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If you actually reviewed every thing that's available today, your mag would look like a phone book. Maybe more shoot outs so readers could see how stuff compares in a given price range?

It's not that you recommend too many components, it's that you don't do enough to point out the shortcomings of the components you recommend. Every component has limitations; I need to know the limitations of the component as well as the strengths.

It is both too much and too little. Despite editorial protests, Stereophile puts pretty much everything it reviews onto its "Recommended Components" list. While not precisely a buying guide, it still fails as a list of stuff worth listening to because it excludes the many worthwhile components still not reviewed. Rather than the capsule reviews, I'd like to see fewer but more detailed recommendations, followed by a simple "worth a listen" list, sans comment.

Compared to the amount of stuff you review, it does seem as though you recommend way too much. But compared to the amount of stuff offered, you recommend very little!

It does seem that every review that I read does encourage a purchase of subject product. Not that I have ever based a buying decision on a review recommendation. However i ususally do use the review to alert myself to the pro's and con's of a product. It would be refreshing to hear that some audio gear does have room for improvement or offers no value. C'mon take a risk Stereophile, let's make a few advertisers mad!

KCA is right. The recommended components issues have become a joke. They are nothing more than an index of the items reviewed in the past. Let's face it, when is the last time something that got reviewed didn't make it to the recommended components list? Even if a product is obviously flawed, it can still get on, because of the things it does right, right? I no longer view the recommended components listings as anything other than a caspule summary. If you truly want to know what is recommended, see the index of any issue.

We need some old-fashioned double-blind component shoot-outs. Lots of components go into the shoot-outs but very few survive. The survivors then get traditional full reviews having proven themselves worthy side-by-side with their direct competition. Line 'em up.

No comments

Stereophile needs to raise the bar for what is required to achieve recommended status.

I like to see many components, since not all components are available to everyone, depending on geographic location alone.

Would prefer to see more reviews & more focus on products at lower price points. You could accomplish this by shortening the length of reviews and summarizing the measurments more concisely (Are you listening Mr. Editor?). Last, but not least, I'd like to see Recommended Components stratified by price as well as performcance.

It seems like every single component that is reviewed is recommended.

More please. More economical gear.

Yes, and the Class A rating is waaaay to easily obtainable. Plus what's up with the A+ rating? I'd say just rate the A+ components as A then drop all of the other A components down to B. The components all sound good, but most of them are not that good. The A rating should be for all-out-assult and state-of-the-art products. These are generally few and far between and (unfortunately) often very expensive. Drop the A+ guys!

Too much for expensive gear but too little for affordable ones

More, more, more, please. Not more from the amount you review, that ratio is about right. No, we want more reviews for the same subscription price and hopefully that will lead to more components getting recommended.

You are the greatest audio mag. Too bad so many of your other readers are rude morons. If they buy what your advertisers sell, okay, but, I suspect many just steal the magazine from the library or the bookstore and vent their frustrations.

How can there be too much?

I don't have a problem with lots of recommendations, as long as we can winnow them down with plenty of information on their character and what they would be best be paired with electrically. On the other hand, you ignore my speakers (Legacy Signature III's), so I am certain that your list is incomplete by at least one item.

There is no gradation as everything is better. I have always thought that the Recommended Components were more trouble than they are worth.

I do think they, actually, recommend just about the right amount of products. The probelms is that 98% of them are way up in the stratosphere! Now, following John Atkinson's "As We See it" in this year, Stereophile do review budget components. However, most of them fall on the category of loudspeakers (that's Bob Reyna's featured review). Certainly, Sam had his share this year, but not enough to compare, say, at least 4 or 5 amplifiers, cd players, etc. That would be the case, say, if I was in the hunt fot a $7,000 amplifier, $10,000 loudspeakers, $3,000 CD player, ts. Thus, due to budget restrictions, it is irrevelant wether you do too may or not enough recommended components.

I would rather see more "Recommended Systems."

I want more multichannel components like dvd-player, pre-pro, multi amp.

It could be renamed "reviewed components." Besides, what's the sense in saying you "recommend" an item in Class C, say, that's more expensive than most of the Class B and some of the Class A items?

When almost every competently designed component sounds good and is recommended, your list looses it's value. Come on. Doesn't anybody make a bad (or a dud) component anymore?

As naturally tempting as it is for me to say you guys screw up the recommendations, I have to say you do pretty well. Given the huge number and extreme variety of legitimate offerings in the marketplace and the wildly different application requirements we have for the equipment, many combinations will produce commendable results. Clearly, not every recommended component will work best with every other recommended component nor will it be fit for every reader's (or my) system. But you do a credible job of conveying that. Please remain careful to recommend auditioning the components before finalizing a purchase.

I think the number of Recommended Components is about right. Stereophile is good at dropping items off the list when necessary (such as when a product is no longer manufactured or has not been tested in a long time). These are good guidelines and should remain in place. My one wish is that Stereophile recommend more affordable components. I'd like to see you spend less time reviewing items that are priced in the five figure category. I find reviews of affordable gear (such as the recent bookshelf speakers reviews covering Polk, PSB, and lower-end Infinity gear) far more interesting and useful, then some $50,000/pair of whatever.

Over the last 10 or so years there has been enormous improvement in some areas of equipment. Just think about the quality of speaker sound you can get for under $500 these days! Therefore, I think it is highly appropriate to recommend a goodly number of components in Stereophile. Not every piece is state-of-the-art, and not every piece works well with every other, but I have never seen anything in your recommendations which would suggest that standards have been compromised. Keep 'em coming!

I don't think so. Despite the fact that you do recommend many components throughout the year(s) doesn't mean everything you recommend is the state of the art. During the year, you usually pick the top 500 and many are from prior years, which is a testimony to the quality of those components. I knmow from the many negative letters that are sent that many people do feel that you give the green light to too many components. I would like to think that the market is so competitive that there are truly a lot of good products out there and some that are great! I would think it is not so easy to have an objective view when doing a review. Everyone has to succumb to some of their subjective taste. This,of course, is listening only as measurements are not subjective at all.

No, It is really good to know what is good.