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Not much in a long, long time...

>What have you observed that is good about the Audio Critic?>

First, I want to say I appreciate the softer, more thoughtful tone you've been taking lately in your recent posts.

As a charter subscriber to The Audio Critic when it began in about 1978, it has changed dramatically and I have a very strong opinion about it (surprise). Here's my take on it.

Aczel's background before publishing TAC was as an ad copywriter who worked in audio. The first issue was a listening comparison and rating of about 24 different audiophile preamps available at the time. No one before or since had untaken a survey of that magnitude. The magazine was a force to be reckoned with.

In 1980, after a very irregular publishing schedule, the magazine gave a rave review to a new speaker, the Fourier, and the magazine ceased publishing for 7 years.

In the meantime, the Fourier company was a flop and went bankrupt. In 1987 when Aczel and TAC came back, he admitted he was a 50% owner of Fourier.

Since then, his tone changed dramatically. It's as though he is an angry, bitter old man with a vendetta against high end audio for rejecting his 'first correctly designed loudspeaker'. He has aligned himself with people like Tom Nousaine, who believe that null DBTs *prove* nearly all amplifiers sound the same, for example.

I have not read TAC in years since it stopped appearing on newsstands. Aczel used to call TAC the audio magazine 'you loved to hate'. Now it's just plain hated.



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  • Not much in a long, long time... - mkuller 10:07:11 03/02/07 (0)


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