J. Gordon Holt: "Who's Right? Accuracy or Musicality?"

Who's Right? Accuracy or Musicality?


I found Who's Right? Accuracy or Musicality accidentally by the late J. Gordon Holt. He makes some interesting points but the question is in the definition of both.

He wrote:

Stereophile for example feels that, at a time in audio history when superb bass and treble and excellent detail are obtainable from many loudspeakers, the most important remaining consideration is freedom from coloration through the middle range (where, after all, the vast majority of musical activity takes place). We have continued to use and to recommend Fulton Musical Industries J speakers because, despite frequent modifications and manifest weaknesses (ie, low-end and and midrange detail easily bettered by some other systems), they offered what we feel to he the best set of performance compromises of any available speaker system. The FMI Js, in other words, while not quite the equal of some others in some respects, are so markedly superior in their reproduction of real musical timbres that they must be considered one of the most accurate reproducers of music around today.

In this respect I agree with him: I tend to like reproduced sound that to me is more "natural" and while I've never heard the Fulton with its huge cone tweeters to agree with his assessment that they're "better" than the A25s, since Holt recorded live music, is well respected, etc. his remarks are worth considering, but just as with the ELACs that I loathed for the mediocre reproduction of voice, I might not like how the Fultons sound in the acoustics of my room (were I to ever hear them and not doing this for a living it's unlikely I ever will and no results show up on Internet searches) all the same.

In his review at this link, he compares the Fultons to the A25s and states why he thinks they're better. He publishes a frequency response curve of both speakers. There is the A25 dip discussed by Pete B. on the Classic Speaker Pages here and an elevation. I don't find my A25s bright; again, the Elac B6 2.0 (whatever) on paper had better stats than the A25, but far less "air", detail, transparency and musical realism to me.

Of course, I've never heard the very highly regarded di-poles IRS V, which weigh over a ton but I'll be discussing a more practical way to enjoy more musical and more realistic sound when one is on a budget, using modern electronics. Purists might not agree. I'd appreciate thoughts on Holt's comments. 

The Classic Speaker pages guys seems like Corvette lovers who talk about and rebuild the hardware, but never drive the cars or discuss how they drive. 





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