Home Whiner's Woad

Whining, swan dives and other inappropiate topics get moved here.

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Whiner's Woad ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

Do you really pay attention to this guy?

Imagine you toil as an audio reviewer. Imagine you've devoted an entire 3000 plus word column to the entire Shelter line of cartridges. Imagine you've given the line an excellent and well-deserved review. Imagine you've pointed out that one of the Shelters is similar to the Crown Jewel SE, but priced much lower. And then imagine one of your readers sends you the URL to Arthur Salvatore's website (http://www.high-endaudio.com/RC-Cartridges.html) where you read what's under my "PS".

Well that reviewer is me, and this is what I read this morning. How would YOU like it?

-Michael Fremer

PS: My turntable set-up DVD is going to the pressing plant this week. It will be available soon. I think you will enjoy it and find it informative.

The Shelter(s) Cartridges and the "Audio Press"
Anyone who reads the most popular analogue-oriented newsgroups, like Vinyl Asylum and Audiogon, will be very familiar with the Shelter line of cartridges. Yet, it is rarely (if ever) mentioned by the so-called analogue "experts" and "enthusiasts" within the mainstream audio magazines (such as Michael Fremer). As for an actual "review", let alone a "Recommendation"; Forget about it!

Why not?

The magazines and their "reviewers" wish the entire Shelter line would just go away and die. The Shelter, in the past, had no North American distributor. That meant no "free samples" for the reviewers. It also meant no advertising revenues for the editors and publishers.

It is also "reasonably priced", which embarrasses almost all the existing (and very 'generous') cartridge distributors. Worst of all, any honest and thorough reviewer would be forced to mention that it is essentially the same cartridge as the (former) Crown Jewel SE. How can they then explain the $ 2,000 price difference ($ 2,650 Vs. $ 800) without exposing the excessive mark-up structure of the Crown Jewel's former distributor (one of Fremer's best 'buddies'*)?

So here we have a classic "conflict of interests".

Their readers' interest (to be made aware of a superior component that is also affordable), which was in direct conflict with their "good buddy's" interests (to earn excessive profits from selling grossly overpriced merchandise).

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  VH Audio  

Topic - Do you really pay attention to this guy? - analogcorner 10:12:59 05/01/06 (159)
You can not post to an archived thread.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]