My familarity with Stereo Review in the past is (please forgive me for saying this, "sort of the hoody doody" of audio mags with nothing virtually ever getting a bad review and their former Audio Directories very poorly put together. Meaning that not all products covered and what is covered is unbelievably inconsistent in what specs are reported from item to item in each category. The name Sound & Vision does not inspire confidence either. It seems to imply a home theatre bias. And as such will likely be heavily laiden with japanese products that are likely replaced with new japanese products by the time you read it and the old japanese products selling for 1/10 to 1/3 their list just 3 years after purchasing them. I know this seems like extreme statements but it gets a bit tiring looking at built in obsolence "landfill fodder" products. What ever becomes of a 9 year old home theatre processor? Compare that to a the recycling capability of a 9 year old Audio Research Tube Preamp or a Levinson, Krell power amp. This is hardly a trival issue. HT is booming at the same time people are becoming enraged over urban sprawl and space given to landfills and the fact that resources of several types went into the HT components to begin with. This also has an effect on what parts will be keep in inventory to repair old HT equipment (probably less and less). So everyone will likely have to trash nearly all of the lower end stuff when it breaks and much of the higher end stuff. This side note is of particular relevance to me since I had worked in the Superfund, Solid Waste, and RCRA industry for about 13 years. Hopefully the Sound and Vision Directory is great and I will pick one up before I complete my judgements on it. Have fun!
