Kirk, Brian, actually I've asked Brian's question of a reviewer or two for a big magazine or two, and was told no, that rarely happens. I think most of the reviewers want to publish reviews and collect their $250 as often as possible.
I think the primary reason you dont see bad reviews, at least w/re electronics, amps, cdps, etc., is that most products are pretty good. The stories reviewers tell to differentiate between similarly priced products are the reviewers' product, all toward selling more advertising. This is not to say that the reviewers do not believe what they write. I think they do, or at least believe that they might be right.
The reason you see the comparison reviews in the car buff mags is that most readers will agree that the test results have some meaning, zero to 60, luggage capacity, slalom course roadhandling, leg room - these are all things that make sense to people and make it possible to differentiate between competing products. Now, audio components can be measured, but most of the subscribers to Stereophile and TAS seem to believe that nothing that can be measured matters when it comes to sound quality (God knows what "high fidelity" means anymore), that is to say, audiophiles who believe that two components with identical measurements can sound different must think that the things that are measured don't matter. So what's to compare, and why take the chance of offending some readers and potential advertisers?
Actually, there have been a lot of comparison tests of speakers, with measurements that vary widely. And it is with speakers that KT's question above really resonates. Speakers sound very different from one another. If fidelity to source is the goal, and accuracy matters, some of them must be closer to right and some very very wrong. So why don't we see more reviewers say that certain speakers are just plain wrong? In my opinion, because most of the reviewers don't know what right sounds like.
Paul
I think the primary reason you dont see bad reviews, at least w/re electronics, amps, cdps, etc., is that most products are pretty good. The stories reviewers tell to differentiate between similarly priced products are the reviewers' product, all toward selling more advertising. This is not to say that the reviewers do not believe what they write. I think they do, or at least believe that they might be right.
The reason you see the comparison reviews in the car buff mags is that most readers will agree that the test results have some meaning, zero to 60, luggage capacity, slalom course roadhandling, leg room - these are all things that make sense to people and make it possible to differentiate between competing products. Now, audio components can be measured, but most of the subscribers to Stereophile and TAS seem to believe that nothing that can be measured matters when it comes to sound quality (God knows what "high fidelity" means anymore), that is to say, audiophiles who believe that two components with identical measurements can sound different must think that the things that are measured don't matter. So what's to compare, and why take the chance of offending some readers and potential advertisers?
Actually, there have been a lot of comparison tests of speakers, with measurements that vary widely. And it is with speakers that KT's question above really resonates. Speakers sound very different from one another. If fidelity to source is the goal, and accuracy matters, some of them must be closer to right and some very very wrong. So why don't we see more reviewers say that certain speakers are just plain wrong? In my opinion, because most of the reviewers don't know what right sounds like.
Paul