No More Fake Reviews - So Who’s Gonna Tell Us What To Buy?

If a reviewer states that he was given or purchased the product at a discount then to me the manufacturer wrote the review.

@gs5556 

You said:

If a reviewer states that he was given or purchased the product at a discount then to me the manufacturer wrote the review.

I think that's a safe default position. But consider this, which I think is a common scenario:

I'm a reviewer. Company A sends me a product to be reviewed. Both parties expect the product to be returned once the review is finished. I write the review and it's glowing, extremely positive, because I really like the product, so much so that I would like to keep it in my reference system. I contact Company A and they say fine, you can have our standard industry accommodation, (say -40%) and it's yours to keep. The only stipulation is that you can't sell it for 12 months from the date of purchase.

I write the review, and I say the usual: I liked this product so much that I decided to buy it....blah blah.

Is that still considered a tainted, or 'paid for' review?

This is just EXCELLENT NEWS....time to put the squeeze on some of these hifi charlatans and the hifi banana republic.

File complaints a plenty O’ empowered hifi consumers and ensure that the FTC is introduced to some of these charlatans (get their names on the radar first, familiarity is key). A couple of examples should be made to instill some fear in the tender hearts of all the other charlatans.

God bless the FTC.

No its just a witch hunt that will prove very difficult to enforce with the same pitfalls and inequalities experienced in other legal matters.

Curse the FTC and most other government entities. 

@rooze 

Then I guess I’m agreeing with the FTC.😎

...and I think that's pretty much exactly what the FTC are saying they should do

No industry accommodation does not taint a review. Any member of this forum could start a business related to our hobby and get this discount.

The real question is do the reviewers that claim they buy product at this reduced price actually paying this amount? Means reviewers like Fremer would have invested probably over $ 500K in their reference systems. Stereophile claims this is the only system used by their reviewers.

The FTC ruling is an attempt I think to weed out the obvious conflict of interest of giving great reviews for free stuff.  So on the surface, it’s actually a good policy.  I wonder how it will be enforced however, and if it is enforceable. 
Regardless, if you spend time watching YouTube reviews, you notice that sometimes there are product cycles through two or three or four reviewers or within about a month because the manufacturer is sending them sample copies. “ Sample copies” which may or may not have strings attached who knows.

and although I used to love watching audio reviews on YouTube, I have far less appetite for it now mostly based on my experience of such products or the fact that every month or two the best product is always the latest one.   I can count several off the top of my head several reviewers that are certainly guilty of having the best product they’ve ever heard at this price point several times a year.  And it’s much easier for reviewers to say good things to be critical. The flipside of that is that being critical over device can get you sued.

So either scenario Is likely to be tainted via positive info, free or negative influence being afraid to accurately review something.  It’s really crappy overall for us as consumers and as the brick and mortar stores are drying up we literally have no options to listen to music unless you purchase in return or you actually believe what these Talking Heads are saying on YouTube. 
Best option is to join an audio club. I suppose listen to gear with friends and acquaintances. but how difficult is that to arrange?

Regarding the lack of negative reviews: in my case, if I don't like a product for one reason or another, I don't write a review. I have never in my 30 years of writing audio reviews been asked by either publisher for whom I've worked to plug unduly a product from an advertiser or anyone else. I once wrote a review of an integrated amplifier that was paired with two stand-mount speakers from the same manufacturer. I gave the amplifier a glowing review because I thought it was spectacular; I did not submit a review of the speakers because I thought they sounded awful and were far too expensive for the sound quality they produced. The audio world doesn't need any more negativity - it gets enough on this forum. You can believe anything you want about reviews and reviewers but I will stick up for most of my group. My suggestion: if you don't like a reviewer's work, DON'T READ IT!

So the problem with the speakers was that they sounded awful or were too expensive? 

Difficult for me to imagine listening to a product over a period of weeks or months just to abandon the review. Might lead me to believe that after a quick listen, products that dont impress initially are quickly abandoned and possibly not given their due.