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Most Honest Audio Magazine?

I subscribe to Stereophile and I really enjoy reading it but something happened last year that made me raise an eyebrow as to the authenticity of their intentions. Remember the review of the B&W Nautilus 805's? The original reviewer raved about them and rated them "Class A Restricted Low Frequency". Shortly thereafter they demoted the same speaker down to "Class B Restricted Low Frequency". This really hurt the magazine's credibility in my eyes. My first conclusion was that they didn't want to upset the other manufacturers who produced "Class A" products at far higher prices. Shouldn't a trade journal give credit to the truly remarkable products especially when they are produced for relatively decent prices? It's unfortunate that the advertising dollars of the megabuck manufacturers bullied a stellar product into receiving a less than stellar final rating. I'm wondering if this hasn't happened before. I've since heard from some of my audio buddies that corruption does indeed exist in the audio press; everything from reviewers being related to manufacturers to reviewers being offered products for a song (pun intended). Please share your thoughts and experiences when it comes to audio magazines and let me know which ones you'd rate best and worst. Putting together a great system is hard enough without having to sift through the sometimes suspicious advice of those publications who purport to advance the hobby.
canadianguy
kevziek
323 posts
 
In particular, I want to comment on Stereophile. The quality of the magazine has continually declined in the past 5 years, despite John Atkinson's continued claims of neutrality & objectivity. Certainly for those of us into classical music, the decline is disgusting. Notice the swinging door of reviewers on staff? Not to offend anyone's particular musical tastes, but reproducing a live, acoustical symphony orchestra is the most daunting challenge to any piece of equipment, & should be the standard by which to measure sonic accuracy, NOT Nine Inch Nails or some other heavy metal group. Most of these reviewers are laughable & pathetic. Pompous individuals who have proclaimed themselves authorities. And, as has already been stated by others in this thread, how often do you see a negative review of anything? Many of you know what garbage some of what is reviewed really is, or mediocre at best. The best advice is to listen to a wide range of opinions, & hopefully have some dealerships with some honesty -- & the BEST advice I can give you, is: Learn what questions to ask & ask many, & read between the lines of the responses you get. Then go from there. It's not an easy road to find the truth in this hobby.
tml2
234 posts
 
I just read Listener for the first time.Not Bad.Give it a read if you can find it.
garfish
1,840 posts
 
Listener Magazine email address: listener@palmcoastd.com They say $30. for a USA subscription, $40. Canada, but I paid $17.97 on a promotional offer. I like it for $17.97. It's an every other month mag.. So far, they've reviewed quite a bit of "non-mainstream" gear, which I guess is OK as Stereophile and TAS hit the more expensive mainstream stuff. As Stereophile has gone rapidly downhill, my favorite has become TAS though. But IMHO no magazine review should be taken too literally-- the reviews are just a reviewers opinion (and may be influenced by advertising as others have suggested above) of a piece of gear in THEIR system, in THEIR room(s)-- I think most already know this. October was THE month for Audio Magazine's Annual Equipment Guide-- I'm going to miss it:-(. Cheers. Craig
john_l
782 posts
 
I feel that TAS is passing up Stereophile as well. I too have seen SP's quality decline. They still have some excellent reviews, but a few of their reviewers I find pompous, trivial and irritating. J-10 specifically. I also wish that they had a more unified approach to their reviews. It seems like the reviewers don't collaborate on reviews. Maybe they do, but you don't see it in print. On TAS, I am finding a good deal more humility and practicality in their approach. They are hitting the more common price point equipment - the 1000-5000 a piece components the people actually buy. I also like their approach of 'recommended systems' for a given price point OR listening environment. I have found that a good deal of an equipment's quality is determined by the listening environment. A huge room verses a small room. In contrast, Stereophile seems to be hung up on 7 foot tall, 350lb speakers powered by $20,000 amps. Then they rapidly go from that extreme to Yamaha PC speakers. Just to show what good guys they are.
brianmgrarcom
1,317 posts
 
I do not know what makes audio equipment tick, nor do I particularly care, so I don't care for that aspect in the review. Years back I had a two year subscription to Stereophile, I basically looked at the pictures. Their reviews are 55 pages long and in jibberish that makes no sense to me nor that I cared about; I would read the Conclusion sections. About a month ago I picked up a issue of The Absolute Sound, it was the first time I actually enjoyed a Audio magazine. I felt the reviews were short and to the point. I did notice that TAS would mention things they didn't like, S'phile is so political it is sickning, they have always been that way. I recently aquired a issue of S'phile from Jan. '84, they tested three cassette decks, do you think they could come out plainly and pick a winner, not a chance! I wouldn't mind trying a issue of The Listener.
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