Honoring the past and remembering where I came from and how much I have learned
- Thread starter Elliot G.
- Start date
Oh. That is on the back cover of the issue, taken by HP, but he just refers to them as "some of the family and friends." I cannot offer more info.
Bummer was hoping it was one of those pictures where everyone is now famous in the industry.
Just because I don't recognize what they looked like in 1980 does not mean that they ain't famous now.
Thx Kal, that was a cool "romantic" read. I just didn't know that you designed a romantic speaker some while ago, now I know. 
Myself, Dennis Mangarela ( not sure if I spelled it correctly forgive me if I didn't), Carol McKenna ( seated) Rob Sabin ( front standing). I remember the other two people but I have forgotten thier names sadly. I think the other woman is Lori who worked in the office at the time.
Harry was a lot of things and very difficult is an understatement but he was not a BS artist. When it came to music and sound he called it the way he saw it. I am sure there are those that didn't agree or saw it differently. I was there, I heard all of the gear and the systems in his rooms and I followed the progression. He was a mentor, he taught me and others an awful lot about the sound and the music. He influenced all the designers of his era PERIOD!
Winey, Dahlquist, Nudel, Sequerra, Johnson etc.etc.etc.
You may not have liked him and that is certainly a choice I could understand but to denigrate his memory I personally find disrespectful and insulting. He taught he entire Industry a vocabulary and changed the landscape for those who followed.
Rest in Peace HP
Harry was a lot of things and very difficult is an understatement but he was not a BS artist. When it came to music and sound he called it the way he saw it. I am sure there are those that didn't agree or saw it differently. I was there, I heard all of the gear and the systems in his rooms and I followed the progression. He was a mentor, he taught me and others an awful lot about the sound and the music. He influenced all the designers of his era PERIOD!
Winey, Dahlquist, Nudel, Sequerra, Johnson etc.etc.etc.
You may not have liked him and that is certainly a choice I could understand but to denigrate his memory I personally find disrespectful and insulting. He taught he entire Industry a vocabulary and changed the landscape for those who followed.
Rest in Peace HP
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I realize he was a false idol to some I have a different view of him and his so called teachings, let's leave it at that.
david
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I get it you didn't like him, that's your choice and I have no issue with that. I do however have an issue with the words you used . HP is not here to defend himself and using terms like a Bullshit Artist and a false idol are really inflammation and not appropriate. He was my friend and I disagree with your opinion and I know that there are many that would vehemently disagree with your words as well. "the worst thing to ever happen to this industry?" certainly sounds like sour grapes to me!
I said the same when he was alive too my position hasn't changed. I would have left it alone if the title was honoring your past or your friend but it's "our" past so you're inviting comments.
No sour grapes never had any business or financial entanglement with him my thoughts are based on the content of his writings, personal interaction ie his character and Sea Cliff visits, you're welcome to disagree as are others but please don't make it about me.
david
I realize I am old and that the picture on the back of that issue #20 was from 1980. I was around from the beginning of the magazine and before back to Stereo Review and High Fidelity . I think that today many don't have a historical perspective from which sites like this sprung. The Absolute Sound , Harry Pearson, Stereophile, J. Gordon Holt were started to counteract the press at the time that only wanted to promote and discuss audio from measurements. These measurements were the basis of the "reviews" and these magazines were merely advertising vehicles for the purpose of making money. This in itself is not offensive but too say that there were no audible differences ,which was the theme at the time or one could not hear these differences IMO was.
Mr. Pearson and Mr. Holt took a very different route and started the discussions about what the gear did and how it sounded. Harry always spoke highly about Mr. Holt. I can't speak about the Holt era but I was present and active through the early times of the Absolute Sound as this was also the time I got seriously into the Audio Industry. Harry's magazines were highly anticipated and devoured by the readers. His thoughts and comments by him and his writers were repeated and discussed throughout the Industry. Harry started a journey and took his readers along with him. It was winding and got sidetracked and many times never really reached a conclusion however he was learning and discovering as he went along. The High End Industry was blossoming and in the early days there were truly only a handful of products from a relatively small group of manufacturers. Like the E.F. Hutton commercials( only the old guys will know this reference) when HP spoke people listened. There were a small group of High End dealers around the country that catered to this growing market and I was fortunate enough to grow up in the NYC area where a significant part of the action occurred.
Harry gave us the language by which we describe products today. No one was perfect and no one ever accused HP of being that either, For those without the history I would highly recommend going back and reading those first 30-50 issues of the magazines and see where this all grew out of. We are living in a wonderful time for great sounding systems but to understand how that happened one would be greatly served by knowing the past and the path.
The products extolled today stand on the backs of those who came before. You might be surprised at where companies like Wilson came from and how they began.
Companies like ARC, Dahlquist, Quad, Magnepan, Linn Sondek, Fulton, Mark Levinson along with HP stated something we all enjoy today.
My purpose for starting this thread was just nostalgia after finding my old TAS collection however I think now that it is more important than I realized.
The internet has birthed generations of anonymous "experts", "critics" and "know it alls" in every field where facts are never considered and history is something never learned.
I for one miss the days of respect and the healthy interchange of ideas based on experience and learning.
Mr. Pearson and Mr. Holt took a very different route and started the discussions about what the gear did and how it sounded. Harry always spoke highly about Mr. Holt. I can't speak about the Holt era but I was present and active through the early times of the Absolute Sound as this was also the time I got seriously into the Audio Industry. Harry's magazines were highly anticipated and devoured by the readers. His thoughts and comments by him and his writers were repeated and discussed throughout the Industry. Harry started a journey and took his readers along with him. It was winding and got sidetracked and many times never really reached a conclusion however he was learning and discovering as he went along. The High End Industry was blossoming and in the early days there were truly only a handful of products from a relatively small group of manufacturers. Like the E.F. Hutton commercials( only the old guys will know this reference) when HP spoke people listened. There were a small group of High End dealers around the country that catered to this growing market and I was fortunate enough to grow up in the NYC area where a significant part of the action occurred.
Harry gave us the language by which we describe products today. No one was perfect and no one ever accused HP of being that either, For those without the history I would highly recommend going back and reading those first 30-50 issues of the magazines and see where this all grew out of. We are living in a wonderful time for great sounding systems but to understand how that happened one would be greatly served by knowing the past and the path.
The products extolled today stand on the backs of those who came before. You might be surprised at where companies like Wilson came from and how they began.
Companies like ARC, Dahlquist, Quad, Magnepan, Linn Sondek, Fulton, Mark Levinson along with HP stated something we all enjoy today.
My purpose for starting this thread was just nostalgia after finding my old TAS collection however I think now that it is more important than I realized.
The internet has birthed generations of anonymous "experts", "critics" and "know it alls" in every field where facts are never considered and history is something never learned.
I for one miss the days of respect and the healthy interchange of ideas based on experience and learning.
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