Recommended components on Stereophile Magazine.

There was a time, long ago, when Stereophile's short RC's was a fairly reliable guide. Then they went corporate. IMHO, now it's close to useless, if not worse.

1) I'd probably buy the $3K Class A rated component.

2) Absolutely NOT!!!!

3) See 1).

Cheers,
John

1/ no & no

2/ no

3/ no

Stereophile's attempt at impartiality is demonstrated each and every time by John Atkinson vs whatever reviewer has their thesaurus out that week. After their component reviews filled with superlatives (that sometimes resemble a wine review), Atkinson closes the review with his measurement numbers and often finishes with something like this, "I don't know what reviewer X was hearing, but.."

Reading Stereophile isn't convincing. Nothing except crappy success stories from the reviewers without any scientific facts.
1)no
2)no
3)no again

Stereophile's recommended components pages are very interesting to read but I would never purchase any of the recommended products unless I heard it in my system. Their reviewers make for interesting reading but it is my system, my money and my judgement that counts in purchasing a product. I use Stereophile to help alert me to whats new and maybe what I should listen to. In many cases, I find that the recommended components pages are confusing and it is hard to really pick out the ones that might sound good in my system.