This is the fourth year Stereophile has named a select few components as "Products of the Year." By doing so, we intend to give recognition to those components that have proved capable of giving pleasure beyond the formal review period.
There are six individual categories: Loudspeakers (including subwoofers); Amplification Components (preamplifiers, power amplifiers, etc.); Digital Sources (CD players, transports, processors); Analog Sources (phono cartridges, turntables, tonearms, FM tuners, etc.); Home Theater Components (other than video); and Accessories (everything else).
The two most important categories, however, are the "Component of the Year"—the Best of the Best—and the "Budget Component of the Year"—the Best Sound for the Buck. There's also an "Editor's Choice" award, which John Atkinson reserves to himself to single out one superb-sounding product that has impressed him the most. Usually, to be eligible for "Editor's Choice," a component must have been continuously available for at least a decade, but this year the sheer performance of the chosen component allows such rules to be broken with impunity, he argues.
The formal voting procedure consisted of two steps: First, Stereophile's hardware reviewers were asked to nominate up to six components in each of the eight categories. To be a contender, a product had to have been reported on in Stereophile between the November 1994 and October 1995 issues, either in a full review or in a Follow-Up. Most important, only those components for which a writer had put his opinion on the line for public scrutiny could be nominated. We then put together a ballot form that included all components that had been nominated by three or more writers and/or editors. This process ensured that most of the nominees in most of the categories would have been auditioned by most of the reviewers.
Twenty of the magazine's editors and reviewers gave three votes for their first choice in each category, two votes for their second choice, and one vote for their third choice (if they had a third choice). JA tallied the votes; address your compliments and complaints to him.
