FORUMS
Aloha,
Some of the ghosts of recent discussions from here, there, and everywhere seemed to strike me as I went through this month's issue, so I figured I'd see if anyone else got the same feelings:
1) When I see "A Passion For Bass" next to a pick of Alex Smith, I expect the ad to be more about bass fishing gear than subwoofers. Is he related to the Velodyne family or something? I just don't get the connection or relate to the endorsement.
2) When I see Mark Levinson gear, my first thought is that I just can't believe you can actually sell the rights to your very name. It actually makes me feel bad, even though it's none of my business. I'm trying to find some other examples.
3) 99% of ads are invisible. No offense. Maybe using naked chicks is a good idea.
4) I look forward to the Headroom ads.
5) Lee Feldman is mui bueno.
6) The new NAD electronics (page 75) are dead ringers for the Revox electronics of the late 80's.
7) There seems to be a direction toward reviewed gear having fewer retailers and toward one source purveyors of gear - Sutherland, Portal Audio - which is fine. I think this type of sales outlet is going to grow into a domimant force in Hi Fi.
8) There is a thin line between the reviews that lead to the demise of Stereo Review and recent gear reviews in Stereophile: All the gear sounds great.
However, Stereophile takes the time to tell us in which ways it sounds great, and how it compares to other gear that sounds great. I can dig that.
The middle of the review is now more important than the conclusion. I can dig that, too.
Also, would-be reviewers can take a lesson and just keep a stock ending on hand that will save them time and seems to match the current review paradigm: "This piece of gear sounds great. It offers good value and sounds as good or better than some products that cost more. I enjoyed my time with this piece of gear and...insert either: a) felt a slight pang of regret as I packaged it up to send back to the manufacturer, or, b) liked it so well that I bought it. If you are shopping for this category of gear, you would do yourself a disservice if you failed to audtion/consider this piece of gear."
9) In the DVD era, opera singer chicks have gotten better looking. Same with classical music playing chicks.
10) Sam Tellig, Mikey, and this months equipment and record reviwers did great jobs at keeping my interest. If I started the article not really interested in the subject matter, by the end, I was engaged! Kudos all around.
11) Do you remember those beer ads that had Charlton Heston repeating part of what the other actor in the ad was saying?
It would go something like this...
Actor: Lite beer used to leave me flat.
Charlton: His BEER left him FLAT!
Actor: But Bud Lite is different, it has more flavor.
Charlton BUD LITE HAS MORE FLAVOR!
Etc...
Well, anyway, those little "quote blurbs" in large font in the reviews were just close enough to the actual text they quoted that I got that Charlton Heston feeling. Kinda cool.
12) The Cary Audio SLP 05 must be really really good, because Art used all his alotted words on the review instead of adding bullshit political filler! Think about that for a minute. That's a total endorsement of the product!
13) Is saying that a speaker "is dynamite for home-theater" an endorsement or a criticism? 
14) You think Portal Audio would give a discount for buying four Paladins?
Anyway, a great issue. The only thing I would ask is to make them twice as big! (I know the answer to this, but I'd be happy to pay more for the pleasure of longer issues.)
