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Does anyone on AG truly care anymore about objectivity & sincerity of Magazine reviews?

The latest cover story In the Absolute Sound triumphs the latest 3rd generation YG loudspeakers & their very best, latest technology. While the accolades commence (& do they ever), they only say, "the aluminum- coned midrange driver are carried over from the series 2" conspicuously omitting to mention nothing whatsoever has been done to it - ever (unlike virtually all their competitors who've had numerous major improvements to their MRs). It’s exactly the same driver that came with the speaker when it was first introduced decades plus ago. Their claims for it have not been verified by any 3rd party ever & no audio company has tried to copy their aluminum drivers ever, either. Entry level Paradigms perhaps, but they have the wisdom to understand aluminum cannot be made to compete with the beryllium they use on their upper end product.

Regarding the revised silk dome tweeter, "you may think your speakers excel in this area but until you’ve heard something like the 3s...you may have never heard true high frequency refinement". So a complete dismissal (with no comparisons of any kind of course) of all Diamond, Beryllium, ribbon, electrostatic etc. tweeters, just like that.

Is it just me or is there (from the Wizard of Oz) a clearly implied, "Ignore that man behind the curtain! !" message, as YG simultaneously has a full page, 4 color ad in the same issue & has been an extremely heavy advertiser for years in the magazine?

I’m reminded of the con man’s credo - You can fool some of the people all the time & all the people some of the time - & that’s enough. I had thought that’s not an especially good, long term business model. Maybe I’m wrong on this last, here.

john1
richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand
255 posts
 

As a kid, the two magazines always available in the house were Gramophone and Autocar.  Gramophone concentrates on reviewing classical recordings, with some equipment reviews.  When new recordings are compared with the finest prior recordings, you can easily read between the lines.  They did not publish bad equipment reviews because they did not want to waste space on them!

I remember a series of tyre adverts in Autocar.  According to the ads, this new wonder tyre had almost double the tyre life, better braking, better roadholding, better handling and it also reduced fuel consumption!  Looked far too good to be true, but steel-belted radial tyres are now ubiquitous for cars.  The claims were true!

I've discovered that products that do not change much, don't get reviewed much.  Get a product right first-time and you will hear about it once in reviews, unless it turns up as a classic in retrospectives.

macg19
951 posts
 

I use them to validate my purchasing decisions.

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,399 posts
 

I read them but have no delusions regarding them. 

helomech
1,722 posts
 

I’d have to say that of all audio forums with which I am familiar, AG is the one where you’re least likely to encounter an appreciation for real objectivity and quantitative data. 

This is mostly the realm of enchantment where “veils were lifted” by $10K quantum-nano-carbon footers and dyed glass fuses.

It has long seemed to me that a majority of members here believe that price has a direct correlation with performance. 

 

 

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,399 posts
 

Objectivity and sincerity are things to be valued. Just surely don’t ever expect both when it comes to marketing. Especially objectivity. You are likely to be greatly disappointed.

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