Mags are only useful if you take all opinions with a grain of salt. Some reviewers have an agenda, some are more interested in cleaver writing and some are either deaf or stupid. One reviewer has an unusualy small room and reviews large full-range speakers. An other encourages Rotel to improve certain technical aspects so they can "take on the big guys", but this mag is known for its position that all amps (of the same power rating} sound the same. Still its good to know whats out there, and if anyone is listening, I like good photos. And I dont mind ads. OK, there is alot of information out there and I do enjoy reading just about all of them. But dont stake your paycheck on one review.
Most Honest Audio Magazine?
I subscribe to Stereophile and I really enjoy reading it but something happened last year that made me raise an eyebrow as to the authenticity of their intentions. Remember the review of the B&W Nautilus 805's? The original reviewer raved about them and rated them "Class A Restricted Low Frequency". Shortly thereafter they demoted the same speaker down to "Class B Restricted Low Frequency". This really hurt the magazine's credibility in my eyes. My first conclusion was that they didn't want to upset the other manufacturers who produced "Class A" products at far higher prices. Shouldn't a trade journal give credit to the truly remarkable products especially when they are produced for relatively decent prices? It's unfortunate that the advertising dollars of the megabuck manufacturers bullied a stellar product into receiving a less than stellar final rating. I'm wondering if this hasn't happened before. I've since heard from some of my audio buddies that corruption does indeed exist in the audio press; everything from reviewers being related to manufacturers to reviewers being offered products for a song (pun intended). Please share your thoughts and experiences when it comes to audio magazines and let me know which ones you'd rate best and worst. Putting together a great system is hard enough without having to sift through the sometimes suspicious advice of those publications who purport to advance the hobby.