Just a lot of presumptions. I buy speakers in what I imagine you consider to be the audiophile market. In my personal experience more $$$ definitely not always better. Lots of considerations, like general sonic presentation, the size of the room they are for, how they look, how big they are, how deep they go, any fatigue, etc. one of my key criteria is how speakers sound at low volume, which some very expensive speakers do terribly.
I can’t imagine there are many people naive enough not to understand the game that goes one with consumer audio magazines, but likewise ASR’s review of the LA90 amplifier came out on the product launch day and Topping use the review for their own website publicity, so there was clearly coordination there. I hope ASR got paid something. That’s just how the world works, the grown ups in the room will see it for what it is, it’s not corruption. If Topping advertised in Stereophile they might get some reviews. You don’t have to read the reviews or buy based on them, I certainly don’t. My issue is that they tend to be incredibly tedious and I don’t have the patience for them.