It is Stereophile's strict policy that we do not allow ads from a product's manufacturer to appear within or even close to a review of that product. Every month, publisher Keith Pray, assistant editor Stephen Mejias, and I look at the issue's finalized layout or "map" to ensure that this does not happen.
Well, when you receive your May issue, you will see that we screwed up. On p.76, in the middle of Art Dudley's review of the Roksan Kandy K2 integrated amplifier, is an advertisement for the Roksan Kandy K2 amplifier!
I am appalled by this, as when we signed off on the May issue's proofs, there was a Music Direct ad on this page. It appears that after we had assumed the issue had been put to bed, the ad production staff, who are not based in our NY office but in El Segundo, CA, moved three ads. In the process, they moved the Roksan ad from p.99 to p.76. They weren't aware of the conflict because the ad was in the name of Roksan's distributor May Audio marketing.
My apologies for this conflict and we are revising our procedures to make sure something like this doesn't happen again.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile