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Feedback/Ideas for New Magazine?

Hi Guys,

In perusing the forums here at A-gon it is very apparent to me that many of you do not trust commercial magazines and reviewers. Obviously, with any magazine the derives its income mainly from commercial advertising, questions always arise regarding reviewer bias and the mag's political slant. I constantly see the question, "Why are there no negative reviews?"

Having been a reviewer for 4 magazines, I know the insider's perspective of why there are very few negative reviews published. In life, it is true that you get what you pay for, and since many of the e-zines are free and the print mags are very inexpensive because they pack in lots of advertising dollars to cover their costs, this maxim holds true.

More and more lately, I've been leaning toward starting my own audio magazine, which would allow me the freedom to be unusually candid and truthful about the topics and review gear the magazine covers.

My question, is: "Would you be willing support a magazine that is mainly funded by subscriptions if you had to pay a minimal yearly fee for it?" Please be honest, because as much as I'd love to start a venture like this, there's no point in doing it if there won't be a market for it. I'm speaking of an online publication to begin with; print would come much later, if at all.

Let me know what you think, and feel free to e-mail me privately if you prefer.

Thank You!
plato
plato OP
1,543 posts
 
Hi Sean,

I appreciate your comments and encouragement. In my opinion, you are one of the most well-liked, respected, and valuable contributors to this forum, and it would be an honor to have you as one of my subscribers. And no, I have no afiliation with Attainable Audio.

Slappy, it's possible that the mag could devote space to small operations that have promising, and possibly cutting-edge products to offer -- but there would be no favoritism involved, i.e., their products would be held to the same standards and scrutiny as all the other products we review. But, if they think they have something special and want to submit it for review, I'd certainly be open to covering it.

Frank :)
barrelchief
294 posts
 
Review equip from ALL price ranges.

Review accessories such as speaker switch controlers, so if someone really needs to utilize this type of equipment, they are armed with some opinion to hopefully chose the best performer for the dollar.

The one thing that I would like to see most is a review of factory upgrades. Many manufacturers offer equiment upgrades "MK II." On a regular basis, I would like to see an a/b comparrison of the original version to that which was upgraded...is the upgrade a good value or is it time to consider a new component overall??? At one point within the past year, my front end, pre amp and power amp all were capable of a manufacturer's upgrade to the newest version. If I had $1000 to spend on an upgrade and this was the average price for each of the individual upgrades, how would I know which one of these upgrades would give the largest return on my upgrade investment?

Just my thoughts.
clueless
763 posts
 
Hi Plato:

Are you considering the classic hardcopy magazine or an online magazine?

There are staggering costs associated with hardcopy and it makes going w/o advertising very difficult. A number of small specialty mags have bit the dust and those left standing have moved on to video and HT. IMHO, there are powerful $$$ reasons for this.

I suggest (if you have not already) you talk to an editor like Ed Dell of AudioXpress (I remember a lead editorial about a year ago bemoaning the lack of advertising and the implications for his mag) or Dave Robinson/Dave Clark of Positive Feedback (now online) about it.

Cheers and Good Luck
I remain,
nathanu's avatar
nathanu
93 posts
 
I would like to see reviews of equipment at all price levels. I would find it especially interesting to read a review which compares a lower priced piece to a higher priced piece to determine whether the lower priced piece is a good value. For example, a buyer may decide to pay half the cost of a higher priced piece for 95% of the sound. I would also like to see far more direct comparisons of equipment. The mainstream magazines fail miserably in this regard. I would also like to see articles on the business of audio -- which companies are stable and doing well? Which companies may be in trouble. This is not for purposes of gossip or idle curiousity; the stability of a company is critical to a buyer who needs to depend on service. A company's stability also is important for maintaining the value of a product. For better or worse, the secondary market is a fact, as demonstrated by the success of audiogon. This too would make for an interesting article -- how the secondary market drives retail pricing. Finally, I would like to see reviews of direct-marketed products like Ridge Street, Pure Note, Axiom, etc.

In an ideal world, I would like to see a print magazine with glossy photos, backed up by an on-line archive for subscribers to the print magazine.

Thanks for your efforts.
picasso_04901
12 posts
 
Count me in as a subscriber if you hold true to your origins. But why not just form the largest audio club in the world using A'Goners as the startup? Any manufacturer who wants to sell to us would have to consider us as a major reviewer. Any member interested in reviewing has the chance to do so when his/her name surfaces to the top of the reviewer's list. You can see where this is going, so I need not say more but this is certainly attainable. We could set this up a lot like computer user groups in this country use their clubs for reviewing hardware and software.
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