Late Again!

Editor's Note: In Stereophile's second decade of publication, things were starting to unravel, with long gaps between each issue. There were just seven issues published between January 1974 and January 1978. The late Harry Pearson has gone on record that he founded The Absolute Sound in 1973 part because he was tired of waiting for the next issue of Stereophile to reach his mailbox. In this "As We See It" essay from the "Surface Noise" issue in August 1976, founder J. Gordon Holt owns up to it appearing 8 months late!

It is probably unnecessary for us to point out that this issue is late. Five months late, to be more or less exact. Under the circumstances, it took more than a little gall to date this our "Winter 1975/76" issue, but the truth must out, and the truth of the matter is that this "Winter" issue will be going out to subscribers around the end of August 1976.

We are underscoring that fact for the benefit of new subscribers who, on receiving as their first issue a copy that looks 6 months old, may suspect some kind of ripoff. So we repeat: Despite the date, this issue was up-to-the-minute as of July 31, 1976.

As for our current subscribers, please accept our apologies for keeping you waiting so long. You have been more patient than we had any right to expect. We offer no excuses; all we can say is that we shall try our damnest to see that it doesn't happen again.

We have, you will note, made this issue a bit fatter than usual to compensate, somewhat, for its lateness. But please, don't expect an 80-page issue every three months. We'll never go back to our original 32-page count, but neither have we any intention of getting involved in an obesity race with our "competitors." We try, most of the time, to make our copy brief and concise rather than sprawly and verbose, and we'll have another 80-page issue only if: 1) We are deluged with ads, and must add extra text pages to maintain a decent ad/ text ratio; or 2) There is too much to report on within the confines of a 60 to 70-pager.

FY1: Note also that, as of this issue, we are obliged once more to raise our rates, for all the usual reasons. We're raising them a bit more than is necessary to offset rising costs, for two reasons: First, we don't want to have to raise them again this coming year when the next round of annual (or semi-annual) Post-Office rate hikes come round again. And second, we are going to start buying outstandingly good articles for publication in the magazine, and we have other plans for expansion and diversification that will cost, too. The result, you will find, will be an even more interesting and informative Stereophile than previously. Some of our plans for the future are detailed herein, some will come as pleasant surprises.

Remember, this publication is for your benefit. Let us know what you'd like to see in it.—J. Gordon Holt

COMMENTS
dalethorn's picture

I remember getting these issues. One issue began or ended with "Happy New Year (just don't ask which year)"

jdchisom1's picture

I remember that issue well. Because of that issue I purchased the Yamaha NSM-1000's. They're the only original equipment I still have from that time. They're now paired-up with current ARC pieces, but are still drop-dead wonderful sounding. They still make people's jaws drop

John Atkinson's picture
jdchisom1 wrote:
I remember that issue well. Because of that issue I purchased the Yamaha NSM-1000's.

Check out Gordon Holt's review at http://www.stereophile.com/standloudspeakers/yamaha_ns-1000_loudspeaker/.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

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