Because Singer is not VTL. Singer is an audio dealer and not a manufacturer of gear.

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Why is Singer advertising VTL right IN the VTL review!!!??? I thought there where some kind of rules at teh magazine about ads during a review?

Sigh...yes, this is unfortunate. Advertising production is in our Los Angeles office, so we don't actually see the ads when we are laying out and proofing the magazine in our NY editorial office. It can happen with ads where a dealer is advertising a wide range of manufacturers because all we see is a placeholder that says, for example, "VTL ad" if it were a manufacturer, or "Singer ad" if it were a dealer. With the former, we can move the ad so that it doesn't clash. With the latter, it is all too easy to miss a possible clash. :-(

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

Speaking of VTL, I wish the same people who write the original review would do the followup. Otherwise, it's difficult to gauge if and how the new version of the component is better than the previous version.

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Those DETAILS, DETAILS DETAILS.

This from a guy who can't spell "the"?

When you remove the log from your eye, come back and talk about the sliver in ours.

I was going to say something I'm so fed up with the FOOL / Carl Engebretsen / DUP. He's beyond reason.

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I was going to say something I'm so fed up with the FOOL / Carl Engebretsen / DUP. He's beyond reason.

Actually, Carl/DUP was right to call the magazine out on this issue. It was a serious breach of our declared policy and were are trying to work out how we can prevent such occurrences in the future.

As I said, the reason is that since Primedia concentrated the advertising production for the magazine division that includes Stereophile in its LA office, we no longer see copies of the actual ads when we layout and proof the issue. In theory, at the end of the production cycle, which is our last chance to trap such errors, there is an issue-map file on the server that includes a thumbnail image of every page. Unfortunately, with ads where the creative material is late, that thumbnail is often still missing at that stage. All we see is a placeholder stating the name of the company.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

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Speaking of VTL, I wish the same people who write the original review would do the followup.

This, in essence, was the case with the VTL TL-7.5. While Brian Damkroger didn't do the original review, he wrote an extensive followup on the Mark 1 before doing 2 followups on teh Mark 2. All these reviews are available at www.stereophile.com/tubepreamps/938.

In the case of products that have not been changed, I like a different writer to do the followup, if one is appropriate, in order to shine the light from a different direction. For example, I raved about the PSB Alpha B1 in the May isse -- see www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/507psb -- so Iasked Wes Phillips to do a follow-up on the same samples in our September issue.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

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Speaking of VTL, I wish the same people who write the original review would do the followup.

This, in essence, was the case with the VTL TL-7.5. While Brian Damkroger didn't do the original review, he wrote an extensive followup on the Mark 1 before doing 2 followups on teh Mark 2. All these reviews are available at www.stereophile.com/tubepreamps/938.

In the case of products that have not been changed, I like a different writer to do the followup, if one is appropriate, in order to shine the light from a different direction. For example, I raved about the PSB Alpha B1 in the May isse -- see www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/507psb -- so Iasked Wes Phillips to do a follow-up on the same samples in our September issue.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

Sometimes I feel like I lose a point of reference when a different reviewer does the followup. For example, I got a really good feel for what the original VTL sounded like from Paul Bolin's review. However, with Brian D. doing the followup, it's hard to get a comparative feel of the newer version of the VTL. Especially considering that Brian doesn't review the "no holds barred" components on regular basis, he may not be as critical.

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Nice way around the "rules". Why wouldn't the dealer just happen to advertise the brand being reviewed, more than one issue this has happened. It's kinda sneaky I think.

With all this talk of a serious breach of Stereophile policy I feel I should add a comment, lest it appear that we at VTL might somehow be pleased about this situation.

When I saw the June issue at the recent show I brought this up with our Stereophile ad account manager, since I was concerned that a dealer advert featuring VTL products placed right in the middle of a review of one of our products could potentially take away from the impact of the review.

This isn

Thanks for chiming in, Luke. This is good to know.

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I like when different reviewers look at the same item. Yes, a different perspective. I like too when certain reviewers DO question some of MF's conclusions and rationalitys!!! It gives a sense of non partisan, un biased talks. AD and Samm have mentioned some absurditys as just that, coool

I agree with you that having different reviewers talk about the same item is great, but having one reviewer talk about version one of the product and another reviewer talk about version two of the product makes it difficult to compare the two versions.

Having the same reviewer covering the revision might not be informative either. Several system or room changes may have occurred between product model revisions. These products could easily be several years apart. The original reviewer's perceptions may not have the kind of relevance you hope they might possess, and might offer no more insight than the new reviewer's observations.

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neither VTL nor Singer had anything to do with where the ad was placed

A point worth reinforcing. Thank you Luke.

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it remains unknown who at Stereophile actually placed the ad where it was, and why they chose to place it where they did.

Turns out it was Stereophile ad rep Laura LoVecchio. She was moving 2 other ads so that they wouldn't clash with editorial, which in turn moved the Singer ad into the VTL review. She also wasn't aware that Singer was featuring VTL in the ad. We are thinking about how to prevent this kind of mishap occurring in future.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile