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At ease casting stones.. I may not have expressed it well but we were talking about the 80-s when TAS and S'Phile were basically the only game in town..
It would be better to say those two were the only big game going. During the mid '70s through early '80s many smaller operations made the scene; most turned out to be short lived, really 'newsletters.' None had the staying power of either Stereophile (the first and oldest), or Harry's magazine.
One thing one can certainly point to, is that Gordon Holt (and his staff, for large part) was always gentlemanly, whether or not you agreed with his editorial material. Pearson, on the other hand, brought hi-fi journalism into the gutter. At least in my opinion.
The only other 'underground' that made much of an impression on me, and many others, was the short lived Audio Critic, lasting about two or three years. After an extended hiatus it returned in quite different editorial form. From a literate standpoint, Aczel was a high point. I attribute that to his long career at Madison Ave, and he was well read. Whether you agreed with him or not, you had to admit that he could turn a phrase, and was often downright hilarious.
His reviews were typically, short and concise, with little fluff. He was not afraid to hit hard--Infinity QLS and first Janus sub review (which he later modified his opinion on) were examples. Also, his give and take with Jim Bongiorno (always a character, himself), and a series of letters from some engineer at HP (the computer company, not Harry Pearson) were typical of his informed wit. But his operation was essentially a one man band, and after reaching older age, it was too much for him to keep going.