what's your opinion on the magazine 'stereo review'??

I enjoyed "Stereo Review" back in the 70s, and it certainly piqued my interest in newer/better equipment as well as gave reviewers' perspective on artists or albums of interest. I always took reviewers' opinions as just that, and make my own buying and listening decisions.

As for the "Specs are everything" principle, I never bought that. Published specs are sensitive to test & measurement method and represent what is thought to be most important, not everything that actually is. Marantz used to point this out in their literature, saying in effect "Our specs may not be the most impressive, but we sound better." That of course is a matter of opinion and taste, but my experience bore it out in comparison with friends' gear.

Design decisions on the inside, such as the resonant frequency of a tank circuit, filter characteristics, or the precision of resistors may or may not be reflected in output specifications, but they all play a part in making the sound.

Great Magazine with wonderful reviews of gear and music.  I can still see in my mind the pages that contained the reviews of many of my albums / CDs.

Then along came 'high end audio', the folks with many dollars and not so much knowledge.  So, in order to make the millions, sitting there ready for the taking, they first, had to discredit mags like stereo review.   And so they did.  Destroyed the reputations, or tried to, of many of the great pioneers in audio, in favor of a bunch of charlatans whose research and evidence was:   Specs don't matter, (unless they help us), it's what I hear that counts.  Now everyone was an expert. 
Took surprisingly little to conquer and dominate the herd.

Stereo Review and other mags help build the industry, the so-called ''audiophiles' have just about destroyed it.

Cheers

My first encounter with SR, was after being hired at Audio Lab, Indian School Rd, Phoenix AZ. I was hired to sell audio gear for the store. Took home back issues of SR and Audio Etc. Read them cover to cover, including the ads. As the new and only salesperson in the store, I needed to get up to speed. Not just the products, the jargon, specs. Edward Tatnall Canby classic reviews got me into classic music.
 +1 rok2id

What a blast from the past. I had subscriptions to High Fidelity, Stereo Review, and Audio way back when and enjoyed reading each one of them when they arrived. That's how I learned what little I know about stereo equipment.

The record reviews were always fun to read too. One of the reviewers, PhyI Garland, I actually had as a college instructor. She turned me onto to Coltrane and jazz for which I'll be forever indebted. It's a shame those mags are long gone. A couple of years ago after lugging back issues around the country for decades I finally threw out all my piles of them after realizing I never reread them and probably never would. 

Maybe I should get a new subscription or two. Which of the newer mags would anyone recommend to take their place?

Mike

Millercarbon...interesting points I won't dispute.  At 16 in 1971 I read every month and thought I learned a lot as a start into hi-fi.  Later sold stereo (yamaha, McIntosh, Ohm, B&O, other classic 70's) and have an aquaintance with Julian Hirsch's son.  We are both musicians in bands and he was once just as opinionated as you say his dad was.  But he did have the cleanest sounding PA system on our little circuit.  He later ran a pro sound audio store.  I will completely agree on their Rodriguez cartoons .  Still applicable.