Do you approve of "How Stereophile Market itself"?

The biggest anchor around the neck of Stereophile is its lack of integrity. If it cherished the position of power and influence it unjustifiably continues to hold in the audiophile industry rather than trying to exploit it with manufacturers, readers and audiophile consumers, the future outlook for Stereophile would look much better than it does. Unfortunately, they have taken the attitude that they can use their market power to unjustifiably hype certain equipment while simply ignoring other equipment which is more worthy, cheaper or both, and that they can require expensive ad campaigns from manufacturers as the price for a good review of the equipment, or for even a review of a manufacturer's equipment at all. Above all, they appear to have the feeling that we, the customers of Stereophile, will not see through their marketing "strategy" and that we will accept that just because they say that $40,000 Krell speaker or Levinson amp is the best that we will accept it without reservation. All I can say is that type of cynical strategy will always ultimately fail. They can't outsmart the marketplace forever and there is evidence that their plan is failing as we speak. I will not renew my subscription when it lapses in May, even though Stereophile is the only one who measures the equipment and, contrary to others, I appreciate having some objectivity put up against the biases of a reviewer whose objectivity is already highly questionable. Now, these stories of high pressure sales tactics which seem to border on fraud utilized in order to pressure you into subscription renewal indicate desperation on the part of Stereophile and even more cynicism directed at their customers. If knowledgable audiophiles continue to vote against Stereophile (with their feet), Stereophile will either wake up and change for the better or the marketplace will eventually ignore them. Sadly, I think they are currently in the process of digging their own grave. When they are no longer an economically viable enterprise, will they understand the role they played in bringing about that inevitable result?

Rayhall, your post is "A" rated.

SP would do well to look back to when J. Gordon Holt brought purpose, a rather zany humor, and a lot less gloss (B&W covers) and stroking to the effort. Anybody catch this month's AudioXpress?

Sincerely, I remain

This has been a great post. I learned a lot from my fellow A-Gonners, and feel that everyone of you has hit the target in your own individual way. The problems that "3 Chi" has written about, however, are problems that exist in the magazine business, and will continue to escalate until a big wig with some juice finally goes through the same crap "3 Chi" has, and will do something about it. That aside, I'd like to put my two cents in about Stereophile.
I liked them for quite a while, and respected the way they handled themselves. Certainly, I didn't agree with everything they said, but I felt that they promoted this industry very well, and were good for its growth. Then I began to hear complaints about them only reviewing equipment from manufacturers who advertise with them. That's a hell of a big NO NO.(Remember Stereo Review?) I also really disliked the KR Enterprises Amp debacle, and felt that they never really recovered well from that. But the caper for me was the last show in New York. I attended the "Ask the Editor" meeting, and walked away with a very bad feeling. The subject matter eventually turned to "How do we bring new enthusiasts into our hobby"? and the "Format wars are driving away these possible fledglings" type of dialog when Sam Tellig wished a "Curse on both their houses" in response to the DVD Audio vs. SACD subject and also said in response to newbies that they should remain the "Great Unwashed", meaning....who needs them or wants them? They also made no bones about supporting SACD as opposed to DVD Audio, which at best is premature. Even at this point in the game, a vote of support for one over another is just wrong. How else do you explain the success of upsamplers? Anyway, when they began to pass the mic around, I asked about watermarking. That question was quickly dismissed with some BS that no one understood, and they went on to talk about the virtues of SACD.
Now, tell me these people don't have an agenda that benefits the manufacturers, and ask yourself if this cool.

But to answer the original question, no I don't approve

They look like they're trying to fill the 'Stereo Review' niche. Thinner and thinner mags, and many more positive reviews. Hey, you can't stay anti-establishment forever. Many of the flower children of the 60's sold out, and are millionaires today. You can't resist the call of the money forever.