Does anyone on AG truly care anymore about objectivity & sincerity of Magazine reviews?


The latest cover story In the Absolute Sound triumphs the latest 3rd generation YG loudspeakers & their very best, latest technology. While the accolades commence (& do they ever), they only say, "the aluminum- coned midrange driver are carried over from the series 2" conspicuously omitting to mention nothing whatsoever has been done to it - ever (unlike virtually all their competitors who've had numerous major improvements to their MRs). It’s exactly the same driver that came with the speaker when it was first introduced decades plus ago. Their claims for it have not been verified by any 3rd party ever & no audio company has tried to copy their aluminum drivers ever, either. Entry level Paradigms perhaps, but they have the wisdom to understand aluminum cannot be made to compete with the beryllium they use on their upper end product.

Regarding the revised silk dome tweeter, "you may think your speakers excel in this area but until you’ve heard something like the 3s...you may have never heard true high frequency refinement". So a complete dismissal (with no comparisons of any kind of course) of all Diamond, Beryllium, ribbon, electrostatic etc. tweeters, just like that.

Is it just me or is there (from the Wizard of Oz) a clearly implied, "Ignore that man behind the curtain! !" message, as YG simultaneously has a full page, 4 color ad in the same issue & has been an extremely heavy advertiser for years in the magazine?

I’m reminded of the con man’s credo - You can fool some of the people all the time & all the people some of the time - & that’s enough. I had thought that’s not an especially good, long term business model. Maybe I’m wrong on this last, here.

john1

@terry9 this isn't the forum for it, but there is a huge difference between "climate change" and making the assertion that it is caused by mankind contributing a very small change in the amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The United States could disappear from the face of the Earth and the temperature of the Earth wouldn't change by any scientifically significant amount. 

A smart man a long time ago said if you want to know the truth about a situation for the most part, always, always, follow the money. 

All the planets of the solar system warmed in the last 50 years. There are no SUVs on Mars or Pluto. 

Scientific study is one thing, but using some poorly considered "conclusions" from that in order to funnel our tax money to the U.N. or make energy more expensive and to lower our standard of living is a pretty huge leap. 

I've followed this issue closely since the 1970s and have found enough scientific rebuttal against it to at least think it is a scam at best and perhaps mass hysteria at worse.

 

+1 @alan60, 'you have to read between the lines".  

@john1, have you ever owned YG speakers or heard them critically, with a great system?  I have owned Hailey 2.2s for a bit and they are outstanding; asstonishing resolution and clarity.  Comparing them to Paradigms?  Please....they hurt my ears.

A much more interesting conversation would be about YG selling and leaving the company, and their decisions since his departure.  After three YG bashings perhaps you should pick on another manufacturer.

+1 @terry9 

@moonwatcher  - you clearly have no idea how the scientific process works and all the checks and balances within the system to ensure junk science that only enriches the authors isn’t published. To compare that to the process for publishing audio equipment reviews is embarrassing. 

All audio mag reviews are worthless. I subscribe to all of them and when a new issue arrives, I scan the conclusion paragraph looking for: best product I’ve ever heard and I’m never dissapointed. 
When was the last time you saw a negative review? You won’t. A couple years ago, many YT and online reviewers were so negative on some of the rooms at Axpona that for the 1st time, an audio mag had to put in a special column designated worst sounding rooms of axpona. I know they hated to do this because those rooms had $100k pieces of equipment that they just gave glowing reviews.

If any 1 of us states they don’t like a product, you can’t be sued. Why do you think an audio reviewer would get sued if they state they didn’t like the product while other REAL reviews like car reviews always have pros and cons and even have comparisons between 2 to maybe up to 40 different cars stating who got 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc..?

If I was in the market for a speaker pair in the $100k range, it would be nice to bring up a review from an audio mag that shows 2 or 3 speakers that they reviewed in that price range (or close) and rate them from 1st to last, with pros and cons of why they rated them as such. I do the same thing when I am in the market for a new sports car up to $200k. I can look at many many reviews between all the car mags that have done this type of comparison to see which car is liked the most and why or which cars didn’t make the top and why. If I know the reviewer is my height and says you can’t see out the back or have many blind spots, I won’t even look at this car, even though it might be the best handling car.

@moonwatcher "this isn't the forum for it"

So why bring it up? Leave your politics at home. This is an audio forum.