Recommended components on Stereophile Magazine.

1) I'd probably buy the $3K Class A rated component.

2) Absolutely NOT!!!!

3) See 1).

Cheers,
John

1/ no & no

2/ no

3/ no

Stereophile's attempt at impartiality is demonstrated each and every time by John Atkinson vs whatever reviewer has their thesaurus out that week. After their component reviews filled with superlatives (that sometimes resemble a wine review), Atkinson closes the review with his measurement numbers and often finishes with something like this, "I don't know what reviewer X was hearing, but.."

Reading Stereophile isn't convincing. Nothing except crappy success stories from the reviewers without any scientific facts.
1)no
2)no
3)no again

Stereophile's recommended components pages are very interesting to read but I would never purchase any of the recommended products unless I heard it in my system. Their reviewers make for interesting reading but it is my system, my money and my judgement that counts in purchasing a product. I use Stereophile to help alert me to whats new and maybe what I should listen to. In many cases, I find that the recommended components pages are confusing and it is hard to really pick out the ones that might sound good in my system.

I've kind of come around to giving Stereophile a little more credence than I used to. If you go over to audioasylum critics corner, he answers these kinds of threads regularly and with great aplomb. Also John Marks and others post there. I think they work with integrity. John answers just about every complaint someone comes up with. One favorite is heavy advertisers get better reviews or won't get a bad review. I respect they way he and John reply to questions there. Check it out.