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TAS new look-the end is near?

Picked up the latest copy of The Absolute Sound a couple of days ago and something just aint right. First I noticed the cover has changed. Gone is the dignified layout- White boardered in a contrasing color. Changed is the subtitle from "The High End Journal of Audio and Music" to "Stereo - Multichannel Audio - Music" ! Flipping through I find bold red printed highlighted quotes between paragraphs in some of the reviews. Then I came accross pages 18-19. FUTURE TAS big orange letters, pictures and arrows and captions and it hit me. Stereo Review! Audio! But not TAS! Even the paper stock seems cheaper. I remember when the cool little "underground" mag grew to full size. Oh well at least the print and pics were bigger. But now the "journal" looks like any mag, no character. Shorter reviews, less critical comment, more watered down praise. Now this! What happened to this sharp edged journal? Does this distub anyone else? PS- if the must change their look they should check out HI-FI+ (GB).
blkadr
whatjd
1,139 posts
 
Couldn't agree more. You might want to look at two prior threads:

1. What was it about Fi magazine?

and

2. The Absolute Sound Review of Sony SCD-XA777ES???

These were threads I had done a few weeks ago..when I
was about to get rid of some old Fi mags..and in looking them over became a little melancholy.,..then,.. wham... I received the new TAS.. Damn, I thought Mr. Dell was going to save TAS, not ruin it.
rcprince
3,070 posts
 
My understanding is they were losing a LOT of money with the old style, even after their initial changes from journal size to the larger format. They're doing what Stereophile did (and what Pearson decried, but in his defense I don't think this was his decision to make) in an effort to increase their circulation. Can't say I necessarily like it (unless their content remains critical and relatively unbiased), but they're not running a charity for us, ya know.
fzxguy
62 posts
 
Interesting. I picked one up on the newstand the other day and noticed the difference. But for me it was, "hmmm.... maybe I should consider this mag now." I always discarded their monthly 'free issue' promo's as I found HP's Holy-er than anybody else on the planet attitude, akin to the abrasive treble in a CD player that otherwise had a rich lucious sound. A lot to like, but just couldn't bring myself to buy it.

Right on Rcprince! If they aren't profitable, they aren't there. And If we the readers aren't smart enough to read between the lines or are too lazy to listen to the equipment and decide for ourselves, then we deserve what we get. (for better or worse)
dopogue
1,773 posts
 
RCprince, you are so right. This is a business and has to be run like a business. I've been reading TAS for decades wondering all the while how it could survive as HP's playpen. The answer is obvious. I hope I'm not the only one wishing Harley and crew a lot of luck.
ljgj
955 posts
 
It all seems inevitable with the high end mags. You can no longer expect a three year subsciption to be fulfilled because either they go under, downsize, or change in such a way that you really have nothing to read about. Home theater has been a big culprit of the demise in a sense that people have to spend the same amount on 5 or 6 speakers as we use to spend on two thus our 2 channel mags become Stereo Review at best and even that couldn't survive. If Ultimate Audio merged with Stereophile and TAS we would have a great mag once again. Dealers and companies cannot afford to advertise in several mags and hang on. We thus have less advertising or they go off to the HT mags for more exposure and we find Denon and Sony as the mainstays of our mags instead of some of the higher end companies.
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