Julian Hirsch (1922 - November 24, 2003) was an electrical engineer and audio critic.

Life and early career

Hirsch discovered amateur radio at the age of 14 and was soon building his own equipment. He received a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Electrical Engineering from

The Cooper Union The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (Cooper Union) is a private college at Cooper Square in New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in ...

in 1943 and served in the

Army Signal Corps The United States Army Signal Corps (USASC) is a branch of the United States Army that creates and manages communications and information systems for the command and control of combined arms forces. It was established in 1860, the brainchild of Ma ...

during World War II. In 1954, Hirsch and several other engineers started testing commercial audio components to see how well they met their performance claims, and they began a subscription-based newsletter, the ''Audio League Report'', where they published the results.

Hirsch-Houck Laboratories

In 1957, Hirsch and Gladden Houck, who also worked on the ''Audio League Report'', formed Hirsch-Houck Laboratories, where they continued testing audio equipment such as turntables, receivers, and speakers, and sold the data to various publications. In 1960, Ziff-Davis Publishing bought out Gladden Houck and Hirsch began providing test data exclusively for its publications, although the lab continued to be called Hirsch-Houck Laboratories. Hirsch first tested gear for '' Popular Electronics'', then, in October 1961, for ''Hi-Fi/Stereo Review'', which was later renamed ''

Stereo Review ''Sound & Vision'' is an American magazine, purchased by AVTech Media Ltd. (UK) in March 2018, covering home theater, audio, video and multimedia consumer products. Before 2000, it had been published for most of its history as ''Stereo Review''. ...

''. He also began writing the monthly column "Technical Talk." Hirsch estimated that he wrote about 4,000 laboratory test reports for various publications, 2,400 of those at ''

'', by the time he retired in 1998. He remained an editor-at-large for ''

'', which merged with ''Video'' magazine, and in 2000 was renamed '' Sound & Vision''.

Legacy

Hirsch helped draft the Institute of High Fidelity standards that made it easier for consumers to compare audio equipment. Bob Ankosko, an editor-in-chief at '' Sound & Vision'', said "Julian Hirsch was one of the most influential writers ever in consumer electronics."Audioholics Tribute to Julian Hirsch
/ref> Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., publisher of '' Sound & Vision'', established the Julian Hirsch Scholarship Fund at his alma mater, the School of Engineering of The Cooper Union.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hirsch, Julian 1922 births 2003 deaths American electrical engineers United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army soldiers 20th-century American engineers