Agreed @larsman. And even if I don't have the dough for a $10,000 cartridge (though I do have a $5,000 one ;-), $50,000 tone arm, $150,000 turntable, or $200,000 pair of loudspeakers, I do enjoy reading about them. I didn't intend my use of the term "academic" to be taken pejoratively! And beside, Fremer also finds and reviews best value phono products, like the Liberty B2B-1.
I find TAS to be focused almost entirely on "ultra"-priced hi-fi, but once on a while am surprised. I like Robert E. Greene's writing (he did a great review of the bargain-priced Eminent Technology LFT-8b loudspeaker), and Dick Olsher is one of my all-time favorite hi-fi reviewers (he is very much in the JGH camp).