Stereophile electrical system improvement article

[cochlea]

He said the improvement on his HT system was so great that his 90 year old hearing impaired mother in law did not need closed captions any longer.

Think about that.

I wonder if she was able to tell the difference from the kitchen?

 

[tuga]

Magazine reviews exist to sell stuff.

What's the surprise here?

 

[anmpr1]

Magazine reviews exist to sell stuff.

I think from a strictly hi-fi point, that is almost always the case. There's nothing intrinsically wrong with that, as long as the reviewer is honest and factual.

Recall Gordon Holt, after he started his magazine. His stated goal was to avoid advertisements since he didn't want the hassle of third party editorial influence. He complained that when he was working for High Fidelity and Audiocraft, 'bad' reviews couldn't be run for fear of offending advertisers. Julian Hirsch and Larry Klein (Stereo Review) more or less admitted it in print, justifying the action by saying they didn't want to waste readers precious time by running reviews of 'substandard' gear.

Compare that with an early Stereophile (March 1963); a reader wrote in complaining that the magazine never ran any 'bad' reviews. Gordon replied (I presume unironically):

We don't have the space to devote to reports on junk, and we do not believe our readers are interested in junk. We do not see our equipment reports as a medium for venting our spleen, but rather as a means of alerting our readers to components they might be interested in.

In effect, Holt argued the same justification as the 'big baddies'. Of course, with no advertising, and with a shoestring budget plus limited editorial resources, one could sort of give him a pass.

I like to compare the audio scene with car magazines. As bad as, for example, Car and Driver has become, editorial-wise, they don't mind panning cars for their demerits. Look at their recent GTI/Golf R review: great drivers car for the dollar, cheap interior compared to the earlier model, and horrible, user-unfriendly control ergonomics. So they didn't 'lie' about the car, or ignore its shortcomings. They directly pointed out flaws. Even as they put it on the C/D Ten Best list.

 

[Mart68]

Magazine reviews exist to sell stuff.

What's the surprise here?

There's no surprise.

It would have been a surprise if after the work was done he reported that the hum was gone and that was it.

But we all knew that wasn't going to happen. That never happens. A veil must always be lifted, that's reviewing 101.