@Kal Rubinson, Big Changes Ahead at Stereophile !!!

[Sal1950]

Just read in the latest Stereophile that this months "Music In The Round" column will be @Kal Rubinson last for them.
I was quite upset to read this as he was a lone wolf on the subject in serious musical media.
But there is a bright side to this story, Stereophile will be expanding it's coverage of multichannel gear to include full equipment
reviews with John Atkinson doing his full measurement routines, very KOOL. I'll be very interested in seeing gear go under their
microscope and present to the whole world the real story Between what Amir does here and JA at Stereophile, we might just
pressure the industry into improving the whole picture of gear we're getting.
Kal, I'm really stoked that your new position and that of the magazines approach will bring a higher level of interest in multich to the
audiophile community. Stereophile carries a lot of weight in the industry and perhaps a slightly new focus on multich, rather than power cables,
MQA, and digital communication lines will bring changes in the listening room that people can really hear.
I have high hopes for the future!

 

[amirm]

I am confused. Is Kal leaving stereophile or is he doing the multi-channel reviews now?

 

[Primare Knob]

I think you have to much hope in the average consumer who doesn't understand anything of these measurements.

I think Amir has already shown questionable measurements of gear positively reviewed by SP. In the end, there is no such thing as a bad review.

AV gear will be compared with AV gear, so essentially the world keeps comparing rotten apples with rotten apples, where some might end up better than the other.

SP isn't really the source for budget friendly gear either, so I expect reviews of the high end gear and the occasional top range of the "mid end" gear, which will be compared favorably to the high end, and to be considered very good for the "money". Amir has shown the measurements of his high end Pre Pro, which has shown to measure well.

 

[Ron Texas]

Confused to. What is @Kal Rubinson 's new position?

 

[Sal1950]

My understanding is that the "In The Round" features are going away and Kal is no longer restricted to multich gear but will become a general reviewer of all gear. OTOH, Stereophile says it is going to increase it's coverage of multich gear and will be doing full reviews to include measurements by JA. Possibly other reviewers besides Kal may even do multich gear reviews?
I'm not sure what to think, you could read between the lines that Stereophile is doubling down on multich coverage and is attempting to expand consumer interest in it.
Or, you could read that Stereophile has in general given up on hopes of multich interest becoming mainstream and is giving a nice spin on the changes being made there?
At this point I'm not sure what to think, I'm hoping it's the former and not the latter.
Hoping for Kal to stop by and give us some input.

 

[PierreV]

I'm not sure what to think, you could read between the lines that Stereophile is doubling down on multich coverage and is attempting to expand consumer interest in it.

Enough veils have been lifted, now we need to lift domes.

 

[DonH56]

The editorial says Kal's last column is in the issue, his 100th and where he decided to stop. Not clear to me if he is retiring completely or become one of the reviewing "pool" (I have not read Kal's column yet; still on the preceding issue ).

It also says multichannel will be going "mainstream" with full reviews and measurements, so that is exciting, and implies Kal's efforts have paid off.

Hopefully Kal will chip in and clarify.

 

[Ron Texas]

Kal has reviewed lots of speakers in stereo pairs.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

My understanding is that the "In The Round" features are going away and Kal is no longer restricted to multich gear but will become a general reviewer of all gear. OTOH, Stereophile says it is going to increase it's coverage of multich gear and will be doing full reviews to include measurements by JA.

That is correct. It was my own decision to terminate the MITR series and definitely not the editor's decision. The reason is as stated that I no longer want to be tied to a regular cycle that forces me to acquire, install, assess and review/comment every 60 days even though my enthusiasm for multichannel is unabated. I will continue to do regular reviews and, in fact, will be doing more. Products in regular feature reviews will continue to be bench-tested by JA.

Listen guys, I retired from my regular day job 4 years ago, not because I couldn't do it nor because I didn't love it but because I no longer wanted to endure the weight of administration and the pressure of the calendar. Same for MITR.

