Rate the Audiophile Publications

As a reader of Stereophile, TAS and others, and an avid user of the Web, my approach has been to gather information from many different sources as a starting point relying on my own ears as proof. Though the "big guns" may have their weaknesses, I think they can be used as a roadmap to learn about what's going on out there. It's better to have an incomplete map then to have no map at all, and I have undoubtedly learned about this hobby from them. That being said, no matter if a review is good or bad, the trick is to make your own decision. Many writers find the Cary sound all "wrong", but for me that's Heaven. Happy listening.

Aldenruss, would you rather have a road map that only drives you to specific places(advertisers) rather than your destination (audio nirvana)?

Stereophile has lost that hands trembly/weak in the knees feeling for me but still I find myself buying about every other issue. Listener can be fun, but sometimes overly esoteric, and lightweight. Dudley's opening editorials are usually keepers. As much as I'd like to like TAS, I find it a yawn. HiFi+ is an up and comer with great photos and some good writing. But since this is a hobby of excess and lust, I'd have to say nothing beats Stereosound, about the size of a small phonebook, glossy, lavishly produced ads and features that make you want to run out and pay retail! So what if its in japanese, it's that cool. It even has a feature were the editor goes to the home of some truly worthy reader and critiques his system (I'm only guessing as I don't read Japanese)- I wish this were published in English. About $ 30 when you can find it.

I only buy audio mags to look at the naked women...all those articles just waste space!

I read them all ... one problem is when they (especialy Stereophile) can rip to shreds a piece that cost S 10,000.00. If your spending $ 10,000.00 on a power amp , preamp speakers etc. They had better sound good. You know what, in my 25+ years buying audio, most gear from respected manufactuers sounds great . Flexability , features , styling and value always varies. They need to get real! and also offer more variety in what they review. I like The Listner (it does'nt take itself too seriously! TAS is also a good publication, British mags are good but sometimes not to in depth. Home theater Mag is also a good mag, fun to read but the gear they review can be lightweight sometimes , lots of HT receivers etc but also some very informative articles. I like objective reviews with lots of facts. To the editors out there I don't want to hear you cry about a $ 3,000.00 power cord. Get real And you know what? How come they never mention that my Tandberg 3001A tuner killers any Tuner under $ 5,000.00 made today ? In fact there are lots of vintage pieces out there selling for thousands less then the new gear that sounds as good or better. Anybody out there listen to a 10B ,Vintage ... Luxman , Accuphase, Mcintosh even some of the Top Pioneer Kenwood etc. ? How come few of the mags ever mention that for under a grand you can put together a real Audiophile musical system??? I guess I am rambling ...