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I find the mags sometimes entertaining, sometimes informative, sometimes not...does help me keep up on what's new. Don't read the reviews of the ultra expensive stuff, but it doesn't bother me that they review. Taken in context the mags are ok and cheap enough...

bdp24  ... 

I discovered Stereophile and Gordon Hold while visiting a friend in Santa Fe. While he was at work, I went downtown for a look-around. Well, I discovered a stereo store and went in to see what they had to offer. While there, I saw a stack of the magazine, including back issues for sale. I bought all of them for something to pass the time with. I couldn't believe that there was a magazine where the reviewers actually punched holes into sacred cows. That was a great  magazine back then ... just flimsy and put together with staples.Even though it has been upgraded over time with fancy glossy paper, and nice color photos,  it's been downhill ever since. 

Gordon Holt loved the Acoustat speakers. Oddly enough, he claimed to hear a "credit card" coloration in the Acoustats. Hard as I tried, I never heard that effect on the speakers.

I drove my Acoustat IV's with a variety of amps over the years, including modified Dyna 70's converted to mono-blocks with outboard power supplies, an ARC Classic 60, Atmosphere 60 watt mono-blocks, and the most impressive of all were two of Van Alstine's big solid state stereo amps bridged for mono-blocks. Those bridged Van Alstine amps produced around 800 wpc.  Wanna talk about room filling sound? Those things filled the entire neighborhood.

There  have been many times that I've wished I still had them. But let's face it, those big Acoustat panels with the grill cloths removed definitely wouldn't pass the wife test. 

My old Quads (with their metal screens removed) didn't pass the wife test. But that turned out to not matter---she didn't pass the Quad test!

I’ve been burnt with 2nd hand gear before, so I prefer to buy new gear these days. I don’t have kids or a mortgage, so I can afford to. With that said my next amps will retail around $53kUS, so the answer is yes there are buyers for esoteric gear. Though i’ve found with few exceptions the companies with the most integrity don’t take out full page ads in glossy audio mags. Their products do the talking for them. Besides that, the best advertising is word of mouth.

So what 53k amp are you buying that doesn't advertise in the audio mags?