Julian Hirsch, 81; Leading Reviewer of Electronic Sound Gear

Julian Hirsch, 81, an electrical engineer who became an influential reviewer of electronic sound equipment for Stereo Review, died of undisclosed causes Nov. 24 in New York City.

From the 1950s until his retirement in 1998, Hirsch conducted measurements and wrote about 4,000 lab test reports for various publications. More than half of Hirsch’s reports appeared in his monthly “Technical Talk” column in Stereo Review, which was called Hi-Fi/Stereo Review when the column was launched in 1961. (Stereo Review merged into Sound & Vision after Hirsch’s retirement.)

Hirsch, who served in the Army Signal Corps during World War II, worked in the electronics industry on laboratory instruments for spectrum analysis after the war. He became a high-fidelity buff, and he and some engineering friends began testing new electronic sound equipment in the early 1950s. They circulated their results in Audio League Report, a newsletter that eventually had 4,000 subscribers.

In 1957, Hirsch and colleague Gladden Houck quit the Audio League Report and formed Hirsch-Houck Laboratories to test stereo components.