Regarding the opening sentence about M.Fremer's reviews, i have to say that Stereophile almost ALWAYS gives him the most exotic/expensive components and speakers to comment on. This in itself shows a bias that i am uncomfortable with. Are not the others on the staff capable of evaluating the really pricey equipment both for sound as well as value/dollar?
The really good stuff out there at this point IS going to sound very very good.
some manufacturers still have reliability issues and in those cases they either have to fix the component RIGHT AWAY for the customer or they should not be in business at all. But what a reviewer says is too often a result of either a very good listening room and associated components or perhaps not one and/or the other. or they are partial to vinyl over cd's. nothing wrong with that, but they (in Mr.Fremer's case) own a VERY exotic record player, not a Linn or VPI, etc. Perhaps redbook cd's should be the acid test for most systems due to the fact that just about EVERYONE knows what the good and bad of cd sound results in.
Overall i find reviews are helpful, although of course you need to go hear the components yourself. and where are those few stores that carry high-end gear set up for auditioning? certainly not readily available for most of us. you can however get a sense of what is going on with high-end audio from what IS available to listen to within a 2 hour radius of your house, especially when it comes to really good speaker systems. and perhaps as the internet forums get better and more to the point, you can find out from other individuals what they thought about a piece of gear they heard at a store or an audio show. If you've heard it, and more importantly if you've OWNED IT for awhile, PLEASE contribute what you know about speaker-X or preamp-Y, etc. you may not have the writing skills of a professional reviewer, but you may know a lot more about living with a piece of equipment than they would.
