All the mags are biased to some degree but I think Stereophile has gone to shit. Check out recent columns by Sam Tellig as an example. Last month he raves about several models of Triangle speaker and guess what there is a first time full page ad for Tianagle speakers. Several months earlier Sam raved about CJ amps from his pals at Audio Outlet and guess what a few pages over there is a first time full page ad palced by Audio Outlet featuring you guessed it -CJ amps. There are less obvious examples of journalism for hire in Stereophile but it is obvious that Petersen Publishing knows what where the bread is buttered. Take out a full page ad in slipping audio rag and Sam will write you up real good.
Most Honest Audio Magazine?
I subscribe to Stereophile and I really enjoy reading it but something happened last year that made me raise an eyebrow as to the authenticity of their intentions. Remember the review of the B&W Nautilus 805's? The original reviewer raved about them and rated them "Class A Restricted Low Frequency". Shortly thereafter they demoted the same speaker down to "Class B Restricted Low Frequency". This really hurt the magazine's credibility in my eyes. My first conclusion was that they didn't want to upset the other manufacturers who produced "Class A" products at far higher prices. Shouldn't a trade journal give credit to the truly remarkable products especially when they are produced for relatively decent prices? It's unfortunate that the advertising dollars of the megabuck manufacturers bullied a stellar product into receiving a less than stellar final rating. I'm wondering if this hasn't happened before. I've since heard from some of my audio buddies that corruption does indeed exist in the audio press; everything from reviewers being related to manufacturers to reviewers being offered products for a song (pun intended). Please share your thoughts and experiences when it comes to audio magazines and let me know which ones you'd rate best and worst. Putting together a great system is hard enough without having to sift through the sometimes suspicious advice of those publications who purport to advance the hobby.