audio
movement, which promoted the philosophy of judging sound quality by subjective tests, generally with "cost no object" sound components, including loudspeakers, turntables
, amplifiers, vacuum tube
components, cables, and other devices. Known as "JGH" (from his byline in published reviews and articles), Holt established a reputation for veracity, often-controversial opinions, passionate critiques, and journalistic integrity. He also pioneered the concept of the yearly "Recommended Components" list, providing a thumbnail summary of reviews for audiophiles looking for the finest sound components available at any price. Holt also came up with "Holt's Law," the theory that the better the recording, the worse the musical performance—and vice-versa.
, and adopted when he was two years of age by Justin Gordon Holt (Sr.) and his wife Katherine (née Hart). His biological parents are unknown, as the records of his birth and adoption were lost in a fire. The only thing he was ever told about his biological parents was that they were "Irish musicians." His family moved to Melbourne, Australia in 1937 for his father's work, and stayed there through World War II, returning to the U.S. in 1945 after his father's sudden death from a stroke. J. Gordon Holt's father bore such a striking resemblance to famed gangster Al Capone
that he was stopped and questioned by a customs official. During his years in Australia his mother worked as the head of the USO for the Australian Red Cross
, and his father worked for a textile company.
Gordon attended Nether Providence High School
in Wallingford, Pennsylvania
, and attended Lehigh University
with the intent of becoming an engineer. After discovering he "couldn't hack the math," Gordon switched his major to Journalism. He graduated in 1953 with a BA. He spent a few years struggling as a cartoonist, and writing the occasional article for High Fidelity magazine, which later offered him a position.
. Their first child, Alicia Darroch Holt, was born on January 21, 1970. Their second child, Justin Charles Holt, was born on April 18, 1972. The Holt family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico
in 1979, after taking a trip and falling in love with the area. Mary and Gordon underwent a separation in 1983, with Mary and their children moving to Boulder, Colorado
and Gordon remaining in Santa Fe. Mary was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 1989, and died on March 20, 1990. During this time, Gordon moved to Boulder to care for her and their children, and spent the rest of his life there.
magazines in the mid-1950s through the early 1960s, and wrote numerous articles and reviews on amplifier
s, receivers
, turntables
, tape recorder
s, and other high-fidelity sound components. After departing the magazine over editorial differences—what he later claimed were disputes between High Fidelitys editorial and advertising staff—Holt founded Stereophile magazine in 1962 while living in Great Barrington, Massachusetts
. The magazine quickly established a market over the next decade, expanding from a small pamphlet-sized, hand-typed booklet to issues approaching a hundred pages. Holt was one of the first audio critics to provide in-depth details on his listening environment, with details on room acoustics
, microphones, and other technical matters, departing from the mass-market slant to competitors such as Stereo Review
, Audio Magazine
, and his alma mater High Fidelity
.
Holt's engaging writing style and emphasis on audio engineering made his articles authoritative while still remaining accessible to consumers and audiophiles. "JGH" (as he referred to himself in print) was often skeptical of wildly-successful audio components such as Bose
speakers, and often created controversy with passionate reviews and articles on a variety of technical subjects. The high-end audio movement exploded during the 1970s, with manufacturers such as Audio Research, Magnepan
, Krell, Infinity, and many others finding great success among well-heeled customers during the decade. After a move to Sante Fe, New Mexico, where Holt constructed an elaborate listening and audio testing room in his home, he spent the decade covering such cutting-edge developments as Dynagroove
, Quadraphonic
sound, magnetic tape
formats, and digital sound, and also reviewed hundreds of audio components. Holt also developed a vocabulary to describe subtle differences between audio components, using terms like "warm" or "harsh" to describe different characters and tonalities. (Holt later wrote "The Audio Glossary", which clarified and defined many of these terms for the benefit of audiophiles and enthusiasts.)
By the late 1970s, Stereophiles own success led to business difficulties, chiefly in getting the magazine distributed on on a regular schedule, which created a myriad of financial problems. Holt sold the magazine to businessman Larry Archibald in 1982 for $5,000 (paid in fifty $100 bills), who expanded the magazine, hired a large staff, and eventually increased Stereophile's circulation to 60,000 readers by the late 1980s. The magazine was sold to Petersen Publishing in June 1998.
The success of Stereophile in the late 1960s and early 1970s inspired New York writer & critic Harry Pearson
to start a rival publication, The Absolute Sound
, which quickly became a very influential high-end magazine. TAS (as it was called) embraced the so-called "subjective audio" philosophy, which placed an emphasis on the sound of components as a system, eschewing the technical measurements used by Stereo Review
and other mass-market magazines. Absolute Sound and Stereophile were arguably the Time Magazine and Newsweek of the high-end audio industries throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and both thrived on highly-critical reviews, editorials, and articles which tended to polarize readers and advertisers.
