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I want to express my ongoing gratitude for Stereophile's regular posting of these archival reviews. No other HiFi journal that I know of appears committed to making available such an exhaustive database of subjective and objective information in this domain. It really sets Stereophile apart from the crowd.
These vintage reviews are extremely helpful because: 1) They show truly how far we've come over the decades in terms of performance and value, particularly when it comes to loudspeakers and budget electronics, 2) They show how the art and science of product evaluation has evolved over that same time period, 3) They remind us of the vastly different demeanors and values of Stereophile's reporters, from the stone-cold analytical aspect of A.J. Cordesman, to the irrelevant zany antics of C. Greenberg, to the effusive warmth of H. Reichert, 4) They serve as a guide for those just getting started in this hobby to navigate the secondhand market for bargains they can afford.
It's a shame that the similarly rigorous HiFi News archives are much more spotty; there's surely a treasure-trove of information and wisdom to be gleaned from that long-crusing Mother Ship of objective/subjective review hybridization. The same is true of the long-lost measurement troves of Audio, Stereo Review, and High Fidelity -- like 'em or not, they each contributed vast amounts of objective data to the hobby that is now on the verge of being forgotten.
Given how central a rigorously-kept library is to all aspects of intellectual pursuit, it is sad that in HiFi, we seem to be lacking our Library of Alexandria or even just something resembling a decent University Library. Stereophile is the closest thing to that we've got.
Without a clear link to the past, we are infants newly-born and blinking blankly at the present, only able to rely on our personal experiences, unable to receive the knowledge of those before us. Having a cadre of seasoned audiophiles on your masthead keeps Stereophile from suffering this fate. And curating the knowledge gleaned from giants like JGH, LG, RH, and TJN (to name a few) is the other thing that keeps today's Stereophile anchored in the context of the past.
I appreciate what you do. Thank you.
