R.I.P. Sound & Vision.com?

[SHB]

www.soundandvision.com seems to be dead. Stereophile’s sister site has sat idle for almost 3 months. Their print magazine ceased publication at the end of 2024.

If it is kaput, that’s a bit of a shame since I enjoyed its music, equipment and tech articles. Their equipment reviews were kinda meh.

I guess the last guy to leave the office left the server on.

 

[amirm]

Ah, had not heard. They were a very important AV publication 20 to 30 years ago. I looked at them a few years ago and didn't see anything but a pale copy of what they used to be.

 

[Rick63]

If I remember correctly, Sound And Vision magazine was the successor to Stereo Review once A/V gear became popular.

I have fond memories of anxiously awaiting each month's editions of Stereo Review and High Fidelity magazines and reading them. At one time I had a collection of about 10 years of every issue of both.

I really enjoyed Julian Hirsch's reviews back in the day. These days, we are fortunate to have @amirm.

 

[SHB]

Ah, had not heard. They were a very important AV publication 20 to 30 years ago. I looked at them a few years ago and didn't see anything but a pale copy of what they used to be.

If memory serves, the publisher of Stereophile bought Audio magazine around 1998. They then vaporized Audio when they started S&V. Audio subscribers were given a S&V subscription for the balance owed.

Given that S&V’s equipment reviews were a pale shadow of the comprehensive reviews Audio did, I was very unhappy with the situation. I didn’t renew when the subscription lapsed.

 

[Rick63]

My memory isn't totally shot yet.

Sound & Vision (magazine) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Sal1950]

Ah, had not heard. They were a very important AV publication 20 to 30 years ago. I looked at them a few years ago and didn't see anything but a pale copy of what they used to be.

All the really good AV mags are gone, as are most all others except for the on-lines.
I still miss the printed-mailed issues of Widescreen Review. The beautiful photography and color printing has never been equaled neither before or since.
It would break my heart to throw them out after they'd start to stack up.

 

[mhardy6647]

... and, just to be clear, Stereo Review was originally HiFi and Music Review, debuting in 1958 (changed to HiFi and Stereo Review ca. 1961 Feb. 1960)

STEREO REVIEW: Consumer audio and music magazine beginning in 1958

Stereo Review was an American magazine first published in 1958 by Ziff-Davis with the title HiFi and Music Review. It was one of a small group of magazines then available for the individual interested in high fidelity (the other major ones being Audio and High Fidelity) It featured a blend of...

www.worldradiohistory.com

 

[SHB]

If I remember correctly, Sound And Vision magazine was the successor to Stereo Review once A/V gear became popular.

Yeah, you’re right. Audio magazine hung in a few more years before evaporating.

The ratio of real, journalistic, objective measurement-based audio reviews to crappy, Sounds-Good-to-Me reviews used to be about 5 or 6 to 1 (Stereo Review, Audio, High Fidelity and a few more against the golden eared A-holes at Stereophile).

It’s now about 5 or 6 websites with measurements versus a couple hundred dilettantes who know nothing about science or have lost their minds saying that their listening impressions constitute a review.

 

[Power Pop 23]

FYI,

A kind soul has scanned all issues from February 1958 to December 1998 of this magazine:

STEREO REVIEW: Consumer audio and music magazine beginning in 1958

Stereo Review was an American magazine first published in 1958 by Ziff-Davis with the title HiFi and Music Review. It was one of a small group of magazines then available for the individual interested in high fidelity (the other major ones being Audio and High Fidelity) It featured a blend of...

www.worldradiohistory.com

 

[tineared]

FYI,

A kind soul has scanned all issues from February 1958 to December 1998 of this magazine:

STEREO REVIEW: Consumer audio and music magazine beginning in 1958

Stereo Review was an American magazine first published in 1958 by Ziff-Davis with the title HiFi and Music Review. It was one of a small group of magazines then available for the individual interested in high fidelity (the other major ones being Audio and High Fidelity) It featured a blend of...

www.worldradiohistory.com

Thanks for the link. This was my first audio subscription back around 1984.
It'll be fun to ride in the way-back machine

 

[Sal1950]

FYI,

A kind soul has scanned all issues from February 1958 to December 1998 of this magazine:

STEREO REVIEW: Consumer audio and music magazine beginning in 1958

Stereo Review was an American magazine first published in 1958 by Ziff-Davis with the title HiFi and Music Review. It was one of a small group of magazines then available for the individual interested in high fidelity (the other major ones being Audio and High Fidelity) It featured a blend of...

www.worldradiohistory.com

I think I was subscribed and read every one of them from around 1973 or 74 forward.

 

[mhardy6647]

FYI,

A kind soul has scanned all issues from February 1958 to December 1998 of this magazine:

STEREO REVIEW: Consumer audio and music magazine beginning in 1958

Stereo Review was an American magazine first published in 1958 by Ziff-Davis with the title HiFi and Music Review. It was one of a small group of magazines then available for the individual interested in high fidelity (the other major ones being Audio and High Fidelity) It featured a blend of...

www.worldradiohistory.com

Many kind souls, I reckon. The content @ WRH (which is an incredible resource, although occasionally it's stepped on copyright toes, so to speak) is crowdsourced, although it's fundamentally the labor of love of one person.

https://www.davidgleason.com/

 

[Sal1950]

I think I was subscribed and read every one of them from around 1973 or 74 forward.

although it's fundamentally the labor of love of one person

Boy some of us do really get obsessive about our passions LOL

Our ASR web server sure has been slow all day, at least here it is?

 

[Power Pop 23]

I think I was subscribed and read every one of them from around 1973 or 74 forward.

Ditto

The links remind me of the disappointment I would feel with an issue when Mr. Julian Hirsch did not measure a piece of audio gear I cared about.

Imagine a scenario where audio print magazines measured the gear of willing subscribers.....

 

[mhardy6647]

The old joke about Julian Hirsch's circumspect-to-a-fault written 'bottom line' assessment of virtually any components he ever tested:

"Of all of the amplifiers [etc.] I have ever tested, this is certainly one of them.

One did have to read between the lines of his reviews to tease out any sense of what he really thought about most of the components he tested. No surprise, really, given that the components' manufacturers and/or (in the earlier days of imported hifi) distributors were major advertisers in the magazine.

 

[PristineSound]

Print magazine and legacy media is a dying thing. I argue even Stereophile won't last too long. TAS is the only legacy mag that appears to be going strong but that's because they have the full monopoly of subjectivists, but most subjectivists are on their way out.

ASR, Audioholics, Erin has been taking away readership from these legacy media.

 

[EJ3]

The old joke about Julian Hirsch's circumspect-to-a-fault written 'bottom line' assessment of virtually any components he ever tested:



One did have to read between the lines of his reviews to tease out any sense of what he really thought about most of the components he tested. No surprise, really, given that the components' manufacturers and/or (in the earlier days of imported hifi) distributors were major advertisers in the magazine.

For those that need a 'reminder' dose of some serious subjectivism, there still is the online TONE magazine.
TONEAudio MAGAZINEhttps://www.tonepublications.com

TONEAudio MAGAZINE | The Concierge of High End Audio​

Check out all the great back issues of TONEAudio magazine! Please note that all TONE and TONE related text and images are copyright © 2005–2026 TONE Magazine ...

 

[Sal1950]

I still really miss the days of print mags, maybe just old school habits, IDK.
But with todays internet replacing them, any moron with a keyboard can start a review site hoping for "industry-accomadation" pricing on gear. Jim Austin posted in this months Stereophile that usually is around half of retail. Not bad hey? They then supposedly have to promise not to then turn around and sell it at a profit ???