I have read Stereophile and TAS since the early 80s. I enjoy them for what they are. To me a source of exposure. I do not purchase them to find fault. There is so many good to great products available today why not review those that can be recommended. Cause no harm. (That said I have/had components in my system that have not been reviewed.) The collective sonic merits of a component is so subjective. It remains that one can put together great components at any price level and end up with a system that represents far less than the sum of the individual components.
From my viewpoint two technical aspects that could be better discussed in equipment reviews are:
1)The relationship between speaker sensitivity and the impedance/reactance curves with reference to power requirement. (Usually covered well by JA in Stereophile.)
2)Compatibility concerns of the component under review with the upstream or downstream component as influenced by impedance or gain particularities.
Reactance and gain structure compatibility across a system is very important. This includes, however is not limited to, speaker sensitivity and cartridge output. I do believe as transducers they do contribute a great deal to the character of a system.
