For the American magazines, I still think TAS is the best, and am surprised to see it getting bashed so hard here. I think they are far better than Stereophile, though I do like Art Dudley. My approach to the magazines was to read as much as I could, trying to determine the individual reviewers sonic tastes, as Robert Harley suggests in his book. I did this for over a year before I actually bought anything, and found all of the reviews helpful. It was easier for me to determine the TAS reviewer's individual tastes more quickly than the Stereophile ones - Stereophile tends to be a little more into the technical than the musical side of things, and I preferred the TAS approach of being more descriptive of the sound. It is very helpful to read reviews written by people who have opposite tastes to yours, as well, as you may like something they don't. I also have emailed the TAS staff before with questions and got very quick, informative responses. Ultimately, I let my own ears be my guide, but I will say that I ended up, with one major exception, with a system that consists almost entirely of products that TAS gave their highest ratings to. I do enjoy HiFi+, however they mostly review stuff not available over here, so they are not of as much practical value for someone assembling a new system.
