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Stereophile "coverage"

Stereophile must enjoy all the negative reaction they get out of their choices of what to cover. Witness the latest cover story, the new Krell LAT-1 speaker. Here, from the biggest of the big advertisers, we get basically immediate cover-story coverage of their latest release, a $37,500 speaker. Stratospheric. The reviewer (who amazingly wasn't Jonathon Scull, with something of this price), is extremely positive while almost seeming to forget the price of this beast. It doesn't go much below 40Hz and it measures horribly. I guess you'll have to wait for their $75K model to get around those obstacles, though the option to pair the LAT-1's with some Krell Master subs is offered up to get down below 40Hz.

So, a super-expensive speaker coupled with other reviews of >$8K components ("you guys never review affordable stuff!"), immediate, feature coverage of a new Krell product ("You guys pander to your advertisers!"), and a very positive review of gear that nobody would argue measures respectably (at any price) ("You guys always give good reviews!"), on top of the usual reduced size of the magazine in the middle of the summer - the August issue should keep the negative feedback coming in full doses.

kthomas
rcprince
2,830 posts
 
They actually had a few interesting articles in there, but very little, and only a handful of equipment reviews. What disappoints me the most is that they used to have a lot of music reviews, and now there's hardly anything. Two classical recordings? Only a couple of rock and jazz? Reminds me of Audio magazine in its final years. Fortunately TAS has a good number of music reviews, and I get BBC Music magazine as well.
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
4,163 posts
 
A high profile, maybe THE highest profile, manufacturer of electronics in audiophile-land, a manufacturer that has consistently made "state of the art" components changes direction and unviels a line of speakers. What should the largest circulation audiophile oriented magazine do? Ignore it. Maybe they should let every other magazine write about the Krell speakers first and then offer their opinion after the newness of the product has settled, say 18 months from now. Alternatively, they could plaster the Krell on their cover and try to sell copies of their magazines. Krell wants to sell speakers and Stereophile wants to sell magazines, it's an obvious conspiracy.
mhubbard
86 posts
 
Its funny you mention the fact that these guys favor certain companies. I'm a big Sunfire fan, and I know that for the money, they put out a great product. So I did a search for reviews in their magazine... not one review! I also noticed that Sunfire does'nt advertise in their magazine! I get the feeling that Stereophile does'nt get along with alot of vendors. I would welcome a response from Stereophile to explain their position on this and why they dont review cost effective product. The trickle down effect in technology is all over this industry, lets read about it!
rcprince
2,830 posts
 
Mhubbard, years ago there was a big fight between Stereophile and Bob Carver, which I believe may have gone to court, and which I recall may have stemmed from his challenge that he could make a solid state amplifier that would sound the same as a 'Phile-chosen tube amplifier, which he did but not to Stereophile's satisfaction. I believe that it was part of the settlement they had with Carver that they would no longer make any references to him or his company, and I'm sure there's enough bad blood still between them that he won't give them his products for review or his advertising dollars.
tenniswino's avatar
tenniswino
46 posts
 
Prince has it right. Carver and Stereophile are as friendly as Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp. Although I thought the dispute also had something to do with the fact that @ 1990 a Stereophile review trashed Carver's new ribbon speakers.
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