Stereophile's refusal to review more low

Rayhall: I understand where you are coming from and have to agree with your thoughts on the general decline of Western civilization in that only an individual (however when multiplied becomes a mass) can make a difference. It's kind of funny, in context of the thread, but I stopped getting all the Hi-fi mags around 1981 or so and have never had a desire to read them since. I rarely ever read pro reviews on line anymore, though I did when we first became connected to the net. I don't as a rule distrust individuals, just organizations as I have experienced over and over how easily they are corrupted. But as I now lack the energy to, I don't concern myself too much with things that do very little real harm, if any, on a whole. My wife however is still a crusader, like yourself, and is hell on wheels when she gets going on something. Anyway, I apologize for such a curt response. My favorite audio magazines are composed of the individual posts at both Audiogon and Audio Asylum and I make them up in my head (the magazines) as I cruise through the sites. There are even some regulars (strong personalities) who can give Orson Bean a run for his money (though I hope that Kublakhan doesn't start wearing bow ties on my account).

Just a thought but.... What if they only review products from mfgrs. that have the bucks to advertise with them. So what? Are you sure you want to buy from a company who does not have enough cash to afford this. How will this company survive a downturn in the market? Will you be left with no service when they go bankrupt? Or if they review it, give it an A+ rate, will they even be able to keep up with the orders generated while maintaining quality?

I was discussing this with my wife last night (who once published her own food magazine) and do the mags now carry advertisements for things other than audio/vidio? And, if not, why not? I mean do they have liquor ads and the like? I may stop by a newstand and take a look today as I have not looked at the mags for such a long time. It seems to me that this would be a good thing (having such ads) and I assume that the sales volume is enough to attract them.

No money, if no-one purchased from companies short of advertising cash, such companies would never reach the point of solvency (advertising or other) of ML, Krell, Linn, B&W, etc. So, any new Co with little seed capital is doomed to go belly under for lack of sales...

If on the other hand they get a sales boost, it would compromise on quality!

While I don't know about the latter, I disagree about the former: many present-day robust manufacturers started out in a proverbial garage... and *have* cash (advert or otherwise) today.

Granted, not all inherited a precision engineering operation in Scotland -- but surely there's hope!

Cheers!

Dekay, on your last point, the high end rags have only convinced BMW, at this point, to advertise in their mags. Interestingly, I recall some people actually complaining about the car ads in the letters! Guess they don't know what pays the bills. I'm surprised that more of the manufacturers of other "high-end" products haven't done this; we might be their target group.