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Reviewing the Reviewers

Check out http://www.high-endaudio.com/index_ac.html and follow go to the "Audio Critique" page, and then to "Reviewing the Reviewers" page.

This site is run by a man named Arthur Salvatore. He has written much about all aspects of audio on his site...his recommended components, his recommended recordings, his store, etc. He writes like a lawyer, but it seems like he actually has integrity...he must not be a lawyer. :-) Seriously...anyone interested in a point by point analysis of modern audio reviews should check out this site. He's analyzed many reviews and developed his own list of "rules" that most reviews tend to follow (and he's dead-on)...usually because the writer doesn't want to say anything negative about any particular sponsor's (or buddy's) product.

He received an angry letter from Michael Fremer. The letter and his analysis are included on the site. It makes for a long read, but it can be fascinating. Besides...it's information than every audio joe (or jane) should be aware of when they read any review...especially when they're planning on pruchasing a product highlighted by a particular review.

If you want to see textbook examples of his "rules" put into practice, just check out any Soundstage review written by Marc Mickelson.

Enjoy...
phild
sean
6,231 posts
 
Trelja, if you think Mikey is on his own "high horse", you would REALLY hate J. Peter Moncrieff of both International Audio Review & "Wonder: wire / caps / solder" fame. Quite honestly though, i think it was he that set the pace for ALL other test labs / reviewers back in the day. While i haven't been over to check out that website yet, i can say that "Mikey" is a real nice guy in person and very outgoing. Sean
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john_l
782 posts
 
I like mike.
jcbtubes
400 posts
 
THANKS PHILD! The high-endaudio.com site is a breath of fresh air. This should be required reading, especially for those just starting out in the hobby. This should be a warning shot for the marketing rags, in particular, Stereo-pile. Had I found a source of info like A.Salvatore's site when I first started audio (did computers even exist back then?), I'd easily have saved tens of thousands of dollars. It's taken me 20 years and too much money to reach most of the same conclusions that he has concerning this hobby/addiction. Great site!
trelja
3,226 posts
 
I have spent a lot of time reading through Arthur's site. Jctubes put it better than I could when he said that this is a breath of fresh air. Jctubes also says the one thing I read in Stereophile that I most agree with, "You had to spend more to realize you didn't have to spend more..." Arthur says A LOT that I agree with. Some that I do not. Nothing that I am in major disagreement about. The one thing that I believe he is limited by is being only one person. Unlike lists gathered from groups of people(Stereophile, and even we here at Audiogon), you are only seeing one person's opinion. At some point, that becomes a detriment. Sean, it is nice to hear that Michael Fremer is not the same guy in real life. He just picked up a couple of big points in my book based on your comment. It seems Moncrieff has never engendered a lot of support for the Nobel Peace Prize, but he has caused us to think more about the capacitors, solder, wire, etc that we use. Fremer doesn't have anything like that on his resume.
phild OP
603 posts
 
Most of the site is his opinion, but his equipment reviews are based on the opinion of several people. He actually mentions that he hasn't had a chance to hear several of the components himself.
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