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I have noticed that this mag has now been brought by Absolute Media. My question is will it too go down the same path that the Absolute Sound has gone down
Follow Ups:
HI fi plus has the best covers hope that wont change ala HP's quasi pro pics that used to adorn TAS
I subscribe to all three magazines valuing each for theyre own unique yet discernible traits.Its been my feeling Stereophile does a great job of informing me about a broad aspect of equipment and its associated virtues as well as drawbacks.I feel they pack a lot of various product information on a monthly basis and offer the right ballance with theyre two annual recommended components sections, not overdoing it in that aspect.I might add I feel they employ many of the most witty and knowledgable writers in the field today, names like Art Dudley, Wes Phillips and John Marks come immediatly to mind and reassure me in my monthly read.When combining that with J. A.s product measurements [sidebars] helping broaden ones understanding of equipment and how different products interact within the context of a system ballanced against one another.All good stuff.On the other hand I recently let my subscription at Absolute Sound expire feeling they lost that ballance with to many recommended products reports and since Harry P. left the helm I feel its slid although I feel Robert Harleys Guide to High End Audio has been an invaluable tool in helping educate me about gear, just too much filler.Finally enter HIFI+; a really great and unique magazine[even the paper has a quality feel] with terrific pictoral layouts of equipment as well as entertaining reads with lots of tube gear that Id personally not heard of prior to subscribing to this magazine.Also a great monthly music recommendation in the back of this magazine that shouldnt be overlooked, very helpful. So yes, lets hope it does not change or regress in terms of quality as I have about 2 years left on a fresh renewal.Regards Tim W...
I hope they keep the design and the paper stock. I love those aspects. But I also enjoy the writing a lot (the only audio mag I read cover to cover) and I certainly hope they don't muck with that! Their music review format is clear and informative. My assumption, right or wrong, is that Absolute Media bought it for what it is and will choose to maintain most of it's character (or else they want to squash the competition and just kill it).With a more corporate owner I wonder where the advertising will go? It's mostly UK-based right now. Will AM bring more into the US and use it to extend their reach into Europe and keep it a UK focus...
Anyway, it's a great read and I hope it remains truthful or gets even better. To see it fade away would be a great loss.
One thing that can be improved is the distribution! It usually arrives in my mail box weeks after I see it on the newstand, and it appears on some newstands much later than at other newstands.
I do like HiFi+, though I get the impression, despite the excellent presentation that it was run on a shoestring budget...as Roy did all the editing himself I believe. Is it any different at Stereophile JA?
I suppose its obsession with analogue and reviews of vinyl collection were great for some-one new to vinyl collecting. I know TAS did this years ago, but I don't have these back issues to look at
I get it cheap online, so cost is not an issue.
I think we should wait to see the effect of the new owner, though I do hope they dodn't fiddle with the format which I really like, or the excellent photos.
I have my criticisms of it, but I still enjoy it, and often read it cover to cover....yes sad individual.... so lets pray
> I get the impression, despite the excellent presentation that
> [HiFi+] was run on a shoestring budget...as Roy did all the
> editing himself I believe. Is it any different at Stereophile JA?
I wouldn't say Stereophile is run on a shoe-string budget. However,
we have just 4 full-time editorial staff: myself, music editor
Robert Baird, managing editor Elizabeth Donovan, and assistant
editor/forum moderator/blogger Stephen Mejias. I edit all the
non-music copy, after it has been copy-edited by a contractor.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Bob Gendron does a fantastic job in bringing music that people under 40 actually listen to into the back pages of TAS.The Stereophile music reviews IMO are the worst around with little or no modern music being reviewed.
Please start to review some alternative rock, electronica, brit pop and just plain pop music, as well as your normal classical audiophile stuff.Anyone from the ipod generation flicks thru the music section - classical, jazz, audiophile re-issues, bad over 50 blue grass and roll their eyes back and never picks up stereophile again.
And that is a pity, as it is this generation that will eventually have the buying power to invest in good hifi.
