Other publications included specifications that to this day, prove useful for many.
The measurements in Stereophile magazine back up the extensive listening tests. Not like ASR who barely listens to the equipment. I carefully read the measurements in Stereophile and have been since Stereophile started taking measurements. However, I can stare at the numbers all day long but unless the product has major flaws the measurements don't tell me how the product sounds. On top of that I don't think ASR serves the audiophile community, it serves the mass electronics market. I have never seen a statement loudspeaker tested and every speaker JBL makes gets a recommendation and I have only heard a few huge JBLs that I might live with, the L200 being one of them. How do you measure, scale and power? Rear firing drivers? Room interaction (frequency response isn't the whole story). Like Stereophile, I listen first.