Hey Larry, I can't believe I just noticed this thread. Let me first say - LSA-1's are awesome! Seriously, they are particularly musical, I don't know how you do it. They are one of the few elements of my systems that I never consider "rotating" out to something else that I pick up on Audiogon.
As for credibility of magazine reviews, as was mentioned earlier Sam Tellig in particular seems to just like certain brands. As a hobbiest I need to learn to calibrate my taste against each reviewer, and I can tell you that when I've tried gear that Sam gushes over, I usually like it but not remotely as much as Sam does. It does leave me puzzled, but that's my calibration FWIW.
The Absolute Sound has historically had a bit more credibility over all than Stereophile, but, I have no idea about demographics, volume of readers, etc.
Some online 'zines have high credibility: Soundstage, EnjoyTheMusic come to mind. Positive Feedback. 6Moons has useful reviews but frankly I have such a hard time navigating that site that I'm not sure of the value to an advertiser. 6Moons is the only place on the entire web where when I try to find what I'm looking for, I usually fail (and all I'm trying to find are the latest equipment reviews!).
IMHO, deciding how to allocate advertising dollars is no easy matter.
As for how the magazines decide what to review, there are certain objective criteria that they usually establish, like, how many dealers carry the goods. There is a subjective component I'm sure. I would guess that you need to have one or more people at a magazine that "champion" your cause.
Thank you for your great work. I hope you totally succeed because I think you've created an outstanding "family sound" for your speaker line.
Art
