Some famous reviewers have atrocious listening rooms!

@audiodwebe 

And those reviews, at least to me, carried some weight simply because I didn't have access to anything other than those reviews. No stereo shop near me ever carried much other than mid-fi and lo-fi stuff.  And that is precisely why I am a bit disappointed when I see the rooms from some of these "rock star" reviewers. 
Like many, today, if I read a review, it's more for entertainment purposes or to see if said gear is something I want to research further.  Everything I read is taken with a grain of salt.  But back in the day, if a rock star said it, I believed it.  Young and naive, like many of us in the beginning of the audio journey.

I think it's a generation thing.

Once upon a time we were more prepared to believe most everything we read. That was the way we were brought up, I certainly was.

Whereas nowadays the world is a far more mistrustful place, and quite rightly knowing what we know about politicians, journalists, marketeers, algorithms, data mining etc

As @pinthrift says,

We live in times of distrust and suspicion.  We rarely give something, someone the time required for trust and friendship.

Whereas a generation once fretted over the murder of one president and the resignation of another, nowadays we don't even blink over carefully set up plandemics, the bombing of huge gas pipes causing untold pollution and unnecessary hardship, or the coming of an Orwellian superstate that believes in rule by fear, pumping out endless bad news hour after hour.

Different times different world.

Many still hope for a return to something approaching normality, but the rest of us try to adapt as the supply of red pills seems to also be dwindling.

You always find a way to go off the rails with your replies, trying to seem normal but proving otherwise as you near the end of your posts.

https://youtu.be/j4kDa_TUYxg

outstanding discussion between herb r and steve g on the subject of reviewers and reviews

some terrific perspectives articulated, well worth watching, for anyone who has been interested in this thread...

Thank you for the info.  I'll definitely check it out.

It might be interesting to see what the members here would like to see in future reviews.

The first thing I look for in any loudspeaker review is some mention of its ability to make the distinction between the timbre of different musical instruments as clear as possible. 

Secondly, and almost as importantly, I like to see how it compares with known all time reference products, eg Quad electrostatics, BBC LS 3/5, JBL l100 original, KEF LS50, Harbeth P3, Harbeth M40, Revel Ultima Salon, Wilson Sabrina, KEF Blade as well as stuff from the likes of Monitor Audio, ATC, Wharfedale, Magico, Q Acoustics, etc etc.

Unfortunately I rarely see this in reviews.

Instead, the standard review usually goes like this:

A few words about the manufacturer, blah, blah, blah..

A few words about the components, construction, and if your lucky, crossover design.

A couple of generalised lines about the way it plays a few select pieces of music.

One short sentence thrown in discreetly that hints at possible limitations, and/or suggestion for the need of a subwoofer.

Finally, a suggestion of how this particular product should be on everyone's shortlist.

If you are lucky, you might even get thrown in as an afterthought some diagrams of impedance graphs, resonance waterfalls etc.

Basically, a whole load of non committal, non offensive carefully worded deliberately vague sales pitch.

Yes, there are a few exceptions such as Andrew Robinson, Amir at ASR for example who actually dare to put reviewed products into some of kind of comparative  context.

For that alone I guess we should be grateful.