$4500 amp beat out the Tenor OTL in the latest TAS

I can state unequivocally that the dealers referred to by cousinbillyl were not talking about the Hurricanes and the Hurricanes most assuredly, and unlike many other tube amplifiers, are not rollled off at either of the frequency extremes. At a conservative 200 WPC they rock. 8 KT 88's per side are utilized at considerably below the max WPC that could have been derived from those 8 KT 88's. Powerful, detailed and extended are they, throwing a huge and airy soundstage.

The corruption in the reviewing process of magazines like Stereophile is not only in the superlatives they praise on new products, but on the absence of reviews of products they should review. A good example is the loudspeakers from VMPS. According to a good many Audiogoners and other fellows, their VMPS 40 speaker for 5000 $ a pair sound as good as a lot of speakers Stereophile likes to praise, and which cost 20,000 dollars, or more. VMPS even won a prize for Best High-End product at the CES 2002. You did not find a single word about this fact in the Stereophile show report, much less a review. The same is true for the cable manufacturer LAT International, which offers much better value than a lot of manufacturers Sterophile and the other mags praise. This process of excluding news and reviews is true for all high-end-mags not only in the US. Examples? The largest European HiFi-magazine, Audio of Germany, once came out with a cover story on speakers of a new firm: Audioplay. The speakers cost 180 dollars each, were round, made of pasteboard, but sounded better than speakers which sold for 1000 dollars. The result at the next HiFi-show was that the new, factory-selling manufacturer was showered with customers. The competitors put such a pressure on the publishers of Audio that their sister magazine Stereoplay ran a grotesque critique of the speakers. Audioplay, the loudspeaker-maker, later came out with more amazing speakers, one of them being a reference-model, which ist still produced, sells for 1300 dollars per pair, and sounds as good as a lot of speakers four or six times their price. Not a single speaker was ever reviewed by any German mag - they had all learnt the lesson. Newer examples? The Berlin-based producer Funk Tonstudiotechnik came out with a preamp for 500 dollars, that reportedly puts to shame preamps for 2000 dollars. Not one of the larger German mags has run a review, the most you can expect is a brief mentioning in the "Industry News"

Hey, I'd buy from a manufacturer named "Funk Tonstudiotechnik"...

Not that I can really know what goes on, but I would point out that the mags also often ignore reviewing some of the most expensive models from some well-known companies. This might simply be attibutable to the makers not supplying review samples, but one can never tell how they go about deciding what gets covered. Speaking of things German, last month's Stereophile featured a review of a German DAC with a high price tag that has never been advertised in the magaizine, and that I had never heard of before...

Yes, Hassel, you've seen this: coersion/censorship through omission. As I said, there are many tacit dynamics which work to produce the same end of false guru and prostrate acolyte. People, because they are focused on what is "done" - focused on action - many times do not see to a sufficient degree what is not done (interestingly, some of you may note that, once more, there is an attachment to seeing the object rather than the space around the object; this is another manifestation of objectified thinking - sorry, just had to get that in there...).

The mags, and all authoritative hierarchies, including our government, attempt to control information (the thought-objects, so to speak) that you see, and shepard away from your sight thoughts that are contrary to their intent - which is, invariably, the accumulation of more power over that information, and, hence, your mind. People who want someone to tell them what the world is, then conform to the thought-objects given to them and never see wider to see the ones that are omitted.

Don't you know, folks, the apex actor in the hierarchy - the pharaoh, the king, the false guru, the imperialized president - they think that you are stupid for not seeing what they are not-doing right in front of your face, all in trade for your false security (in what gear to choose, in what to think, in who is your enemy...). They think you are sheep, and, as such, do not deserve what they have, or seek to have more of.

The Pharoah is the Pharoah, Caesar is Caesar, the King is the King, the false guru becomes your false guru, the false leader's false ideas become your mind's false ideas, not because they "do" it to you, but because you have chosen not to SEE. You choose their omission. You choose them instead of yourself.

So, the blue pill or the red pill?

Jeez guys, I tee'd it up with just the right dose of anarchistic flavor and not one bite. It's tough when when becomes a known quantity...