Critic's Corner

Discuss a review. Provide constructive feedback. Talk to the industry.

Use this form to submit comments directly to the Asylum moderators for this forum. We're particularly interested in truly outstanding posts that might be added to our FAQs.
You may also use this form to provide feedback or to call attention to messages that may be in violation of our content rules.

You must login to use this feature.

Inmate Login

By default, logging in will set a session cookie that disappears when you close your browser. Clicking on the 'Remember my Moniker & Password' below will cause a permanent 'Login Cookie' to be set.

Moniker/Username: The Name that you picked or by default, your email. Forgot Moniker?	Examples "Rapper", "Bob W", "joe@aol.com".
Password:	Forgot Password?
	Remember my Moniker & Password ( What's this?)

If you don't have an Asylum Account, you can create one by clicking Here.

Our privacy policy can be reviewed by clicking Here.

Inmate Comments

From:
Your Email:
Subject:

Message Comments

Original Message

"Assclown"?? Let's get a few things straight....

Posted by Bill Leebens on May 22, 2016 at 14:22:22:
There were three names mentioned in the piece, and you couldn't keep them straight?

I've worked with many manufacturers through the years, and handled reviews and advertising all over the world. Most reviewers, editors and publishers are highly ethical, and I've never had an issue with them. Some follow a model I find repellant, and I choose not to deal with them. In the past, my clients have agreed with my take on such things; at present my employer, PS Audio, agrees with me.

When we advertise, we do it because we know from experience that ads in/on a given outlet return increased traffic to our site and/or increased enquiries to our sales department. We never advertise as a result of coercion or extortion, nor do we ever give freebies to reviewers, either as a reward for a favorable review or in order to provoke a favorable review.

We just don't. Ever. Aside from the fact that we don't have to---PS is a well-established company with highly-regarded products---we wouldn't do it anyway. It's an offensive practice that undermines the validity of the whole review process, and implies that our products are incapable of receiving good reviews unless there is a payoff in some form.

I have worked with John and Art for many years, as has Paul McGowan. We hold them in the highest regard, and trust them implicitly. When the exchange with "Randy" occurred, I happened to mention it to JA and AD as a "you're not gonna believe this..." anecdote.
The exchanges depicted did occur as described. The "soliloquies" were my words.

To view the depiction of actual occurrences as vague slurs against an entire industry indicates to me that the piece wasn't read carefully, and the inability to track who-is-whom further confirms same.

Paul was aware of all events, and supported my decision to share the info, and approved of the mention of my name and that of PS.

It is both bewildering and astonishing to me that Stereophile's depiction of these incidents has been turned against them. They're the GOOD GUYS, for goodness' sake!

Bill Leebens