Why aren't these on the "recommended list?"

streetdaddy: if you're speaking of stereophile's list, it includes only "recently reviewed products." jrdg gear hasn't been reviewed in a while. don't know why. avalon hasn't been reviewed because they don't care to be. good for mr. patel, et al. the "recommended list" has virtually nothing to do with the universe of highend audio. only with what john atkinson and his little troupe have decided in a purely subjective way should be reviewed and then how that small number of samples they have chosen among all available in the marketplace ought to be graded. this is a lot like choosing the “best restaurant in san francisco” by sampling the food offered by every 8th eatery listed in the yellow pages.
-cfb

Amen, Cornfed (if you'll allow the expression)!

Streetdaddy -

If you want to do something really fun in January, ask your local dealer to get you a pass to the CES in Las Vegas, January 8-11. Then go hear for yourself all this cool high-end stuff. Last year was my first year, and my first love is loudspeakers (for 20 years I built them as a hobby), so I made a point of listening to all the highly regarded systems. What I found was that, to my amazement, brands I'd hardly ever heard of, or in some cases never heard of, sounded better than the big names. The same thing with amplifiers. Sadly most people are stuck with "the list" as a starting point, because many of the very finest pieces of audio gear - many of the truly world-class values - will never show up on "the list".

Nicely said cornfed and so truuue.