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Stereophile "coverage"

Stereophile must enjoy all the negative reaction they get out of their choices of what to cover. Witness the latest cover story, the new Krell LAT-1 speaker. Here, from the biggest of the big advertisers, we get basically immediate cover-story coverage of their latest release, a $37,500 speaker. Stratospheric. The reviewer (who amazingly wasn't Jonathon Scull, with something of this price), is extremely positive while almost seeming to forget the price of this beast. It doesn't go much below 40Hz and it measures horribly. I guess you'll have to wait for their $75K model to get around those obstacles, though the option to pair the LAT-1's with some Krell Master subs is offered up to get down below 40Hz.

So, a super-expensive speaker coupled with other reviews of >$8K components ("you guys never review affordable stuff!"), immediate, feature coverage of a new Krell product ("You guys pander to your advertisers!"), and a very positive review of gear that nobody would argue measures respectably (at any price) ("You guys always give good reviews!"), on top of the usual reduced size of the magazine in the middle of the summer - the August issue should keep the negative feedback coming in full doses.

kthomas
mhubbard
86 posts
 
Its funny you mention the fact that these guys favor certain companies. I'm a big Sunfire fan, and I know that for the money, they put out a great product. So I did a search for reviews in their magazine... not one review! I also noticed that Sunfire does'nt advertise in their magazine! I get the feeling that Stereophile does'nt get along with alot of vendors. I would welcome a response from Stereophile to explain their position on this and why they dont review cost effective product. The trickle down effect in technology is all over this industry, lets read about it!
rcprince
3,059 posts
 
Mhubbard, years ago there was a big fight between Stereophile and Bob Carver, which I believe may have gone to court, and which I recall may have stemmed from his challenge that he could make a solid state amplifier that would sound the same as a 'Phile-chosen tube amplifier, which he did but not to Stereophile's satisfaction. I believe that it was part of the settlement they had with Carver that they would no longer make any references to him or his company, and I'm sure there's enough bad blood still between them that he won't give them his products for review or his advertising dollars.
tenniswino's avatar
tenniswino
46 posts
 
Prince has it right. Carver and Stereophile are as friendly as Monica Lewinsky and Linda Tripp. Although I thought the dispute also had something to do with the fact that @ 1990 a Stereophile review trashed Carver's new ribbon speakers.
abstract7
541 posts
 
The whole issue was disapointing. There are frequently issues with no equipment reviews I'm interested in, but there's no excuse for the lame music session in the latest issue. The interview with Marsalis was about the only thing positive (and Astor's place--I always like that column).
tsouthworth
59 posts
 
Pretty slim issue!

What I did a double take on was the complaint on the frequency response graph on the Audio Physic Avanti speaker further in the mag. (I think it was a sharp dip somewhere between 2-4K.) Looking back at the Krell response graph, it was much more rough, peaks and dips all over the place from midrange on up, with or without the grills. The Avanti appears much smoother at 1/3 the price. But what do I know?I own Quad 63s. Maybe I can't read the graphs too well, either.
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