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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
frap
213 posts
 
The three most powerful mags, Tommy, that mostly set the standard for the entire (*2nd Golden Era) of high end (72 thru 84)were:
The Absolute Sound
IAR
The Audio Critic
Peter Aczel may deny that he hears differences in gear today, but in the 77-81 era of his mag, his ears were certified golden. Perhaps a better judge of loudspeaker quality than any other reviewer. Unfortunately he lost his hearing..........Frank
pbb
1,140 posts
 
Honest, hey? Well they speak the truth as they know it. I can take Stereophile in measured doses and I miss Audio. There, that should give you an idea of how old I am and some indication that I still find a scientific approach valuable, although good science would probably give you a Sara Lee cake and good science plus the "magic touch" an incredibly delicious fresh Viennese or French pastry.

I would like a balanced approach of scientifically accurate and proper measurements (I know, I know, what to measure? what to measure?) and explanation of the theory behind the product (no, not marketing theory...) on the one hand, and of quality, sane and sober subjective appraisals on the other. Who's next in line?
tfta
44 posts
 
New Positive Feedback just out!!! Gotta' get one.
rooky
10 posts
 
audio critic is the best and we should all be supporting it-they tell you the actual value of the components in the component(something ive never seen done before)which tells you whether the product is a good value and can tell you whether the manufacturer is full of it in their claims(one recent review i read).also on my list is hifi choice(uk),what hifi(uk),and hifi world(uk).
cyrus
44 posts
 
The first magazine who would honestly use blind tests to compare products would gain a lot of respect from the audiophile community IMHO. Cyrus
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