Best Place for Negative Reviews?

The idea that reviews are more for entertainment sounds accurate. I know that listening is an entirely subjective experience, so I would never be able to take the advice of someone I've never even met for guidance about the quality of a component.

On the other hand, I also agree with Sleepysurf that to get a general idea about a component's the best thing to do is search the web for discussion posts and user reviews. As with any kind of data collection, it's also best to drop the top few positives and bottom few negatives to get rid of the lobbyists though.

But just like movies and music, there are certain people whose tastes line up very closely to mine, and their recommendations are taken with more than a grain of salt. These people are usually my good friends. Unfortunately, I don't think I've found a reviewer at this point who I would say my tastes line up with enough to trust anything she writes.

-Dusty

when i first started reading the "little" stereophiles, many reviews would compare two (or more) very similar components price-wise leaving everything else in the system the same.
these real-time A/B tests and the resultant impressions imho
gave the reader an immediate sense of the writer's honesty, musical tastes, and a ruthlessness that could not be mistaken for "gee, thanks so much for your advertising dollars; here's a lovely review of your new preamp". i remember plenty of angry debates in the "manufacturer's comments" section, too. very enjoyable reading, and good ammo when you went out to hear a $5000 piece of electronics or speaker system- now you're either enthusiastic regardless of the lofty price-tag or wary and armed with some questions and perhaps some revealing cd's you brought along.

you forgot to include : trust your ears.

I agree. Armed with your own set of test CD/LP's I think you can't go far wrong. The danger is when the demo is made with unfamiliar pieces. Danger being that the music is selected by the person making the demo; therefore it is likely to be particularly well suited to the system reviewed. A great system will outshine others on a wide variety of music even if another system will outshine it in one or two particular instances (because it happens to enhances some specific weakneses in a recording).

There are no negative reviews because today's gear are all so wonderful. Bright speakers are "fast". Veiled amps are "romantic"..etc. Sad state of the high end press, they have turned into pimps. I too, enjoy reading the old Stereophiles.

After reading some of the other responses I have some follow up comments.

I have never, ever been exposed to any biasing which could even tangentially be associated with advertising…at all. Never. I review products that have appealed to me is some way, I contact the company and make the arrangements. I don’t even know if they are a supporter or advertiser of the mag. Heck, they may hate us for all I know. This may sound bad, but I have contacted companies only be told that I already have sent XYZ to ABC at your mag for his review!

I agree, reviewing is a form of entertainment. It is not meant to the definitive word. Our magazine tries to get multiple reviewers review the same product. I recall that I loved the Reference 3A MM Di Cappo (which became my reference for a long time) while at the same time the other reviewer didn't care for them at all. (and said as much)

Next, most reviewers are unpaid volunteer hobbyists audiophiles just like you. Like you, we are looking for the best sound, in "our" room, within our budget. What we have over you, is that we can go through several products, keep them for months AND then decide if it is right for "us". Why would anyone of us buy a product just because we got a deal on it when, chances are, we could get a similar deal on the product we actually want!? When a reviewer buys a product you can be sure that they really like it and it meets their predilections in their price range.

Finally, do read between the lines. I know when there is something I do not like about a product; I say so, albeit in a low key and non-product-bashing way. Mainly because, as I said above, most products are generally very good and because of one issue I may have, that is no reason to toss out the baby with the bath water.

John