I guess you could interpret the comment that Stereophile wanted to see ad revenue before a product-for-review submittal as meaning that that product would then get a good review as well, but that's not how I interpreted it. Stereophile has leverage with manufacturers - with as established as they are, the manufacturers need them worse than they need the manufacturers (at least individually), so it seems plausible to me that they could be saying, "show me some ad revenue before you submit a product for review" while still feeling free to communicate honestly about how the product performed.
Certainly, a purist quest for "the best" would be limited by such a policy, but I think it's outside the scope of a single magazine to review everything anyway, so I don't really expect to Stereophile to find the holy grail. I do expect them to report accurately and honestly on all products reviewed, and don't think that their purported policy precludes that. -Kirk