stereo review magazine

i trust their [CR] car reviews. their beer reviews were pretty on-the-mark as well. their audio reviews OTOH needed some re-thinking IMHO based on how well they rated the bose acoustimass, same applies to SR. granted, i have several bose products [AWMS, wave radio, lifestyle 30, cinemate SR-1, NC headphones] and they are suitable in their realms [well-recorded pop music, anything less well-recorded is intolerable through their equipment with the exception of the SR-1 and wave radio which were probably the best-sounding (overall) of the things they ever made]. their headphones sound veiled, however. 

in 1980 i had a college professor [also an audiophile] who told me it was his considered opinion that julian hirsch had to be deaf. i didn't quite grok this at the time [i was a teenager of limited experience] but it makes sense to me now. he heard "numbers" more than he heard the music, in a general sense. 

"i trust their [CR] car reviews,,,"

At the time of Lexus/Toyota unintentional acceleration deadly fiasco, Consumer Report still had some Toyota on the cover as "The Best", maybe "most reliable". In any case, they gave high marks, and certainly influenced a number of purchases, to the car that ended up being a disaster in full meaning of that word.

At some point, their review discouraged buyers from one car just to name it the best the following year. Without any model change. Same car. I bought it and all my friends said I was wrong because "didn’t you see what Consumer Report says". A few months later, I had "the best".

I am with millercarbon on this one. I would not check their reviews of a toaster or a screwdriver. For whatever reason, their reviews miss every point I could be interested in and are not trustworthy for my needs.

"Unbiased reviews" and "no advertisements" was also debatable. At that time, it had higher percentage of advertising pages than Stereophile, or whatever audio magazine I had. I counted them. True, Consumer Report advertisements were for their own money-making services.

About Bose...

"A foolish company of fools..."

Given their sales, diverse portfolio of interesting products (some not audio related), and overall acceptance of what they make, they may not be that foolish.

"TU 717 tuner"

I have one and, a few years ago, I bought another one for someone. Neither of them ever opened and had any work done of them. Both still work flawlessly, including lights. Maybe Stereo Review was better than Consumer Report at recommending well-performing and reliable products.