Stereophile's refusal to review more low

I agree - there are many who ridicule Sound & Vision which is typically of much more "affordable" gear. If Stereophile reviewed considerably more pieces that were "affordable", I think they'd lose a lot of readership. To me, they review a lot of stuff that is $2-10K, which is where their greatest value / differentiation is. I get tired of some of their coverage of ultra-expensive stuff, but it's not overbearing. And, as stated, for a buck an issue, it's a great deal. -Kirk

I guess you could interpret the comment that Stereophile wanted to see ad revenue before a product-for-review submittal as meaning that that product would then get a good review as well, but that's not how I interpreted it. Stereophile has leverage with manufacturers - with as established as they are, the manufacturers need them worse than they need the manufacturers (at least individually), so it seems plausible to me that they could be saying, "show me some ad revenue before you submit a product for review" while still feeling free to communicate honestly about how the product performed.

Certainly, a purist quest for "the best" would be limited by such a policy, but I think it's outside the scope of a single magazine to review everything anyway, so I don't really expect to Stereophile to find the holy grail. I do expect them to report accurately and honestly on all products reviewed, and don't think that their purported policy precludes that. -Kirk

Especially at a buck an issue.