Holt tried to start a new publication in the late 1980s, LaserNews, a newsletter intended to cover the emerging home video
industry of VCRs, laserdisc
players, and large-screen television technology
. He was unable to interest the Stereophile management in video-related topics, and kept the magazine going until about 1990, where he folded it due to ongoing business and distribution problems. Ironically, Stereophile belatedly started a video-related magazine in 1994, Stereophile Guide to Home Theater, which continues on-line as Ultimate A/V.'.
Holt occasionally wrote reviews for both Stereophile and Absolute Sound in the 1990s, and was a frequent visitor to the annual Consumer Electronic Shows throughout the decade. Holt frequently expressed bitterness that the high-end audio business refused to embrace double blind testing, which he was convinced would legitimize the scientific process of evaluating sound quality. Holt resigned from Stereophile
in 1999 to pursue freelance writing, but remained an active participant in the Audio Engineering Society
and other industry organizations.
Stereophile
Stereophile is a monthly magazine that focuses on high end audio equipment, such as loudspeakers and amplifiers, and audio-related news, such as online audio streaming. It was founded in 1962 by J. Gordon Holt....
magazine, and is widely considered to be the founder of the high-end audio
High-end audio
High-end audio is a term used to describe a class of consumer home audio equipment marketed to audio enthusiasts on the basis of high price or quality, and esoteric or novel sound reproduction technologies. High-end audio can refer simply to the price, to the build quality of the components, or to...
movement, which promoted the philosophy of judging sound quality by subjective tests, generally with "cost no object" sound components, including loudspeakers, turntables
Turntablism
Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
, amplifiers, vacuum tube
Vacuum tube
In electronics, a vacuum tube, electron tube , or thermionic valve , reduced to simply "tube" or "valve" in everyday parlance, is a device that relies on the flow of electric current through a vacuum...
components, cables, and other devices. Known as "JGH" (from his byline in published reviews and articles), Holt established a reputation for veracity, often-controversial opinions, passionate critiques, and journalistic integrity. He also pioneered the concept of the yearly "Recommended Components" list, providing a thumbnail summary of reviews for audiophiles looking for the finest sound components available at any price. Holt also came up with "Holt's Law," the theory that the better the recording, the worse the musical performance—and vice-versa.
Early years
Justin Gordon Holt was born on April 19, 1930 in Charlotte, North CarolinaCharlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
, and adopted when he was two years of age by Justin Gordon Holt (Sr.) and his wife Katherine (née Hart). His biological parents are unknown, as the records of his birth and adoption were lost in a fire. The only thing he was ever told about his biological parents was that they were "Irish musicians." His family moved to Melbourne, Australia in 1937 for his father's work, and stayed there through World War II, returning to the U.S. in 1945 after his father's sudden death from a stroke. J. Gordon Holt's father bore such a striking resemblance to famed gangster Al Capone
Al Capone
Alphonse Gabriel "Al" Capone was an American gangster who led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate. The Chicago Outfit, which subsequently became known as the "Capones", was dedicated to smuggling and bootlegging liquor, and other illegal activities such as prostitution, in Chicago from the early...
that he was stopped and questioned by a customs official. During his years in Australia his mother worked as the head of the USO for the Australian Red Cross
Australian Red Cross
The Australian Red Cross is one of the many national Red Cross societies around the world. The Australian organisation was established in 1914, nine days after the commencement of World War I, by Karen Tenenbaum, when she formed a branch of the British Red Cross.the organisation grew at a rapid rate...
, and his father worked for a textile company.
Gordon attended Nether Providence High School
Nether Providence High School
Nether Providence High School was a four-year public high school in Wallingford, Pennsylvania serving the Township of Nether Providence and the Boroughs of Rose Valley, South Media, Garden City, and sections of Morton. The school became Strath Haven High School when it merged with Swarthmore High...
in Wallingford, Pennsylvania
Wallingford, Pennsylvania
Wallingford is an unincorporated community in Nether Providence Township, Delaware County in Pennsylvania, USA. Founded in 1687, it is named for Wallingford, England...
, and attended Lehigh University
Lehigh University
Lehigh University is a private, co-educational university located in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the United States. It was established in 1865 by Asa Packer as a four-year technical school, but has grown to include studies in a wide variety of disciplines...
with the intent of becoming an engineer. After discovering he "couldn't hack the math," Gordon switched his major to Journalism. He graduated in 1953 with a BA. He spent a few years struggling as a cartoonist, and writing the occasional article for High Fidelity magazine, which later offered him a position.
