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In Reply to: RE: "There's no such thing as bad publicity." posted by Eldragon on December 21, 2014 at 08:59:19
If Stereophile was "too cozy with the manufacturers with 'pedigree'" there never would have been a review in the first place.
I think Mr. Kuller has nailed the situation. The speaker is unusually idiosyncratic, to the point where a very experienced audiophile couldn't get it to sound good following the instructions that came with it.
Follow Ups:
"...there never would have been a review in the first place." That would be too obvious. On the other hand, I do not believe there is any deliberate conspiracy - just a human condition. Incidentally, if the speakers in question were Aerial Acoustic, the proven and solid Giant of the industry we would already 'know' they would perform at their 'usual' level.
As I mentioned earlier, the reviewer made an effort to switch multiple amps...didn't bother to move speakers an inch! LOL!
“Somebody was always controlling who got a chance and who didn’t. - Charles Bukowski
> As I mentioned earlier, the reviewer made an effort to switch multiple
> amps...didn't bother to move speakers an inch!
That's not correct. The speakers were placed close to the wall as
practicable, within 2" of the boundary as recommended. Moving the speakers
further out in the room resulted in an even leaner low-frequency balance
and experimenting with the lateral spacing didn't give an appreciable
improvement. In addition, while not mentioned in the review, two other
Stereophile reviewers tried the Sjofn speakers but were not able, as I
understand it, to get the speakers to produce the anticipated sound quality
in their rooms.
Usually, in cases like this, I would have auditioned the speakers in my
own room. However, my room is not suitable for speakers that require
boundary reinforcement to obtain their intended bass response. (See the
photo at the link below.)
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
...but let's say Mr. Framer gets them to review them, and they don't work in his room. How would you classify them then? He say's NO, you say Class A! What in the case YOU don't get the chance to review them and make them 'work'. Are measurement then a tiebreaker? Why would the laymen trust the measurements?
Thanks!
“Somebody was always controlling who got a chance and who didn’t. - Charles Bukowski
> ...but let's say Mr. [Fremer] gets them to review them, and they don't
> work in his room.He would get to write a follow-up review saying so. Just as when I audition
a product that has already been reviewed in Stereophile, I write a followup,
as I did with the Revel M106 in the current (January) issue of Stereophile.> How would you classify them then? He say's NO, you say Class A!
The ultimate decider of the rating is myself. I am the boss, after all :-)
But if you read Stereophile's "Recommended Components," you can find
plenty of examples where my reviewers disagree. But what matters to me is
that my team doesn't disagree on the description of a product's sound
quality - they are all all expert, experienced listeners and their
descriptions are indeed transportable. Where they _do_ disagree is on the
relative value of the various aspect of a product's sound. Description is
one aspect of a reviewer's skill set; preference is a different thing,
which is why all our reviews include details of the music used to reach
value judgments.> Why would the laymen trust the measurements?
Because they are by definition transportable. If you read Stereophile's
review of the Sjofn (the clue), the measurements sidebar reveals why the
speaker sounds lean even when used against the wall; why its balance
will be susceptible to small changes in toe-in; why the speaker's balance
will depend on how damped the listener's room is; and why, even, its
reproduction in the lower midrange was odd, in that some musical notes
went missing in action, something that bothered our reviewer more than
the lean upper bass.Again, these measured caveats will be found in Stereophile's "Recommended
Component" listings.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Edits: 12/23/14
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“Somebody was always controlling who got a chance and who didn’t. - Charles Bukowski
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