TAS new look-the end is near?

I agree about putting some of the folks from Audio to work. I liked some of the features of that mag ( Auricle and the testing procedures ) but also thought that it had deteriorated to a shell of what it formerly was. Sean
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Can't speak for anyone else, but audio and the related magazines is, for me, entertainment and enjoyment. What was it about Fi Magazine? It was fun and entertaining. Certainly ones hopes for a modicum of accuracy and objectivity in a magazine, but as mentioned above a little reading between the lines can go a long way. I read these rags for a rough draft of what's out there and what 1 person (reviewer) thinks about said product at a given time with given associated equipment. It would be naive to purchase a product based solely on a review. It may function as springboard for further investigation of a product or adjuvant info for decision making. But technical measurements notwithstanding, this is a very subjective hobby as far as what one hears, reviewers inclusive. So I read them to gain some information and the enjoyment. If I want a cerebral workout and objective science I'll read Nature or Science, far pricier than any audio mag, but as is so often the case, you get what you pay for. And I'll read S'phile, TAS etc for the sheer enjoyment and entertainment, knowing full well I'll most likely get out of it what I put in it, in dollars and sense.

what about Stereophile? the last issue had, what, 3 equipment reviews and the page count was way down. What's happening there?

I don't know that what TAS has done is all that awful. They're trying to survive in a niche market, after all. It wasn't going to last as a temple to the ego of (all genuflect) The HP. And, when you think about it, is having reviewers that can only write what advertisers want all that much worse than having reviewers that can only write what The HP wants? Granted his standards are high, it still introduces a bias that I, for one, do not want.

Having read this month's issue, I hope TAS can stay afloat. They have far more equipment reviews and, of more interest to me, record reviews than Stereophile (my biggest disappointment with S-phile, they used to have a lot of record reviews, now they look like the late Audio in that area), and pretty good quality people writing for them. Circulation numbers and advertisers, though, will have to increase for them to stay alive, no matter how good the content. The Incredible Shrinking Stereophile is purely a factor of advertising pages, as Atkinson has made clear in prior issues.

I recognize all the anti-HP sentiment expressed above, as I used to really feel that way too. Then I started reading some of the earlier issues and getting a flavor for the fact that this really was his journal as he learned about the equipment, and it made his writing a lot more palatable to me. His articles still could get me boiling at times, as could his style, as I think he came off appearing as knowing more than he really did. But you know, even when I might think he or one of the TAS writers was a pompous you-know-what, I would still be stimulated by what was said to read it thoroughly, and give some additional thought to how I was listening, what I was listening for and what to listen to. Never really got that feeling about many of the recent Stereophile writings. I will genuinely miss that, if it comes to pass.