Family
Gordon married Mary Elizabeth Norton on May 25, 1968, in Swarthmore, PennsylvaniaSwarthmore, Pennsylvania
Swarthmore is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Swarthmore was originally named Westdale in honor of noted painter Benjamin West, who was one of the early residents of the town. The name was changed to Swarthmore after the establishment of Swarthmore College...
. Their first child, Alicia Darroch Holt, was born on January 21, 1970. Their second child, Justin Charles Holt, was born on April 18, 1972. The Holt family moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. It is the fourth-largest city in the state and is the seat of . Santa Fe had a population of 67,947 in the 2010 census...
in 1979, after taking a trip and falling in love with the area. Mary and Gordon underwent a separation in 1983, with Mary and their children moving to Boulder, Colorado
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is the county seat and most populous city of Boulder County and the 11th most populous city in the U.S. state of Colorado. Boulder is located at the base of the foothills of the Rocky Mountains at an elevation of...
and Gordon remaining in Santa Fe. Mary was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 1989, and died on March 20, 1990. During this time, Gordon moved to Boulder to care for her and their children, and spent the rest of his life there.
Stereophile magazine
Holt worked as an editor and critic for Audiocraft and High FidelityHigh fidelity
High fidelity—or hi-fi—reproduction is a term used by home stereo listeners and home audio enthusiasts to refer to high-quality reproduction of sound or images, to distinguish it from the poorer quality sound produced by inexpensive audio equipment...
magazines in the mid-1950s through the early 1960s, and wrote numerous articles and reviews on amplifier
Amplifier
Generally, an amplifier or simply amp, is a device for increasing the power of a signal.In popular use, the term usually describes an electronic amplifier, in which the input "signal" is usually a voltage or a current. In audio applications, amplifiers drive the loudspeakers used in PA systems to...
s, receivers
AV receiver
AV receivers or audio-video receivers are one of the many consumer electronics components typically found within a home theatre system. Their primary purpose is to amplify sound from a multitude of possible audio sources as well as route video signals to your TV from various sources. The user may...
, turntables
Turntablism
Turntablism is the art of manipulating sounds and creating music using phonograph turntables and a DJ mixer.The word 'turntablist' was coined in 1995 by DJ Babu to describe the difference between a DJ who just plays records, and one who performs by touching and moving the records, stylus and mixer...
, tape recorder
Tape recorder
An audio tape recorder, tape deck, reel-to-reel tape deck, cassette deck or tape machine is an audio storage device that records and plays back sounds, including articulated voices, usually using magnetic tape, either wound on a reel or in a cassette, for storage...
s, and other high-fidelity sound components. After departing the magazine over editorial differences—what he later claimed were disputes between High Fidelitys editorial and advertising staff—Holt founded Stereophile magazine in 1962 while living in Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
Great Barrington is a town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,104 at the 2010 census. Both a summer resort and home to Ski Butternut, Great Barrington includes the villages of Van...
. The magazine quickly established a market over the next decade, expanding from a small pamphlet-sized, hand-typed booklet to issues approaching a hundred pages. Holt was one of the first audio critics to provide in-depth details on his listening environment, with details on room acoustics
Acoustics
Acoustics is the interdisciplinary science that deals with the study of all mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids including vibration, sound, ultrasound and infrasound. A scientist who works in the field of acoustics is an acoustician while someone working in the field of acoustics...
, microphones, and other technical matters, departing from the mass-market slant to competitors such as Stereo Review
Stereo Review
Stereo Review was an American magazine first published in 1958 by Ziff-Davis with the title HiFi and Music Review. It was one of a handful of magazines then available for the individual interested in high fidelity. Throughout its life it published a blend of record and equipment reviews, articles...
, Audio Magazine
Audio magazine
Audio magazine may refer to:* Audio , an American magazine about audio developments and products* A regularly published series of podcasts obtained by subscription...
, and his alma mater High Fidelity
High fidelity
High fidelity—or hi-fi—reproduction is a term used by home stereo listeners and home audio enthusiasts to refer to high-quality reproduction of sound or images, to distinguish it from the poorer quality sound produced by inexpensive audio equipment...
.
Holt's engaging writing style and emphasis on audio engineering made his articles authoritative while still remaining accessible to consumers and audiophiles. "JGH" (as he referred to himself in print) was often skeptical of wildly-successful audio components such as Bose
Bose
Bose may refer to:* Amar Gopal Bose, the chairman and founder of Bose Corporation* Baise City, or Bose, a prefecture-level city in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China* Bose Corporation, an audio company* Bose , a lunar crater...
speakers, and often created controversy with passionate reviews and articles on a variety of technical subjects. The high-end audio movement exploded during the 1970s, with manufacturers such as Audio Research, Magnepan
Magnepan
Magnepan is a private high end audio loudspeaker manufacturer in White Bear Lake, Minnesota, USA. Their loudspeaker technology was conceived and implemented by engineer Jim Winey in 1969....
