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I just got the latest Absolute Sound, which is interesting since my subscription ran out in April. I remember back in the day how exciting it was to get a new issue. Harry always has something to say and so forth. But now, now it is the most boring magazine I sometimes read. Except for Paul Seydor and REG I can't think of any reason to read it. It's a shame what Harley and Valin have done to it.
When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it. ~ Bernard Bailey
Edits: 06/07/15Follow Ups:
Tedious and dry writing and a viewpoint that verges on plain snobbery!
...also have his book, I believe still valid today.
"Somebody was always controlling who got a chance and who didn't. - Charles Bukowski
...since HP was forced to sell it due to bankruptcy in 2001 and was relegated to a mere columnist, it has been going downhill.
Harry never was a good money manager.
He left that side of the business to an individual with whom he was emotionally tied. That person proved to also not be a good money manager!
I was unaware that HP himself went through a personal bankruptcy; I thought that some old friends bailed him out. Wasn't that the story behind his being hired by "Fi" magazine, if anyone here is old enough to remember that bizarre twist of fate, but not so old as not to be able to remember it.
I had been told that HP had been paid $100,000 up front to write columns for "Fi," which enabled him to buy peace with the IRS over very serious allegations. The IRS takes a dim view of certain things. And certain things are not only not dischargable in Bankruptcy, they are usually considered white-collar crimes.
As far as I know, people like ad sales people were just plain stiffed, there was no judicial process--and the likelihood of a recovery from HP was so slim as not to attract any but a lawyer who had been paid a hefty retainer up front. (That theory being that TAS' "corporate form" was a mere formality or instrumentality, and that in fact the corporation was never treated any differently than a pants pocket. Back in the day, I helped litigate a huge case, circa $21 million, where that was a key issue. And the IRS problems were strong evidence that the corporation and HP were one and the same.)
The one writer at TAS I always find level-headed, well-intentioned, agenda-free, and a gentleman is Neil Gader.
jm
John Nork's writings
TAS, however was always the personality of HP. It was his opinions which held sway and all his writers usually toed the line. Most other magazines have absolutely no editorial personality, and thus there is no consensus.
Take Stereophile,s class A ratings. You can take an amp from Class A and a preamp there is no guarantee that they will sound decent together. HP's 5 star components had a certain continuity about their sound whether you agreed with him or not.
Most magazines are like today's big Japanese audio companies like sony and Panasonic: rule by committee. They have become very bland in flavor.
> > The one writer at TAS I always find level-headed, well-intentioned, agenda-free, and a gentleman is Neil Gader.
Indeed.
If you don't become the ocean, you'll be seasick every day.
—Leonard Cohen
...I'm not sure why all that is important to put out here, but I agree about Neil Gader.
I would aspire to be like Neil.
Just trying to make him blush.
jm
Armstrong ...........?
.......about Neil Gader.
But is he Stereophile worthy? lol I bought my Meridian DAC based on a review by Neil Gader. Would not have mattered to me who he wrote for.
And I get the "Seinfeld" reference.
jm
Oh, you must mean the sponge worthy thing :-)
I was surprised when TAS came back , was it 94.? When did Harley get involved, wasnt he involved with SP at the time...?
> I was surprised when TAS came back , was it 94?
I think it was 1999 but I will check.
> When did Harley get involved, wasnt he involved with SP at the time...?
Robert Harley resigned from Stereophile at our 1997 show in San Francisco
to join Fi as technical editor. He became TAS editor in 2000.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Issue 111 of The Absolute Sound, cover-dated September/October 1997 and put
together by Peter Braverman, was the last issue to be published by HP.
Issue 112, the magazine's 25th anniversary issue and cover-dated May/June
1998 was the first to be published by Tom Martin's Absolute Multimedia.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Edits: 06/10/15 06/10/15
Thanks John ,
I must have mixed up my audio shows , as i do recall hearing the murmur of the impending doom at an audio show , Was the stereophile waldorf audio show in 97..?
> Was the stereophile waldorf audio show in 97?
1996.
Things were getting financially rocky at TAS in 1996, due in part, I
understood at the time, to its then publisher, an HP protege, ripping
the company off.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
John,
How would you compare the shows today with the stereophile shows of that era..?
> How would you compare the shows today with the stereophile shows of that
> era..?
In general (and not including CES and the Munich Show), current North
American audio shows each have lower attendance than most the of the
Stereophile shows. This might just be because there are now so many shows,
whereas back in the day, each Stereophile show was No.1 in a field of 1.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Edits: 06/11/15
I miss those shows. Always well produced.
See ya. Dave
Everything went to hell the day it and the other one forsook near-pocket-size for Stereo Review-like slick.
Jim
http://jimtranr.com
Edits: 06/08/15
I don't care if the smaller format was more expensive to produce - I would have happily paid the difference in price if the quality of writing held up.
...it would've gotten lost on the newsstands.
nt
You obviously don't subscribe to British audio mags. They cost about $10/issue and subscribing hardly saves pennies. TAS is cheap compared to them.
The English mags tend to be interesting, not aiways, but usually. TAS isn't. Which is a shame.
When they discover the center of the universe, a lot of people will be disappointed to discover they are not it. ~ Bernard Bailey
So - count me as someone who would frequently spring for an issue of TAS at newsstand prices way back in the day (say, mid to late 1980's).
Would also spring for a HiFi News & Record review back then.
...that's where many cheap audiophiles read it.
At least, some brands that were of interest to me. Von Schweikert comes to mind. And Fosgate. IMO, not insignificant.
Well they are all tier 1 reviewers and their sighted only positive reviews suits Von Schweikert perfectly ..
Laughing...
So more like the absolute joke ..... TAJ :)
Harley also makes a dumb reply on the harmonics of the human voice...He needs to go back to grade school,,
Laughing...
/
Nowadays it's more like The Absolute Price.
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