New Stereophile recommended list

So from time to time you consider purchasing used/demo equipment on this site for say medium to serious money? Perhaps you want to purchase new and surf the sonic curve as it were? Why quibble about a magazine that costs next to nothing on a subscription basis; yet may well aid you in your decision making process?
There are all too few publications that grant us a glimpse of what is new and sometimes classic equipment. Though there are some that are unredeemingly pathetic, certainly TAS and Stereophile, to name a few, review and elaborate upon equipment that I enjoy learning a bit about. If one chooses to object about a plus or minus here or there in A, B or C category strikes me as as part of a game not unlike trading cards.
How dare they reduce the worth of my whatever because it's older, creased or worse not traded at all.
Read the reviews, articles and columns from these magazines. Make your own assessments and then go listen for yourself. To keep blaming editors, management, advertisers, etc is in some fashion to ignore what they do well and remove from you the ultimate responsibilty of listening and deciding for yourself. I truly enjoy these magazines. It grants me a glimpse of equipment I'll never be able to afford, excitement that I do want to listen to this or that and a sense of moving a chess piece in the never ending ploy to reach a satisfying goal. Do I disagree with these publications from time to time. Of course I do. Do I sulk? No I go and listen to music and relish the enjoyment this wonderfully expressive and exuberant medium grants me. And part of this experience is not only this great site, but publications such as TAS and Stereophile. If you don't agree, send me all those issues that make you so irritated.

Who gives a damn what any reviewer says about a product they are all sell outs.

I read and enjoy Stereophile even though they have gone "downhill" the last few years. Victor makes a compelling, well stated argument. At first, Stereophile just used the A+ rating for digital "stuff" which I could make a case for-- but the A+ class in turntables??? What's next? Still, many Agon members, including me, use STPH ratings as a baseline with which to compare competing products. I see it in Audiogon ads all the time, and have used their ratings myself to help sell equipment. Cheers. Craig.

No Tireguy, reveiwers aren't sell outs, they are just businessmen. Why give a lousy reveiw if you recieved the product for free from the manufacturer, and plan on selling it within a few months? A bad reveiw makes your boss, (senior editor) mad and cuts the profit from your sale.

P.S. There are reveiwers out there that have their "friends" sell their equipment for them, so as to save face. Watch the ads.

Listener is kind of fun to read in an "amusing" way. I think that it would be way better if they lost the self proclaimed "Gizmo" for both "political" and "personal" reasons.

As to Stereophile, as much as we knock them, they still have the most in-depth technical reports out of ALL of the audio based mags. As much as you "musical" folks piss and moan about "specs mean nothing", i KNOW that you still read them and take note of them. I just wish TAS did testing like Stereophile so that we could get twice the coverage and even sometimes be able to do a direct comparison between two different test labs.

As such, i find that ALL of the major "glossies" kind of take for granted that we read every audio based rag out there. I find that Stereophile, TAS, etc.. and even sometimes Listener and the "internet mag's" refer to reviews of the same product in their competitors pages. The funny part is that they assume that we know exactly what was said in those reviews and work off of them. Many times we just don't have them at our disposal as points of reference, so the meaning of what they are trying to say is completely lost.

Since they do refer to each other and appear to be "buddy-buddy" with the competition, it is more like a "brotherhood" with nobody worried about upsetting anybody else's apple cart. It's kind of like "Fred said it was good in Audioschlep, Barney from Audiosnooze liked it too and i'm telling you the same thing here. Buy this product." As such, WHERE are the guys and gals that "tell it like it is" anymore ??? While i understand that the overall level of electronics is much higher (as a general rule) than what it was 20+ years ago, come on folks. I have run across WAY too much "crapola" that has been "highly touted" to know that something funny is going on in some of these reviews.

This is not to mention that some manufacturers and audio supply houses get mentioned in every other issue or article by some of these writers. I especially like it when a writer says "Curley from Audio Absolute insisted that i check out the latest from Crapco". Nothing like a blatant plug, huh ??? And then there's that "I liked it so much i bought it and will be using it for my reference" line. You BOUGHT it ??? With what, the 25 plugs that you've given them in the last year ??? And using it as a "reference" ??? For how long ??? Probably until the next time ( 2 months or so ) Audio Absolute sends something else over for you to rave about ???

Don't you find it "interesting" that some brands get reviewed and "place" in the rankings on an extremely regular basis ? Just count how many Adcom, Musical Fidelity, Madrigal, etc... products are listed in the last several years worth of Stereophile's recommended components lists and you'll see EXACTLY what i'm talking about. Out of the HUNDREDS of audio companies out there, do you think that there are only a dozen or so companies out that would like to get their products reviewed or are good value / excellent performers ???

There is NO conspiracy or "secret agenda" here. It is out in the open and they are rubbing our noses in it. The only problem is that ALL of the mags are in on it. The only difference is how they display the pictures and what words they use to rave about this months "doo-doo". After all, it isn't "crap", it's "art" if you look at it in the "right context".... Sean
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