, Krell, Infinity, and many others finding great success among well-heeled customers during the decade. After a move to Sante Fe, New Mexico, where Holt constructed an elaborate listening and audio testing room in his home, he spent the decade covering such cutting-edge developments as Dynagroove
Dynagroove
Dynagroove is a recording process introduced in 1963 exclusive to RCA Victor that, for the first time, used computers to modify the audio signal fed to the recording stylus of a phonograph record to make the groove shape conform to the tracing requirements of the playback stylus...
, Quadraphonic
Quadraphonic
Quadraphonic sound – the most widely used early term for what is now called 4.0 surround sound – uses four channels in which speakers are positioned at the four corners of the listening space, reproducing signals that are independent of one another...
sound, magnetic tape
Magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic recording, made of a thin magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic. It was developed in Germany, based on magnetic wire recording. Devices that record and play back audio and video using magnetic tape are tape recorders and video tape recorders...
formats, and digital sound, and also reviewed hundreds of audio components. Holt also developed a vocabulary to describe subtle differences between audio components, using terms like "warm" or "harsh" to describe different characters and tonalities. (Holt later wrote "The Audio Glossary", which clarified and defined many of these terms for the benefit of audiophiles and enthusiasts.)
By the late 1970s, Stereophiles own success led to business difficulties, chiefly in getting the magazine distributed on on a regular schedule, which created a myriad of financial problems. Holt sold the magazine to businessman Larry Archibald in 1982 for $5,000 (paid in fifty $100 bills), who expanded the magazine, hired a large staff, and eventually increased Stereophile's circulation to 60,000 readers by the late 1980s. The magazine was sold to Petersen Publishing in June 1998.
The success of Stereophile in the late 1960s and early 1970s inspired New York writer & critic Harry Pearson
Harry Pearson
Harry Eyre Pearson was an English first-class cricketer, who played four matches for Yorkshire County Cricket Club between 1878 and 1880....
to start a rival publication, The Absolute Sound
The Absolute Sound
The Absolute Sound is an American monthly magazine which reviews audiophile-oriented sound-reproduction and recording equipment and recordings, and comments on various music-related subjects. It was founded in 1973 by Harry Pearson, who was the Editor in Chief...
, which quickly became a very influential high-end magazine. TAS (as it was called) embraced the so-called "subjective audio" philosophy, which placed an emphasis on the sound of components as a system, eschewing the technical measurements used by Stereo Review
Stereo Review
Stereo Review was an American magazine first published in 1958 by Ziff-Davis with the title HiFi and Music Review. It was one of a handful of magazines then available for the individual interested in high fidelity. Throughout its life it published a blend of record and equipment reviews, articles...
and other mass-market magazines. Absolute Sound and Stereophile were arguably the Time Magazine and Newsweek of the high-end audio industries throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and both thrived on highly-critical reviews, editorials, and articles which tended to polarize readers and advertisers.
Holt tried to start a new publication in the late 1980s, LaserNews, a newsletter intended to cover the emerging home video
Home video
Home video is a blanket term used for pre-recorded media that is either sold or rented/hired for home cinema entertainment. The term originates from the VHS/Betamax era but has carried over into current optical disc formats like DVD and Blu-ray Disc and, to a lesser extent, into methods of digital...
industry of VCRs, laserdisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
players, and large-screen television technology
Large-screen television technology
Large-screen television technology developed rapidly in the late 1990s and 2000s. Various thin screen technologies are being developed, but only the liquid crystal display , plasma display and Digital Light Processing were released on the public market...
. He was unable to interest the Stereophile management in video-related topics, and kept the magazine going until about 1990, where he folded it due to ongoing business and distribution problems. Ironically, Stereophile belatedly started a video-related magazine in 1994, Stereophile Guide to Home Theater, which continues on-line as Ultimate A/V.'.
Holt occasionally wrote reviews for both Stereophile and Absolute Sound in the 1990s, and was a frequent visitor to the annual Consumer Electronic Shows throughout the decade. Holt frequently expressed bitterness that the high-end audio business refused to embrace double blind testing, which he was convinced would legitimize the scientific process of evaluating sound quality. Holt resigned from Stereophile
Stereophile
Stereophile is a monthly magazine that focuses on high end audio equipment, such as loudspeakers and amplifiers, and audio-related news, such as online audio streaming. It was founded in 1962 by J. Gordon Holt....
in 1999 to pursue freelance writing, but remained an active participant in the Audio Engineering Society
Audio Engineering Society
Established in 1948, the Audio Engineering Society draws its membership from amongst engineers, scientists, other individuals with an interest or involvement in the professional audio industry. The membership largely comprises engineers developing devices or products for audio, and persons working...
and other industry organizations.