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Most Honest Audio Magazine?

I subscribe to Stereophile and I really enjoy reading it but something happened last year that made me raise an eyebrow as to the authenticity of their intentions. Remember the review of the B&W Nautilus 805's? The original reviewer raved about them and rated them "Class A Restricted Low Frequency". Shortly thereafter they demoted the same speaker down to "Class B Restricted Low Frequency". This really hurt the magazine's credibility in my eyes. My first conclusion was that they didn't want to upset the other manufacturers who produced "Class A" products at far higher prices. Shouldn't a trade journal give credit to the truly remarkable products especially when they are produced for relatively decent prices? It's unfortunate that the advertising dollars of the megabuck manufacturers bullied a stellar product into receiving a less than stellar final rating. I'm wondering if this hasn't happened before. I've since heard from some of my audio buddies that corruption does indeed exist in the audio press; everything from reviewers being related to manufacturers to reviewers being offered products for a song (pun intended). Please share your thoughts and experiences when it comes to audio magazines and let me know which ones you'd rate best and worst. Putting together a great system is hard enough without having to sift through the sometimes suspicious advice of those publications who purport to advance the hobby.
canadianguy
stereokarter
185 posts
 
Dds_hifi you are right about Stereophile: When Michael Fremer & Lisa Astor jump ship they are "Done Like Dinner" as Wendel Clark (retired Toronto Maple Leaf hockey player) once quipped.
kthomas
911 posts
 
I think Stereophile will be around a long time, with or without MF and LA, especially if they keep their subscription price at $1/issue. I think their credibility would go way up if they ditched Jonathon Scull, and if they could broaden their choice of manufacturers to review. I think they've more than covered Cary and Musical Fidelity for the time being. -Kirk
vek
6 posts
 
Audio Critic... this mag was recommended to me by Don Morrison. This is the only mag he reads. Don believes in it so much he actually sent me two copies for free. If you haven't heard of Don check out his website www.donmorrisonaudio.com.
Anyhow, Audio Critic measures everything they get their hands on. Their conclusions (not opinions) of a products performance are based on science. The editor finally found a publisher (after 20+ years) that will let will let him write based on his morals, not the advertisers influence. Now that its published on a grander scale its available everywhere. This is an entirely different audio publication.
Now I have to go find an electronics book to figure out what all their measurements mean.
tfta
44 posts
 
Positive Feedback is a great mag as well, when they decide to put out an issue.
tommy_in_sylmar
144 posts
 
there isnt any ONE mag that can be trusted. read several and the different points of view become meaningful. i dont think they all have to arrive at the same conclusion to be credible.
tas has had my respect and support for the longest and will to the end. stereophile has proven to be the most variable of late although im not thinking of cancelling soon as are the knee jerk reactionaries every other month!
in tas, its comforting to know that reg is a math prof at ucla, isnt anti digital, and still plays LPs on his disc centering nak tt.
i for one am a died in the wool vinylphile (7k) who also likes his CDs and would be happy if sacd wins the war.
the concept of sensible sound is good except they are too focussed on ava and shure equip.
audio critic? duh!? as jay lenos character 'mr. brain' would say: 'IDIOT!'.
rip audio. bert whyte was one of the first i ever heard evaluate a monitor sized (small) spkr with a krell amp, followed by many others. what a loss!
give us back fi and audio adventure.
thats not all of them, but my significant cross section.
all that said, i just dont want to have people think ive hidden behind another name, im known on all the other forums as hifitommy. ill get around to having gon change this one day.
.......regards.......tr
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