what really happened to j. skul

meisterkleef,i thought about your comment re;scull and at the risk of pissing off that great arbiter of taste and judgement,dekay, i think you were interested in his stuff for the same reason as i,he was extremly entertaining,even if you disagreed with his sometime esoteric views on audio, he always made yoU THINK AND SOMETIME LAUGH. I HOPE HE HOOKS UP WITH ANOTHER AUDIO MAG,TAS? EVEN THOUGH HP HAS STATED NO WAY FOR WHAT EVER HIS REASONS. SCULL HAS A FOLLOWING, MY SELF INCLUDED, WHO CONSIDER HIM VERY ENTERTAINING IN AN INDUSTRY THAT SOMETIMES TAKES ITSELF WAY TO SERIOUSLY.

trelja, i agree art dudly is a great guy and an asset to stereophile, listener was a niche mag that catered to the horn speaker set amplifier audiophile. without bashing these folks, do you really believe that the average stereophile reader is interested in 5watt amps and exotic horn speakers?art is much more than a one dimensional audiophile,but if you read his mag, you know were his interests are. maybe im wrong.

Well, I do not have much knowledge of the situation of what happened to Scull, but I can say that Dekay and Capeguy, you two probably agree much more than you disagree. Perhaps you guys got off on the wrong foot...

Capeguy, I have been a friend of Dekay(David) for a while, and can tell you that he is a great guy.

I agree with your comments about Art Dudley. But, I have faith in the Stereophile readership. But, I guess I am only speaking for myself. I feel that we are interested in attaining the best possible sound, and want to hear about the equipment and technology that will get us there. Be it low watt, high watt, tube, solid state, analog, digital, horn, electrostatic, dynamic, ionic...

As JA said, the decision to jettison J10 was JA's alone. Now, despite my feelings on Scull, John Atkinson is no prince. In fact, he seems to be a snake. His reviews are insightful, and actually take a position. Whether or not I agree with his audio philosophy(which I do not) is secondary to a reviewer actually taking a position(which he does). I want to be left with the feeling that the reviewer has provided me with insight, and JA does do that.

Do I think that perhaps there are better candidates to be at the helm of Stereophile? I guess so, but as I sit here, I realize that whoever captains the ship will veer off on their own course. JA is obviously not a fan of tubes, which certainly are a force in the hobby. But, if someone with different tastes was the boss, would we perhaps lose sight of a different niche?

I am taking a wait and hope and see attitude right now. If Art Dudley continues on down the road he is going, Stereophile might just end up with a nice balance of all that audio is.

trelja, great response, this is why i came to audiogon in the first place. articulate discussions of issue in audio that is of interest to all of us. i don't doubt your bud dekay is a great guy, but this guy did an all out attack on someone he doesn't know,comments on his taste and juudgement etc. all over a simple question that prompted reasoned responses from other readers including yourself. sounds to me like he is a sensative soul or was having a bad hair day. trelja, i hope i didn't come out as anti dudly,i read his mag and enjoyed it even though i don't have any interest in art's love of horns etc. i think his addition to stereophile will insert some fresh thinking to a mag that was stagnate.nice job on the dekay issue, are you now or were you ever a diplomat. please excuse the typing and other errors, im an old goat who is new to computers and types with one finger, my goal is to advance to two fingers soon.

I thought J. Skull to be perhaps the most pompous, arrogant reviewer out there, whose reviews revealed mostly how full of himself he was, and the actual substance of the reviews was very mediocre at best.

Most of the time, I would finish the review wondering if anything he reviewed in the stratsopheric arena was less than fabulous. His carefully worded comparisons to others of his latest audio toys were clearly woven to provide the least amount of useful, honest information, and rather an attempt to place them all on the same lofty plane of audiophile nirvana.

When a friend of mine emailed JS to humbly ask him a question, and didn't receive the courtesy of any reply, this only confirmed my opinion of him all along. Perhaps JS's new salary at Monster Cable will allow him to imbibe a $500 bottle of Cogin while he reminisces about his glory days at Stereophile. At least I won't have to read his braggery about which bottle of vintage grapes accompanied his latest review.

His termination is certainly no great loss, except for the fact that Stereophile / JA continues to display blatant incompetence / disregard at maintaining a magazine of integrity with truly top notch reviewers.