Peter Aczel attempted with the Audio Critic to reconcile the objectivist with the subjectivist models of evaluation. A watershed event was his endorsement of Andy Rappaport's AMP-1 which was a zero feedback, highly coherent power amp that carried significant noise, which Aczel allowed as a successful amplifier design.
Peter Moncrieff went even farther with his International Audio Review by devising new measurement techniques to support his (generally brilliant) subjective interpretations.
Julian Hirsch preceded these guys and set the stage for evaluative techniques to educate the masses. However, his reliance on measurements denied the possibility of sonic differences if they couldn't be measured. He wrote more broadly than for Stereo Review, but his approach was consistent, often summarized as: "Of all the products I've heard, this is certainly one of them."
By the early 80s Thiel had established strong retail presence in the NYC area. One of our very supportive and influential NYC dealers convinced us, over our considerable resistance, to have Julian review one of our products. (I'm sorry I don't remember which, but probably the 01, 02 or 03.) A review appeared in Stereo Review and a related article in the New York Times. (Something besides Bourbon comes to the real world from Kentucky!) The response was overwhelming; Thiel had somehow become legitimate in the minds of many thousands of readers by getting JH's stamp of approval. Note that none of that dealer interest was appropriate for an emerging high-end speaker manufacturer, and we did not sell direct to consumers. Those articles produced a flurry of activity that disrupted the ephemeral path of growth we were on. However it did serve our education regarding what game we were in, which was not Stereo Review's game.
The emerging high end at that time, considered JH and Stereo Review to be solidly Mid-Fi, which was dominated by Bose and Bang & Olufsen. JH's drumbeat of endorsement of Bose served as a cornerstone of the establishment of the high end. "If Bose is as good as it gets, then I (aspiring dealer, manufacturer, etc.) have a real shot at survival" was a consistent mantra of the emerging high end.
