Wrong direction?

I think that everyone here has contributed something worthwhile. I did not mean to imply that an affordable piece is automatically relegated to Class C. But I do feel, it has to do something strong to pull itself out of that rating. Where as something with an exotic level price tag has to do the same to pull itself out of Class A. That being said, I still feel that Stereophile is the most important magazine of our hobby. Enough that I plan on keeping my subscription indefinitely(hey, at $1/month it is a great deal). And yes, I do agree that the magazine is really poor these days. The worst I can remember(in more than 10 years of reading). Please now allow me to make a point regarding Dragon's thread. The ratings should serve only as a guide. It is a fool indeed who uses the ratings as a road map. I can easily assemble a system from Class C components that will sound better than one of Class A components put together in a poor way.

Wrong direction?? Enuff said that reviewers are affected by many things. Basically these groups of experienced reviewers can give a starting point to audition new equipment. More importantly these reviews and rating entertain us. Sure we complain about reviewers that are affected by outside influence or great products that don't recieve any attention. For me that is as much fun as reading their opinions. Every once in a while a couple of them are funny. Lets face it, auditioning is where anyone with sense should make a purchasing decision. Reading is where we gain knowledge(hopefully) or at least get entertained. The part I like the best about reviews is a less experienced person telling me how highly ranked his reciever or speakers are. Then asking me how my equipment ranked(since he hasn't heard of most of it). I wish we could make it manditory all magazines had a percentile ranking or such(more instances to let reviews make idiots of themselves). Not that I don't respect some reviewers and their opinions, but everyone is affected by things now and then. Heck I'm the first to admit I can at times make a real idiot of myself. I just don't publish it. My $0.02. Happy LISTENING!....LR

TAS is definitely coming up. I agree that Stereophile has gone down since many of it's great reviewers have left. I also think the remaining majority are still very good- Mike Fremer, Sam Tellig, robert reina etc. It's still the most important magazine, perhaps because of the ratings. Those ratings dramatically affect the saleability of a used product. For someone like me who is trying to learn about audio by owning and listening to products, I need to have a certain level of 'guarantee' that something will hold its value. For better or worse, it's much easier to sell a $3000 audio component with their 'blessing' of a class A rating. One interesting thing I have found is that the products they rate 'B' tend to be more interesting. Products that have sonic flaws, but also some extreme characteristic that makes them special. My old sonic frontiers sfm-160 amps were a good example. Yes they had less clarity and a transparency than my vt100 which is why they were a class B. But to compensate for this they had more warmth, considerably more power, and a larger soundstage. A better amp for some people. I thought it amazing that the class B ($5500retail) SFM took 3 months to sell for $1600 on the used market whereas (at the time), the ($5000) vt100m2 sold in a few days for 3200 ! Admittedly age was a factor. The conrad-johnson mv-50/mv-55 amps are another example. Those amps play midrange vocals better than anything I've ever heard. They capture the emotional content of a recording better than any amp I've heard. Class B vandersteen 3's ? Less clarity than my Class A rated Virgo's, but a sense of power the virgo couldn't match. Much better rock n roll speaker. You could tell they were a full range 110lb speaker ! I really like the fact that stereophile reviews things in all price classes. When I was younger I bought things out of their class C and D lists, and found I had a pretty good stereo. You can enjoy high end at all price points. I think the mid-priced stuff is where all the fun is anyway. The ultra-expensive stuff all sounds the same - gold plated perfect, but with limited personality. Kind of like (some) of it's buyers.

Good post John-- my experience too. My McCormack DNA-2DX amps (I have 2) have never been reviewed by Stereophile. They list for $5000. each, but recently I saw two of them advertised used for $1750. each-- just about made me cry. FWIW, I am content to KNOW that if Stereophile did review this amp it really would be Class A. But, I really don't care as I plan to keep these amps indefinitely (best I've ever heard) and have them converted to mono-blocs. Trust your own ears if you're in it for the long haul. Cheers. Craig

Amen, Garfish. ALWAYS trust your own ears. Just another reason that I lament the passing of the Annual Audio Equipment Guide. To me, at least as useful as the Stereophile ratings. As it let me know what was out there. I could then contact the company(via phone, mail, website, or e-mail), and find a dealer to go see and hear the product. The Stereophile guide, while necessary and quite informative, is incomplete. And I have a problem with the fact that generally the products reviewed by Stereophile are the ones advertised in the magazine. There is so much other great equipment out there. As stated above, the Class B components are often more interesting and engaging than those on the Class A list. Not to mention often more easy to build a long term system around, as they are generally more forgiving/less idiosyncratic.