 

[Zog]

That is correct. It was my own decision to terminate the MITR series and definitely not the editor's decision. The reason is as stated that I no longer want to be tied to a regular cycle that forces me to acquire, install, assess and review/comment every 60 days even though my enthusiasm for multichannel is unabated. I will continue to do regular reviews and, in fact, will be doing more. Products in regular feature reviews will continue to be bench-tested by JA.

Listen guys, I retired from my regular day job 4 years ago, not because I couldn't do it nor because I didn't love it but because I no longer wanted to endure the weight of administration and the pressure of the calendar. Same for MITR.

I suspect this is 'Win - Win'. You doing what you want means that Stereophile and its readership will continue to get good copy.

 

[GrimSurfer]

That is correct. It was my own decision to terminate the MITR series and definitely not the editor's decision. The reason is as stated that I no longer want to be tied to a regular cycle that forces me to acquire, install, assess and review/comment every 60 days even though my enthusiasm for multichannel is unabated. I will continue to do regular reviews and, in fact, will be doing more. Products in regular feature reviews will continue to be bench-tested by JA.

Listen guys, I retired from my regular day job 4 years ago, not because I couldn't do it nor because I didn't love it but because I no longer wanted to endure the weight of administration and the pressure of the calendar. Same for MITR.

Good luck in the restructuring of your workflow, Kal. As the pressure of a fixed editorial cycle fades, I'm sure you'll get a great deal of enjoyment from contributing where you think you can have the greatest strategic impact.

It will be interesting to see how Stereophile handles more regular coverage of multichannel. Will JA judge performance by category or against a more general audiophile standard. If it is the former, I see this as a future pressure point on the industry.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Will JA judge performance by category or against a more general audiophile standard. If it is the former, I see this as a future pressure point on the industry.

The numbers are the numbers.

 

[Sal1950]

Listen guys, I retired from my regular day job 4 years ago, not because I couldn't do it nor because I didn't love it but because I no longer wanted to endure the weight of administration and the pressure of the calendar. Same for MITR.

Understood and wish you well going forward. As a MitR person myself I can't help but mourn the loss of your column, the only one of it's kind. A major part of the reason I just send in my 2 year sub renewal was looking forward to reading your columns. I do hope Austins proposed commitment to doing ongoing and even expanded coverage of multch gear "taking it mainstream" is an honest statement and not just putting a good spin on the ending of the MitR column.
Best Regards

 

[Ron Party]

Kal, whichever path you take, I hope you find happiness and peace. Insofar as I'm aware, you've always conducted yourself with grace and honor and I wish you all the best.

 

[amirm]

Kal, whichever path you take, I hope you find happiness and peace. Insofar as I'm aware, you've always conducted yourself with grace and honor and I wish you all the best.

I second that before anyone else does.

 

[amirm]

Listen guys, I retired from my regular day job 4 years ago, not because I couldn't do it nor because I didn't love it but because I no longer wanted to endure the weight of administration and the pressure of the calendar. Same for MITR.

I feel that pressure every time WSR Magazine asks me to write something. The standard for print is so much higher than online adding to the pain of getting something written for them: high resolution images, where captions go, etc., etc. I continue to do it as a favor to Gary Reber who runs it when he is low on content but otherwise, just don't like to it.

 

[rodtor]

Listen guys, I retired from my regular day job 4 years ago, not because I couldn't do it nor because I didn't love it but because I no longer wanted to endure the weight of administration and the pressure of the calendar. Same for MITR.

It must have been nice to have arrived at this point, and to have been able to respond accordingly.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Thanks, all.

 

[RichB]

Will it now be called Multiphile

- Rich

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Will it now be called Multiphile

Of course, you are just asking for the standard retort: Stereo does not mean 2 channel; it means solid, as in three-dimensional. Hence, from its title, Stereophile embraces all formats except, perhaps, mono.