"Bob Gendron does a fantastic job in bringing music that people under 40 actually listen to into the back pages of TAS."
shane.....don't you think Robert Baird does an admirable job? I live in an area where we're fortunate to have 4 college FM stations; and Robert does a darn good job addressing the kids who listen to those stations. (and the geezers who are interested in alternative radio)
No not really Jim. I believe Bob at TAS does a lot better job in bringing "new" music to the table that the under 35's are listening to. BTW I am over 35.
All I am saying is that the middle aged audiophile set is not going to grow many markets, it will be the younger brigade.
"All I am saying is that the middle aged audiophile set is not going to grow many markets, it will be the younger brigade."agree with you there. And.......I agree with Michael Fremer when he says that the ipod phenomenon will have a positive net effect. Kids are listening to two channel music again. We lost a generation to computers and video games during the 80's and 90's so it's nice to have a cultural phenomenon built around a piece of music-producing hardware.
We lost a generation to computers and video games during the 80's and 90'sKids never stopped listening to music, they do not fancy listening to music forced upon them by older generation nor are they necessarily keen on listening to their music on equipment dictated b y the older generation, prior the ipod generation, there was the portable CDP before then the portable walkman, a greater problem is that high end is resolutely stuck in the past,.
New innovations are grudgingly accepted only when there is an air of inevitability surrounding their adoption, prime example is digital music in its various guises right down from CD to the portable format such as FLAC, in the hardware department witness the current controversy surrounding switching amplifiers. The irony of it all is that I am not aware of any new innovation that has been adopted universally that originated from a high-end audio firm, it is a telling indictment.
If you follow general audiophile sentiment sonic bliss is owning TT amplified by tubes and playing LPs not tainted by digital processing or multi-miked recording techniques. And that is a rose tinted view of music reproduction, but since a very large constituency of audiophile share this view it has deep-rooted consequences, how else can one insist that tubed amplification, LPs, pre-50s recordings are generally superior to their modern counterparts without adopting a lax assessment methodology, the audio magazines pander to these sentiment in what seems like an ever downward spiral, whilst music reproduction continues to develop but its objectives remain at odds with general audiophile sentiment. Witness the fanatical assessment of many audiophile to the so-called golden standard of acoustic music, forgetting that most of these instruments were developed before the invention of electricity therefore they are acoustic by nessecity rather not by choice.
Music making the painting, recording it the photograph
"We lost a generation to computers and video games during the 80's and 90's"I'll stand by that statement. The CEA and PARA stats here in the US show that the avg. age of the audio consumer has risen steadily since the 80's. It's almost scary....as if all we're doing is just selling new products to the same group who went to High School and College in the 70's. My point in the quote above has more to do with the amount of time spent relative to the 80's and 90's...the investment made in music-reproduction hardware....and the cultural phenomenon.
I agree with your point about trying to sell old technology to new consumers. I've attended some HiFi events, have been in the business 33 years, and can tell you that discussions about improving the sound off a hard drive gets much more attention with the 20's and 30's generation than vintage hi fi.IMHO, the process moves more like this...they improve the sound of their hard drive.....they improve their amps, wire, cabling, and speakers.......then they graduate to turntables and tubes ;> )
Robert Baird is full-time? I don't see 160 hours of work going into the one music column he has every month. Further, writing about music is clearly less involved and rigorous than writing equipment reviews. What am I missing John?
John, didn't you list a few 'full time' writers sometime on AA in the not to recent past? Or am I remembering wrong? (Or is this two different things?) Thanks.
> John, didn't you list a few 'full time' writers sometime on AA in the
> not too recent past? Or am I remembering wrong? (Or is this two
> different things?)
Two different things. I am referring to the in-house staff, who
actually produce the magazine, which was what I thought the poster's
question was referring to.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Thanks John. Just in case you thought any of what awsmone wrote was true of my question, it wasn't. It was a factual request because of what you I had remembered you saying earlier. Not having run a mag myself, I wasn't sure of the terminology.
Thanks JA, that was exactly what I was asking, and you answered, quickly, frankly and honestly.I am getting sick of all the innuendo poked at you guys, because my dealings with some of the reviewer staff, have been honest, frank, humourous, and courteous.
Right now, I feel it's an overpriced mag. It might be interesting to see what happens, but Absolute Sound has certainly gone down the tubes.
in what way. tas is still THE authoritative publication of its kind out there. it amuses and amazes me where these opinions come from!they cover the waterfront from affordable to the celestial and with accuracy. they have reg and rh, not to mention hp. the rest aint bad either.
