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Tyler and Acoustic Zen reviews in TAS

Current issue of TAS has Sallie R(?) reviewing Tyler Linbrook II and Acoustic Zen Adagios. Both get glowing reviews. What I found really odd is that while the speakers are priced similarly and the reviews are by the same person in the the same issue, there is not a single sentence of comparison in either review. I find that baffling. Frankly, this diminishes my trust in the reviewer as well as the editor who should not have let this pass.

In the Tyler review she makes a few comparative remarks against her reference Spendor S8e. The gist is something like this: If you divide up the sound spectrum into parts (lower mid range, mid bass, etc) then Spendor gets more of these right. However, in toto, she finds the Tylers more magical or special or whatever the adjective is. Still, she does seem to prefer the Spendors. Make of it whatever you will.

Everyone is entitled to personal taste without being able to rationally explain it all. So I don't mind that. But I thought a serious reviewer should have compared Adagios to the other two.

I am curious what others thought of this in case you saw the reviews, and how you think the three speakers (Tyler Linbrook II, AZ Adagio, Spendor S8e) compare.
aktchi

Showing 5 responses by aktchi

aktchi OP
274 posts
 
Bartokfan:

I decided to start an independent thread on these particular issues (TAS reviews, the Adagio review, etc), so people who are not following the other thread may also share their thoughts and experience.

BTW, while I am sure that advertising affects a magazine's slant, it may well be that Sallie personally is fond of that one Spendor model. Personal likes and dislikes are fine and have their place, so I a ok with that as long as everything else added up.

I still found it odd that no mention of either Tylers or her "reference" Spendors was made in the Adagio review. I had to read it fast (Wife waiting by the door!) so could have missed a breezy mention.

However, as they say, never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidiity or incompetence...
aktchi OP
274 posts
 
Joeabrams: Your question assumes that Sallie had both the Tyler and Acoustic Zen speakers in her listening room at the same time, which may or may not be the case. Even though the two reviews appear in the same issue, they may have been written months apart. If that's the case, then it's a reasonable choice not to compare speaker "A" to your _memory_ of speaker "B."
Fair enough re Tylers, although many reviewers do include a comment or two from memory (after all, it is not meant to be a full blown A/B comparison, it is mainly a review of one speaker). Spendors are her reference speakers, she might be expected to have a good memory of their sound. Anyway, I can't imagine a reviewer would have nothing else to compare Adagios with. But as I said, I did read the review in hurry. Not a big deal, just struck me as odd and a spoor a reflection othe editor as the reviewer herself.

Tvad: Is anyone going to make a purchase decision based solely on a review in TAS? Not likely. It seems to me readers routinely over-analyze reviews and reviewers' agendas.
I don't know if anyone purchases based solely on one review, but it is one source of information and opinions.
aktchi OP
274 posts
 
Bartokfan: ...btw I see the Spendor is british. Sorry I don't care for brit sound. But I'll give them a fair and unbias hearing tomorrow.

How funny that in the same sentence you first state your bias and then promise to be unbiased. :)

Anyway, I shall look forward to your review of Spendor S8e. If you are going to a dealership and see this message in time, also try to listen to Spendor SP1/2e, that is the similarly priced model in the "classic" line that some like better.
aktchi OP
274 posts
 
FWIW, the Adagio review is available online at :

http://www.upscaleaudio.com/updates/tasadagio.pdf

www.upscaleaudio.com/updates/tasadagio.pdf

I have not been able to locate the Tyler review online.
aktchi OP
274 posts
 
Dumboat: I have listened to, brought home and bought so many speaker systems since then I have lost count. IMHO Tyler speakers are one of the real bargains in the audio world. Build quality is superb, they sound fantastic and for the money are tough to beat. I bring home speakers to compare, but to find something I like better costs 3-4 times more and I cannot justify it..

I would appreciate it if you could name some the better speakers you compared with Ty's. Those that were bested, and those that were better but cost much more.
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