Djjd, Trelja--well done! What a spirited dialogue! I learned as much from your dispute as your reconciliation. When I saw the title of this thread I knew it would be about Arthur Salvatore's website. What strikes me overall about his project is the "political theological" dimension. I think of him as the "Martin Luther" of the high end world leading the "Audio Reformation," criticizing the corrupting influence of money on the high end scene (just as Luther did with the Church), realigning our notions of faith in the audio gods whether they be designers or reviewers. Occassionally he gets rather passionate, as some of us have pointed out, and there seems to be a limit to what one person can do (even with the help of his friends, all more or less kept in the background), and he clearly has a strong bias for tube amplification of LP recordings, without much interest at all in digital, leading to a certain blindness at times to his insights. The "Reviewing the Reviewers" page is clearly a polemical, critical, passionate dissection of the audio press and the misuse of its power, and this topic easily leads to heated exchange to the extent that it often gets personal. I wish others would share their point-by-point opinions about the recommendations he makes on his "Recommended Components" and "Supreme LP Recordings" pages.
Reviewing the Reviewers
Check out http://www.high-endaudio.com/index_ac.html and follow go to the "Audio Critique" page, and then to "Reviewing the Reviewers" page.
This site is run by a man named Arthur Salvatore. He has written much about all aspects of audio on his site...his recommended components, his recommended recordings, his store, etc. He writes like a lawyer, but it seems like he actually has integrity...he must not be a lawyer. :-) Seriously...anyone interested in a point by point analysis of modern audio reviews should check out this site. He's analyzed many reviews and developed his own list of "rules" that most reviews tend to follow (and he's dead-on)...usually because the writer doesn't want to say anything negative about any particular sponsor's (or buddy's) product.
He received an angry letter from Michael Fremer. The letter and his analysis are included on the site. It makes for a long read, but it can be fascinating. Besides...it's information than every audio joe (or jane) should be aware of when they read any review...especially when they're planning on pruchasing a product highlighted by a particular review.
If you want to see textbook examples of his "rules" put into practice, just check out any Soundstage review written by Marc Mickelson.
Enjoy...
This site is run by a man named Arthur Salvatore. He has written much about all aspects of audio on his site...his recommended components, his recommended recordings, his store, etc. He writes like a lawyer, but it seems like he actually has integrity...he must not be a lawyer. :-) Seriously...anyone interested in a point by point analysis of modern audio reviews should check out this site. He's analyzed many reviews and developed his own list of "rules" that most reviews tend to follow (and he's dead-on)...usually because the writer doesn't want to say anything negative about any particular sponsor's (or buddy's) product.
He received an angry letter from Michael Fremer. The letter and his analysis are included on the site. It makes for a long read, but it can be fascinating. Besides...it's information than every audio joe (or jane) should be aware of when they read any review...especially when they're planning on pruchasing a product highlighted by a particular review.
If you want to see textbook examples of his "rules" put into practice, just check out any Soundstage review written by Marc Mickelson.
Enjoy...