New Stereophile recommended list

The real reason things fall off the RC list is a little-known phenomenon: After components have been on the market for several years, they begin to suffer subtle degradations in sound quality. Science can't explain this, of course, but what does science know? By the way, there is now a name for this phenomenon. It's called Component Burn-Out.

What is Stereophile? Is that the same as an audiophile? If not, which is better audio or stereo? I want the one that is better. But really, what am I getting for my magazine dollars? DO I really need some jackass to tell me that a $75000 air driven turntable represents an "achivement (sic) that will floor me"? IF I paid the money for one and it doesn't floor me, I'm chucking it through the front window of the place I got it. Another joke.

The only similarity between Stereophile today and the orginal Stereophile that J. Gorden Holt published, is the name.

The magazine has gone through a series of degradations, which have included new ownerships, commercialism and John Atkinson. All of these events have added to the deterioration of the quality of the publication.

As for other publications 'Listener' is good read, but they have to keep the politics out of the pages. The new 'Attainable Audio' has posibilities but it is still early in the game; which leaves TAS as the best of the rest. While not perfect they are far superior to the rest that are now available.

Regard and good listening.

AeW,
Re:
>>>"As for other publications 'Listener' is good read, but they have to keep the politics out of the pages."<<<

Could you expand on your point?I'm not sure I understand what you are saying in regards to "politics" and "Listener".
Thanks,
Ken

What I hate most abot Stereophile is that all the reviews seem to be glowing. Every component seems to be groundbreaking and highly recommended. I really miss the likes of HiFi News Record Review and HiFi Choice which have, at least sometimes, given deliciously scathing reviews of equipment.

That said, I must confess to heeding some of Stereophile's recommendations. I mean, if you're going to buy some new equipment, you can do worse than buy a piece that falls into Stereophile's recommended list. A case in point would be something like a pair of B&W Nautilus 805 Speakers. I picked them up new for about $1,800 a year and a half ago. Now, if I wanted to upgrade, I could probably offload the 805s for $1,500 or so on Audiogon. That's not a bad loss on investment, and I think the Stereophile review plays a large part in keeping the value up. I'm not excusing Streophile or anything, but just noting that my buying behavior is impacted somewhat by their reviews.