Stereophile's refusal to review more low

My point is I think that they review whatever the big manufacturers that support them with much of their advertising revenue want them to. Proceed, for example, is part of Madrigal, which includes Levinson,Revel and even JBL. Companies with that much money to spend have essentially bought Stereophile and will get pretty much whatever they want in terms of the treatment of their products in reviews. So, if its expensive products which the manufacturers need to be reviewed, they will. If its budget or mid-fi products which the manufacturers need reviewed, that is possible too. Just spend the required advertising dollars with Stereophile. By the way, I have no problem with BMW ads either. BMW is not in the audio business. Although it is interesting that they did review the Mark Levinson sound system in the latest Lexus in the current issue. They had much more to say about the car and precious little to say about the sound system. So, maybe there is some new advertising/review angle which they intend to exploit here.

This suggestion may be anathema to the high-enders, but the magazine "Sensible Sound" has many reviews of gear in the $1000 - $2500 range. While the reviewers may not be as technically sophisticated as some of the writers for TAS and Stereopiles, they still have valid opinions. I subscribe to "Sensible Sound" solely as a counter-balance to the extremely expensive gear reviewed by other publications. Here's the link to their Web site:

http://www.sensiblesound.com/

Its unfortunate that "Sensible Sounds" seems to think that speakers are the only componants that sound different from one another. The reviews usually consist of detailed descriptions and techno info. If your lucky they might include one or two vague references to how the product actually sounds. I read it anyway, mainly because they do look for high value products.
As far as Stereophile is concerned, they do review lower ticket items from time to time. Rotel, Adcom, PSB, Parasound, Creek, and others have gotten a fair amount of ink on some real world affordable products. I must admit at times the reviews sound almost like ad promotions (especially Sams Space). Most of it is pretty fair(IMO).
Taken with a grain of salt, most of the rags are useful.

Rayhall, I understand how you might get your impression, but you are mistaken. There is no conspiracy here. The manufacturers have no real influence on the reviewers. They are glad to reach the largest group of readers interested in audio/video period. There have been way too many negative comments regarding far too many different companies products for it to be so. All a reviewer has is his reputation, so I know they don't want to blow it by presenting biased info. Read with your eyes, and not your imagination. Of course there is some intermingling between reviewers and the manufacturers. I'm sure that occasionally one or two people make a great product that a reviewer loves, and they eventually become friendly, but that is normal. For the most part the reviewers have little or no contact from manufacturers, and are never told the content of the review should be positive because they need the advertising dollars. If that was happening, it wouldn't take long for it to be found out. There is plenty of integrity out there, you just have to look for it, how's yours lately?

Someone sent me this thread and I find it "interesting." I hope that folks who think Stereophile only reviews expensive gear listen better than they read. If you go through the mag you'll find products at all price points in most issues. I get accused of reviewing only expensive stuff, but I've reviewed inexpensive turntables, cartridges, and phono sections--all under $1000 and the last issue had the Intermezzos--a powered woofer stand mount speaker from Infinity that costs two grand which, is inexpensive given that the bottom is powered. I also reviewed the Red Rose R3s which cost 3 grand. Not cheap but not ultra-expensive either. Review budget stuff and the folks who want the expensive stuff covered complain. Review the expensive gear and those on the other side complain. You can't please all of the people all of the time. The posts that gall me are the ones that see "vast conspiracies" in Stereophile wherein the advertisers and reviewers collude. It really doesn't happen.

The editor posted a message here about my review of the Hovland preamp was proof that we don't cater to advertisers and the larger companies. He was in error of course: Hovland does advertise in Stereophile. The editor wasn't aware of it, which I think speaks volumes.

I've been doing this for 15 years now and no one at TAS or Stereophile has ever told me what to review, believe it or not. I see something I like and ask to review it. Sometimes I get to, sometimes others beat me to it or the editor feels someone else should get a crack at it. but there's no coordinated effort going on that I know of.

Frankly, I think reviews should be read to learn not just about the product being reviewed, but for insight about how the reviewer listens or goes about evaluating a product. A good review will be valuable even if the product being reviewed is something the reader has no interest in because it should contain some useful information for everyone reading it.

Audiophiles should go listen for themselves before buying anything.

Okay, now ATTACK!

--Michael Fremer