Stereophile has staying power and their classifications do help drive sales for manufacturers. I've seen many ads here where the seller points out the item for sale is "Stereophile Class A". Means nothing at all to me, from what I can tell it's hard not to get some sort of positive rating from Stereophile. There's WAY too many variables to take their opinion with more than a grain of salt. I have a hard time with any of the mags simply because of the nature of the beast; they get a new amp in for audition and have a month or so to write a review. In my experience it takes at least a month (or longer) for a component to burn in and the real character to show through. Synergy is overlooked. A speaker may be fantastic with solid state gear but be considered too warm with tubes. The room plays a big role, far as I know my room is quite different from any reviewers I'v heard about. More often than not they review the products with music I don't listen to. A system that shines with vocals and small-ensemble jazz may not be worth a damn when it come to rock. It goes on and on. Save the money spent on magazines and pick up some new music.
Do you approve of "How Stereophile Market itself"?
I was moderate subscriber to Stereophile over that last two years or so, but recently cancelled my subscribtion around Dec of 2001. Like most ex-subscribers I received many junk mail about renewing my subscription, but never thought much of it.
Yesterday, I received a letter from the National Credit Audit Company (NCAC), stating that they were collecting on behalf of Stereophile. This frustrated me because I had already cancelled my subscription and haven't received new copies for months. I initially thought it was a timing issue or some clerks at Stereophile forgot to cancel my subscription and now my credit history will be affected by all this. It wasn't until I called NCAC, dealt with the annoying automated operator, then realized that it was just another ploy to get me to sign up for another subscription. NCAC went further to state that they're a normal credit collector and will not report or make any contact to the credit report people. I can't believe Stereophile would steep so low with this type of marketing ployed. Any of you ever experienced this frustrating ordeal?
Yesterday, I received a letter from the National Credit Audit Company (NCAC), stating that they were collecting on behalf of Stereophile. This frustrated me because I had already cancelled my subscription and haven't received new copies for months. I initially thought it was a timing issue or some clerks at Stereophile forgot to cancel my subscription and now my credit history will be affected by all this. It wasn't until I called NCAC, dealt with the annoying automated operator, then realized that it was just another ploy to get me to sign up for another subscription. NCAC went further to state that they're a normal credit collector and will not report or make any contact to the credit report people. I can't believe Stereophile would steep so low with this type of marketing ployed. Any of you ever experienced this frustrating ordeal?