2. misc-audio
  3. 185055-20253

Stereophile and the love of hotel decor

I often appreciate the Stereophile review of industry shows but one thing that always bothers me is the choice of images. They often lead with a full-system image which is usually 80% hotel curtains and rugs.  That is, there's a speaker in the left, the system in the middle and another speaker on the right.  That's fine but if you look at the image as a whole, the area of the image that is covered by gear is about 20% or less.  The rest is invariably 1980's hotel curtains and rugs.

Once you see it that way there’s no going back, your eyes see the curtains and rugs forever.

I really wish they’d focus on more interesting close-ups or even montages.

erik_squires
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,267 posts
 

If I were you, I would contact Stereophile and complain.  You will have to be a Karen to really get your point across.  🤣😂

asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
4,327 posts
 

...a really vile 'phile Karen on caustic careen....🤨

p05129
483 posts
 

Last years Tampa show, all the audio mags stated there were large crowds, and crowded rooms. The only room that was crowded was the dining room. We didn’t see anybody on some floors, we were the only 1’s in some rooms, why didn’t they report this? Also 90% of the rooms didn’t sound that good and the products were very expensive. I wish the audio mags would tell things like they are, good or bad

erik_squires OP
15,824 posts
 

Yeah, I am bored.

Also, I was trying to focus on the surface area that the hotel decor takes up when you try to photograph an entire system. When your picture composition is like this:

 

Speaker<----------->Electronics<----------->Speaker

 

Invariably your picture has more of the room than the gear, by a lot. Like 80% of the image is the room and 20% is the gear. That is what I meant by saying you can't unsee it.  Not the hideous curtains but the total waste of image space.

As Robert Cappa said, "If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough."

campoly's avatar
campoly
53 posts
 

As a photography enthusiast, I totally get it. Photos like these make me cringe a little.

More to discover