Yes, down the tubes; I agree with Tom.The reviews of equipment just are not what they used to be when HP was totally in charge. A reviewer used to describe his (normally close to SOTA) set-up, substitute the component in question, put on several very familiar disks (vinyl, acoustic instruments in real space) and evaluate the component by telling you what differences he heard as a result of the switch. The sound descriptions took up more space than the physical descriptions.
Read the drivel that is called a review of the Van Schweikert VR-4jr speakers to see what I mean. It is on line. I could point you to better reviews on the free web sites.
Could be that most people on this list don't remember TAS in its prime.
Well, the opinion comes from me dude. I believe that 50-60% of the content of the current version of TAS is stuff that HP would never have even thought of publishing back when he ran the show. The 'broadening' of 'appeal' is strictly a commercial attempt to make the mag viable. That might be great from a business point of view (I believe hp was going under prior to the buy out), but it does nothing for the reader. I didn't agree with a lot of what was written in the 'old' tas, and I pretty much couldn't afford any of the equipment that they reviewed, but at least the stuff they reviewed was different from what you would see in Stereophile and it was interesting to read about. Now, tas seems to be trying to find a way to copy the best features of Stereophile (ie recommended components) and 'find' a 'wider' audience. If it were the only mag out there, then, hey, maybe this would be a good thing. But it's not. We don't (I don't) need two stereophiles (which is what it's coming down to). One is enough. It's like they give HP an allotment of pages in the back of the mag to continue his pursuit, and I agree there are several other good reviewers writing for it, but there is no cohesion, no point of view, etc. In the past somewhere hp made it known in print that he didn't have a very high opinion of r harley. Maybe his opinion has changed, who knows. In the same way that JGH used to BE Stereophile, HP was TAS. Now it's a mish-mash. So if you're still amazed and amused, so be it. It must be nice up there on your high horse.
point #1: the magazine isnt only about hp. remember 'further thoughts' and jwc comments etc? harry was challenged, as anyone should and might be by his peers. and times change.tas and other mags have been roundly criticized for droning on in abstruse verbiage, the reviews are now more concise. and nobody in these cyber pages has championed hp more than myself.
i know harry isnt all happy with the current state of affairs but neither is any other monarch when FULL control is lost to others. those of us who have been around for the longest still revere his opinions.
still today, much of what is reviewed in tas is off the stereophile beaten track, some crosses over (wilson maxx2s). affordable (as my sony ns500v is in spades) and not so affordable.
copying. tas had the ORIGINAL recommended components list. then stereophile made recs in EVERY possible category and tas responded by doing something similar. bizness is bizness. i for one am glad hp didn't let the doors slam shut and have NO tas!
high horse----NOT! be thankful for tas and stereophile for when EITHER are gone, you will be poorer for it.
...regards...tr
Stereophile did recommended components BEFORE tas was even in existence. So getting the history right would be appreciated. 'High horse' refers to your dismissive attitude towards anyone with an 'opinion'. I will miss tas when it's gone. But I also do miss Audio, High Fidelity and even the old HiFi/Stereo Review. I miss Stereophile as edited by JGH. I miss the print edition of Positive Feedback. I would miss Bound for Sound. And I would really miss Stereophile as produced now. But buying mediocre mags (tas) just because they are there and might go out of business is not something I want to do. I actually buy it (still) to read hp and pick and choose the rest. The stuff that is most stereophile-like, Ive already read....in stereophile.
with lettered keys about sound and there was a legend to the keys so it was clear what gordy meant. the tas list was shorter and reflected recent changes of favorites.regardless of your distaste for the current tas, it remains at the top. just not the same as it was just as stereophile has changed over the years.
...regards...tr
Yep, that was the stereophile list...long before hp got the idea to do his own mag. And without 'gordy' as you call him 'harry p' wouldn't have had a clue.
well until he became so enamored of fulton speakers that everyone was laughing at him. thats when the mag almost went away.hp credits jgh with creating the language and then hp refined it and continues to do so. he also credits jgh with inspiration to start his own mag.
...regards...tr
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