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Wrong direction?

The few "threads" back, a young man was inquiring about class "A" amp. And of course, most of the responses were in regard to class "A" amplifier, also understood by myself as such. Later, the same individual mentioned if able to "...find amp like that, he would further look for class "A" speakers!" Class A speakers? Well, i was wondering what could that be?...For a second i realized that he is referring to a Stereophile grading of the audio equipment! While i have and will be guilty of buying the audio products, unheard, i sure didn't base my decisions on one reviewer opinion or another! Stereophile sale doubles, and sometimes triples during the months of October, and April. "Recommended components" run those months. And the biggest offender, i think, is What HIFI, which reminds of audio "Swap Meet" periodical, with their little flags of "Best buy", or "component of choice" etc, etc...! Stereophile rates their components in class A, B, C and on.... Let see,... between class A and B, what was the determine factor to place the certain product to one or another? Room, cables...mood? So many variables, and controlled and uncontrolled events to "make or brake" one company, or sway one potential customer from buying the pre-amp, that he thought and felt was the ONE. But just changing his mind to purchase another, which was graded one STAR higher! I think, the magazines would be doing the consumer a favor, if those ratings and grading are eliminated. Let the consumer to decide! Especially audio components.
eldragon

Showing 3 responses by trelja

trelja
3,223 posts
 
Excellent points Dragon. I remember reading quotes in Stereophile regarding how price factored in to the equation. I even think it may be in the description of the scale. Something about Class C being "affordable"(I could be misquoting them on some level.)... Which to me is flat out WRONG! If Product A($599) sounds superior to Product B($25000) doesn't it deserve a higher rating??? And now that we are in the dark days(Jonathan Scull), class would be more related to cost than ever before. Dick Olsher called a spade a spade, regardless of price or marque. Scull will review something for twenty grand and rave until he has utterly embarassed himself. But have him review something for $799(and those are less than few and far between - even for his cables), and he will wonder how any company could market such dreck.
trelja
3,223 posts
 
I think that everyone here has contributed something worthwhile. I did not mean to imply that an affordable piece is automatically relegated to Class C. But I do feel, it has to do something strong to pull itself out of that rating. Where as something with an exotic level price tag has to do the same to pull itself out of Class A. That being said, I still feel that Stereophile is the most important magazine of our hobby. Enough that I plan on keeping my subscription indefinitely(hey, at $1/month it is a great deal). And yes, I do agree that the magazine is really poor these days. The worst I can remember(in more than 10 years of reading). Please now allow me to make a point regarding Dragon's thread. The ratings should serve only as a guide. It is a fool indeed who uses the ratings as a road map. I can easily assemble a system from Class C components that will sound better than one of Class A components put together in a poor way.
trelja
3,223 posts
 
Amen, Garfish. ALWAYS trust your own ears. Just another reason that I lament the passing of the Annual Audio Equipment Guide. To me, at least as useful as the Stereophile ratings. As it let me know what was out there. I could then contact the company(via phone, mail, website, or e-mail), and find a dealer to go see and hear the product. The Stereophile guide, while necessary and quite informative, is incomplete. And I have a problem with the fact that generally the products reviewed by Stereophile are the ones advertised in the magazine. There is so much other great equipment out there. As stated above, the Class B components are often more interesting and engaging than those on the Class A list. Not to mention often more easy to build a long term system around, as they are generally more forgiving/less idiosyncratic.
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