|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
184.58.250.114
In Reply to: RE: Okay, a serious, non-obtuse, Stereophile (the clue) review thread posted by rebbi on December 14, 2014 at 06:18:15
Since the person giving the bad review liked the product so much prior. I agree the product must have been imporperly used byy the reviewer.
Also. Stereophile will bend over backwards to allow manufacturers the chance to 'fix' stuff that sucks..
Why not in this case???
So I agree the review was not right.
Follow Ups:
Stereophile has always been fair to the manufacturers, allowing them to send new sample if the one sent is faulty. I like that fair habit.
Bill
Let's see. The reviewer expected to like them and didn't and the measurements correlated with what he heard and everyone is sure that Stereophile is wrong. Are these the same people who complain about too many good reviews? I'll with hold judgment either way since I haven't heard the speakers. But unless all of you heard them it seems you should at least give Stereophile the benefit of the doubt and not jump to conclusions about what happened.
and if you don't. I've talked with Herb a few times he's not the kind of person to write a review like that lightly. For a small mfg. a Stereophile review can be a bit of a trial by fire. Perhaps Jim Croft should have conferred with JA about measurement techniques prior to seeing them if he felt there was a unusual complexity about it knowing full well they were going to be measured (maybe JA can do a follow up?). Perhaps they can also listen to against the wall instead of the less then 2" off, though I am not sure how much of a difference that would make.
Except in a very small space, moving (the clue) directly up against the wall - as we suggested to Mr. Reichert before his review - will actually make quite a significant difference. The lower midrange and bass will fill out and there will be added "texture" - particularly in vocals, of course.
We would have greatly appreciated the opportunity to set up our speakers in Mr. Reichert's room - or at least to have received a quick email or phone call from him when he wasn't hearing that about which he raved in his show report from Capital Audiofest (where he requested a pair for review).
I was down the hall from you at Capital, your room had a good buzz though I didn't get a chance to hear it.
Any speaker takes some effort to get the best in any particular room. Especially since you are a small mfg. a follow up would be nice with a chance to help optimize the sound which happens with some regularity in 'phile reviews.
As we're a (proudly) garage-band outfit, it's pretty unlikely that S-phile will have further time or space to devote to (the clue).
We take solace in the buzz we create at every show at which we exhibit, with our room at capacity with avid listeners throughout the weekend. They obviously hear something very different from what S-phile reports in Mr. Reichert's review - and more like what has drawn effulgent praise in every other published review and show report (including from three different S-phile writers: Art Dudley, Stephen Mejias, AND MR. REICHERT HIMSELF).
Thanks kindly for your comment.
...why didn't you deliver them and set them up like many manufacturers do?
We asked if we could set up the speakers for the reviewer - but he wouldn't allow it.
In this thread, others have suggested that only advertisers in and friends of Stereophile are granted the privilege of performing set-up and selecting/providing associated components. While this does seem to fit a pattern, we aren't willing to impute motive in the absence of hard facts. We maintain an attitude of agnostic detachment on the whole matter.
Bottom line: we are 99.9% certain that (the clue) was not set up correctly for the reviewer's room (please see our other posts for details) - and the reviewer failed to contact us, in re: the discrepancy between his experience of (the clue) at Capital Audiofest (which was overwhelmingly positive and shared on the Stereophile blog) and that in his listening space.
You have complained that others did not read the posts.
Did you miss the one where zendada wrote, "we were not afforded the opportunity to set up (the clue)s in Mr. Reichert's unique listening space."
> Perhaps Jim Croft should have conferred with JA about measurement
> techniques prior to seeing them if he felt there was a unusual complexity
> about it knowing full well they were going to be measured...
The nearfield measurement technique I use is an exact simulation of the
speaker's behavior when used adjacent to an infinite boundary, ie, exactly
the condition required by the Sjofn. That the Clue's low frequencies were
still shelved down under this condition strongly suggests that the
speaker's woofer alignment over-compensates for this. As I have already
written, this correlates closely to what Herb heard.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
The nearfield measurement technique I use is an exact simulation of the speaker's behavior when used adjacent to an infinite boundary, ie, exactly the condition required by the Sjofn.
I figured as much I was just politely trying to point out their straw grabbing.
...to find the optimal sound. You guys even kept the tape on the floor where the previous set gave the best sound - for the reference. The same effort should be applied to all speakers. I use to own speakers that heavily depended on positioning. It took some effort but was well worth it.
“Somebody was always controlling who got a chance and who didn’t. - Charles Bukowski
> The same effort should be applied to all speakers.
The Sjofn speakers were set-up exactly as recommended in the owner's manual.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
What are you doing here?
.
Indeed, 'tis the season - and I'm perfectly willing to pass it all off as incompetence. As you might imagine, however, to do so is difficult when one's livelihood is negatively impacted. Too, one legitimately expects demonstration of a certain level of competence in the pages of the world's leading audio mag, no es verdad?
But: let's be generous. For sure. Thanks kindly for your comments!
> Stereophile will bend over backwards to allow manufacturers the chance to
> 'fix' stuff that sucks...Why not in this case???
We ask manufacturers to submit new samples if a product appears to be
broken. That was not the case with the Sjofn, as both speakers measured
identically and sounded the same.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
I know this is cynical but I can't help but think back on all the Stereophile reviews of products from big-time, high-advertising manufacturers where the manufacturer/dealer was allowed to come in, set the speaker up, tweak the sound, etc. Or, if something seemed amiss, the manufacturer was allowed to send a new sample, a repaired sample, or an "updated" sample. I respect Stereophile for telling it like they see it in this case, but could it be that there is some discrimination going on against smaller manufacturers in the review process?
While it does seem suspicious that smaller manufacturers and non-advertisers are frequently not granted the opportunity to set up their products for Stereophile reviewers - and that we seem to get a disproportionate number of negative reviews - I retain a state of agnostic detachment on the matter. I say with certainty, however, that - had I been able to set up our speakers for Mr. Reichert - he would have heard what he did at Capital Audiofest last summer. Please note that, in his show coverage published on the Stereophile blog, he raved about our speakers. As I said in our Manufacturer's Comment, I feel that it impinged on Mr. Reichert to bring up this glaring discrepancy in his experiences of our product before penning his poison words, giving us the opportunity to correct the situation.
There is not doubt that Stereophile throws small manufacturers to the lions. That is because they can't fight back by pulling their ad dollars. They are easy defenseless pray.
Let's look at who Stereophile pummeled in the year or so..Raven Audio, Coffman Labs, and now this speaker manufacturer.
When major advertiser send them a turkey they get do-overs, excuses made for them, and continued support.
These the are facts as I see them.
Nuit,
Yes, those were my thoughts, as well.
This is a real 'WTF' situation.
"We are all in God's hands... and God is a malign thug."
-Mark Twain
mbnx01,
Have you ever actually had the opportunity to hear them? I would still love to hear them one day. Even though they wouldn't work in my rig, it's such an interesting concept to me.
Yes, I've heard them in my home. They're a serious contender in the kilo-buck price range.
Another favorite of mine in that price range is the Peachtree D5.
"We are all in God's hands... and God is a malign thug."
-Mark Twain
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: