17.0 The Press:
17.1 Which magazine should I read?
17.2 Which reviews are better?
17.3 Is Consumer Reports right?
17.1 Which magazine should I read?
Which ever one you like. None are absolutely objective. Here's a list of some common ones:
Audio Amateur ($20/yr 4 issues) (Do-it-yourself)
Box 576
Peterborough NH 03458 USA
603-924-9464
Audio Critic (US $24/yr 4 issues) (High-end)
PO Box 978
Quakertown PA 18951 USA
215-538-9555 or 215-536-8884
Audio Magazine (US $24/year 12 issues. Mid-fi)
Subscription Office: PO Box 53548
Boulder CO 80321-2548 USA
800-274-8808, 303-447-9330
Editorial Office: 1633 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
212-767-6000
Audio Observatory (US $15/year 12 issues)
22029 Parthenia Street
West Hills, California 91304
Audiophile Voice ($18/year 4 issues)
Subscriptions: Michael Tantillo
132 Beach Avenue
Staten Island 10306 USA
Phone 718-351-9365
Editorial Office: 2001 Palmer Ave Suite 201
Larchmont, NY 10538-2420 USA
Phone 914-833-1417
FAX 914-834-4070
Bound For Sound (US $18/yr 12 issues) (High-end)
220 North Main St
Kewanee IL 61443 USA
309-852-3022
Car Audio and Electronics ($19.95/year 12 issues)
Avcom Publishing Ltd
21700 Oxnard Street
Suite 1600
Woodland Hills CA 91367 USA
818-593-3900
CD Review (Music Reviews; all tastes, only CDs.)
$19.97 per year 12 issues
PO Box 588
Mount Morris IL 61054 USA
Glass Audio ($20/yr 4 issues) (Do-it-yourself, tubes)
Box 576
Peterborough NH 03458 USA
603-924-9464
Hi-Fi Choice (Mid-end. Comparative reviews with graphs,
tables, and subjective commentary;
'Buying Guide' section)
Dennis Publishing Ltd.
14 Rathbone Place
London, W1P 1DE, UK
+44 71 631 1433
Hi-Fi News and Record Review (Broad. Good new record
reviews. Good equipment measurements)
Subscriptions Department
Link House Magazines Ltd
1st Floor
Stephenson House, Brunel Centre
Bletchley, Milton Keynes MK2 2EW, UK
Hi-Fi World (Friendly, lower-mid-end magazine)
(reviews and "how things work" articles)
Audio Publishing Ltd
64 Castellain Rd
Maida Vale
London W9 1EX, UK
+44 71 266 0461
In Terms Of Music (Emphasizes music reviews, new)
PO Box 268590
Chicago, IL 60626 USA
312-262-5918
International Audio Review (US $38/yr, 12 issues?)
2449 Dwight Way; Box 4271
Berkeley CA 94704 USA
Positive Feedback (US $25/yr 6 issues) (high-end)
Oregon Triode Society
4106 N.E. Glisan
Portland OR 97232 USA
503-235-9068
Sound Practices (US $20/yr 4 issues) (Do-it-yourself)
Box 180562
Austin, TX 78718
(512) 339-6229 Voice/Fax
72411.533@compuserve.com
Speaker Builder ($25/yr 6 issues) (Speaker projects)
Box 576
Peterborough NH 03458 USA
603-924-9464
Stereophile (US $35/yr 12 issues) (High-end)
208 Delgado
Santa Fe NM 87501 USA
800-238-2626 or 505-982-2366
Stereo Review (US $6.97/yr 12 issues. Lower end/mass
market)
Subscription Office: PO Box 52033
Boulder CO 80323-2033 USA
Editorial Office: 1633 Broadw
New York, NY 10019
212-767-6000
The Absolute Sound (US $46/yr 8 issues) (High-end)
Subscription Center: Box 6547
Syracuse NY 13217 USA
800-825-0061
Editorial Office: 2 Glen Avenue
Sea Cliff, NY 11579
516-676-2830
The $ensible Sound (US $20/yr 4 issues) (Mid/High-end)
403 Darwin Drive
Snyder NY 14226 USA
716-681-3513 or 716-839-2199
Ultra High Fidelity (UHF) (High end, no advertising)
Box 65085, Place Longueil
Montreal PQ J4K 5J4 Canada
514-651-5720
What Hi-Fi (Mid-to-high End; comparative, subjective
reviews. Contains it's own buyer's guide
with recommendations)
Haymarket Trade & Leisure Publications Ltd
38-42 Hampton Road
Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 0JE, UK
+44 81 943 5000
US Enquiries should go to:
Eric Walter Associates
Box 188
Berkeley Heights NJ 07922 USA
201-665-7811
17.2 Which reviews are better?
Some reviews are so colorful and exciting, that they make great journalism and fun reading. Lets ignore these for now, even though they have their place.
Beware of reviews from magazines that advertise the same product. The likelihood of bias is too high. Unfortunately, that rules out 99% of the reviews in magazines.
Stereo Review has a bad reputation for loving everything made by every advertiser. Even high-end journals such as Stereophile and The Absolute Sound can be influenced.
A classic example of misleading reviews occurs with equipment submitted to a magazine for review. The manufacturer may send the editors a carefully built, adjusted piece for review. The magazine will honestly rave about it. The manufacturer will then send the design off-shore for more economical manufacture and assembly, and the quality will suffer. Lower quality components will be substituted for prime parts. Adjustments will be made to wider tolerances or will not be made at all. The design may be completely changed to make it more manufacturable. You will unknowingly get a completely different piece than reviewed.
Home auditions with one or two candidates from each of a few dealers are your best guide to be sure that you get what you want and pay for.
17.3 Is Consumer Reports right?
Consumer Reports is the most objective testing lab we have ever found. Unfortunately, they are also the world's least specialized testing lab. They market their testing to the average consumer. The average consumer will not hear some of the subtle differences which audiophiles hear. For that reason, Consumer Reports ignores issues that others feel vital.
Consumer Reports also insists on basing their audio testing predominantly on lab measurements. Although lab measurements do tell many differences between devices, interpreting lab measurements for best sound is difficult or impossible. For example, it is very hard to compare two speaker frequency response curves and tell which will sound better. Some $3000 speaker frequency response curves look worse than some $600 speaker curves, even when tested in the same setup. On the other side of the issue, Consumer Reports has improved its test methods, and will continue to improve. Expect the accuracy of their reviews to improve with time.
The Consumer Reports frequency-of-repair data base is larger than any similar data base published and can be trusted as well as any statistic.
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