Would you donate a dollar to have these Members Review a Product?

Eric there are preamps with meters...,

Unlike wolf, I’ll prostitute myself if I smell there’s a freebie involved. 😎

Cheers George

That will never happen in this lifetime.Good luck though!!

I think I've become a single ended tube amp freak to the degree that any transistor class A or A/B or likely class D amp wouldn't stack up in my personal tube laden gear heap, so I might be useless as a general reviewer. This was demonstrated by 2 recent amps I had around for a while, a "Hot Rod" version of my Dennis Had SEP, and a Schiit Aegir. The "Hot Rod," although a slightly newer version of my amp, was slightly less powerful than my "Fire Bottle" version (with identical tubes), and somehow wasn't better so I sold it...the Aegir is simply a good transistor Class A amp and sounds like it. Sent it back as my SEP tube amp sounds utterly better in every way...more detail, more involving due to whatever tonality I seem to prefer, and just seems to make me smile. 

I’d pay money to read (or watch/hear) ericsquires, wolfgarcia, millercarbon, and georgehifi each receive the same amp, speaker, etc. and review it.

Do I get to keep the amp if I give a good review, as reviewers do??
Then I’m "In like Flyn"😊

Cheers George

@millercarbon, hope you weren't offended. I meant it as a compliment. I'd enjoy hearing 3-4 frequent flyers from these boards review stuff. You chime in with meaningful posts so you came to mind.

No, its hard to read it as anything other than a compliment.

As far as reviews go, I remain consistent in reading things differently than most people. When I go looking for something I read as many comments from as many people as I can find. The last things I did this with were Total Contact, Swarm/DBA subwoofers, Herron phono stage and Koetsu. I searched out and read everything I could find on all of these. Everything from basic research from 30+ years ago (DBA) to published "professional" reviews to even negative side comments and digs people make. Koetsu and Herron were "auditioned" on YouTube and I even called the YouTuber up and picked his brain. Called Keith Herron. You get the idea. I often say DYODD. I take my own medicine.

Doing it this way takes time and effort. But the payoff is huge. Every one of these things the surprises have all been on the upside. They all turned out far better than expected. 

I think this is because any one person can have any number of quirks, biases, strengths or weaknesses. The character of a component however is there for all of them, and a pattern will emerge. That's what I look for.

There's an underlying philosophy here that I think it would serve well to remember. I've said it before and will say it again. A good component is a good component- period! A good power cord is gonna sound good no matter what its connected to, no matter what speakers its heard with, no matter the room, no matter the music. Or its not a good power cord. Replace power cord with anything else- amp, cartridge, I don't care- same goes.

This might not seem all that important but its crucial. Bad enough to think you can't read reviews because the people all hear differently. To also believe the components are as individually quirky? Might as well throw a dart. 

My experience shows you can do a lot better. It really works for me, and I am sure it will work for you and everyone else as well. You don't have to pay with money either. Just time.

erik, you can be lead on any Luxman amps!  

But seriously, who wouldn't love to hear ordinary folks review stuff?  I'd love to hear what Millercarbon thought about a Luxman Class A amp versus what he/she has and how it was living with it for a month.  Then, I'd love to compare that take with, say, eriksquires.  

It might just be that one finds this as useful or more useful in some ways than reading magazines or blogs. 

Just a thought. 

I'm happy to review any amplifier with meters!! :-)

Ha geoffkait!  Nope--I want to hear your voice, your quips and your insight!

Or do you mean pay them not to? 😛

....and who would be providing the equipment?  Or, are you suggesting that these individual go into a dealer and waste their time? 

No. If I'm interested in a piece of equipment, I want to hear it for myself. Too many people buy things based on other peoples thoughts, and then they are disappointed with their purchase.

@millercarbon,  hope you weren't offended. I meant it as a compliment.  I'd enjoy hearing 3-4 frequent flyers from these boards review stuff. You chime in with meaningful posts so you came to mind. 

So maybe the parameters needed to be spelled out. And, yes and no on whether this is serious, but humor the thought as you may find value in it. 

1. Members don't own the gear. 
2. Gear is purchased and makes the rounds across 3-4 members. They live with it for a month. 
3. Each reviews it and the reviews are put into a collective single review. 

No way. The last thing I want to do is read a review of a piece of equipment where the owner is biased towards it because he owns it or a friend owns it.  There are already a lot of reviews of equipment by well meaning audiophiles who do not know what they are talking about or hearing. 

I don't even pay to read Stereophile! So NO

No

There is a member review area already, 2k threads

But some do want to read reviews, and this is a shared space.

So it is possible to have a review area, which many forums have.

We are naturally clannish creatures in the underlying design of the physical, as colored glasses of mind and bodily venue can go... and it can be a double edged sword. Thus reviews can be about following the gourd or following the shoe, or considering reason..or none of the above.

Is this a serious post? I dont even want to read reviews from supposed "experts" like Fremer and the like.

Whitecamaross too?

Uh... thanks?