http://www.planeteria.net/home/whistler/

Word around the campfire is that his father is the whistler on the theme to the Andy Griffith Show.

Ah, give the guy a break. At least he has a job. Out of all fairness though we should be introduced to a pig caller like Souie "Arnold" Ziffel. Who actually has an ear for good quality sound equipment as well.

I'm guessing he's free-lance. He wrote a few pieces at The Absolute Bullshit and now has staked out the first pages of Stereophile. And he whistles. I never could do that, so I'll pass on judging his musical talent. Lamont suggests a hog-caller. I would prefer a hog. This sheds new light on the old adage, "Never try to teach a pig to sing -- it is a waste of your time and annoys the pig." Still, I was befogged by the August "As we see it." What is the point? (1) Dealers have trouble staging open houses. (2)We all hear differently. (3)Reviewers should be forgiven for their idiosyncrasies. Didn't we already know all that? I'd be okay with it, if JA would change the lead-in to "As I see it." Then I could just read a few lines and ignore the rest, moving on to this month's line-up of new gear and recordings. As it stands, the August piece highlights all the reasons why I don't belong to any audio societies. I guess I'm just not a joiner. Mr. Serinus' writing is highly contrived. With or without the personal pronouns. The situations (tubes on Jadis Amplifiers going out, leading to the necessity to listen to live music; a bad audio outing at the local dealer leading to the conclusion we all hear differently...). He has a lot of trouble filling a page without resorting to, well, a lot of transparent bullshit. So, I agree, rigbran. Off with his head... er, masthead. Cheers, Clifton

Yikes!

I beg to differ.

Although he wouldn't know me from Adam, I remember Jason from the Bay Area Audiophile Society and recall him as a true audiophile - budgeting audio goodies above other creature comforts. He seemed like someone who stayed on the path to better sound at the expense of things like a better car or better whatever. Can't ask for more from an enthusiast, I figure.

He also seems to be a keen observer of Hi Fi and music happenings on the net, and his industry updates are first rate.

Yup, I admit to getting heated up over the "As We See It" pieces, especially because they are Stereophile's "As We See It" philosophical introduction to a given issue. As such, they were a little too heavily written in the "me,me,me" vein - but that's what feedback forums are all about, no?

I do think Mr. Serinus has good ears, loves the hobby, does good Industry Updates, and I bet he'd be a good review writer, as well - especially now that he's moved up to row F or so at the symphony, and can now feel the emotion of well performed music!

Seriously, about Serinus...He obviously gives a shit about how things sound and is a fellow explorer of the ways equipment interacts with us.

I want him to relax and not feel the need to keep giving us examples of his credibility and would like to see him get a chance to describe gear in a way that we can check his credibility out on our own - like any reviewer!

I vote for less "Jason-ness" on page one, but for more Jason in the Industry Updates and review sections. If he will spend time telling us how things sound to him, and not just describe how good those golden ears of his are, then viva La Jasione! I think he'll have interesting things to say and I would be inclined to be interested in his take on equipment.

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Hey, Clifton, do you really dislike TAS that much? I do admit to "cheating" on my first love and reading TAS...I'm happy with both in my life. Call me a Hi Fi Ho or a Binaural Bigamist...

Jeez, you guys are rough on a Monday.

When I read someone that I am unfamiliar with, the voice in my head that is doing the reading doesn't quite know what to make of the writer until it becomes familiar with his or her style. In the meantime, I read new writers using my own voice. Since I'm not the least bit preten...pretens...pretenci...snooty, (whew) I guess I'm not seeing what you guys are seeing in his writing.

Yo, Buddha -- say hello to Mike for me. I don't hate TAS. I am a subscriber. Their style is pompous and self-righteous, however, and they need the occasional pie in the face. Bob Harley is still one of the best audio reviewers in the business. Like JA, he combines tremendous technical knowledge with a genuine love for music. Besides, they have purty pickshers of what we all desire to drool over (okay, okay, that too...but we all gotta spend some time outside the sheets). Greene, Valin, and all those other guys just take themselves too seriously. Right now, they are agonizing over how they can save the high-end (from itself??), revitalize the business by attracting new blood from the ADS generation. Good luck. Like, hip-hoppers, gangstas, and Christian Rappers are gonna go buy Audio Research amps and Wilson speakers. Harley has a subtle sense of humor and doesn't have the insecurity issues some of the other folks over there have. We go way back to the dark ages of Cerwin-Vega, Altec, and AR-3's -- when we were briefly roomies, I had the Polk 10's (being gutted by graduate school tuition and a recent divorce, that was the best I could do). Geography and diverging careers drifted us apart, but I always try to look him up at the shows, if possible.

JV Serinus? Who cares? I don't have a strong opinion either way. He just seems a bit stuffy, that's all, and his two "As We See It" pieces seem to use a lot of verbiage to say essentially nothing. Maybe this type of essay is not his strong suit. Maybe he should write reviews or, as you suggest, do shorter pieces on the audio scene. It doesn't matter that much, to me. I'm certainly not going to cancel my subscription. Cheers, Clifton.

Quote:
JV Serinus? Who cares? I don't have a strong opinion either way. He just seems a bit stuffy, that's all, and his two "As We See It" pieces seem to use a lot of verbiage to say essentially nothing.

I have been following this thread and I'm not really responding to Clifton's post, it just gave me the trigger, is all.

I publish Jason's work because it passes my essential test: he has something to say that I feel needs to be said, and he is able to say it in the minimum number of words (a much underestimated skill). My attitude to my role as a magazine editor has always been that I choose stuff to publish that I personally would want to read. That doesn't mean everyone will, but I hope enough do to make the effort worthwhile.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

I never even noticed until "someone" brought it up. I read some of his writing today at work because I figured if it wasn't any good at least I was getting paid to read it. The only thing that contradicts you is his long piece about the the gays, lesbians, and transsexual awards. That was a bit of overkill. He sort of writes like Ernest Hemingway used to write. I mean he is all right but every once in a while he goes off on a Hemingway or Steinbeck amplified style hyperbole tall talk. It must appeal to the elite masses on the East and West coast readers. Of course being an idiot from Cannery Row I should practice what I preach.

Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses.
- Cannery Row

See what I mean? I had to edit my writing several times.

Souie "Arnold" Ziffel at work preparing a review for Stereophile. Don't laugh. Arnold became a Rhodes Scholar and inherited $30 million!

Arnold Ziffel's Bio:

"Arnold could play the piano, drink lime soda from a straw, deliver letters from the mail box, turn the channels on the television (he loved to watch THE CBS EVENING NEWS with Walter Cronkite), predict weather with his curly tail, and play cricket with his own miniature cricket bat."

Arnold lived his entire life in Hooterville.

Quote:
I never even noticed until "someone" brought it up. I read some of his writing today at work because I figured if it wasn't any good at least I was getting paid to read it. The only thing that contradicts you is his long piece about the the gays, lesbians, and transsexual awards. That was a bit of overkill. He sort of writes like Ernest Hemingway used to write. I mean he is all right but every once in a while he goes off on a Hemingway or Steinbeck amplified style hyperbole tall talk. It must appeal to the elite masses on the East and West coast readers. Of course being an idiot from Cannery Row I should practice what I preach.

Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses.
- Cannery Row

See what I mean? I had to edit my writing several times.

the people places and events in this post are, of course, fictions and fabrications.

ha ha ha, my highschool yearbook quote.

anyway, its not so bad to compare someone to Steinbeck, now is it?

better him than miri makirab a whatever that guy is.

ok back to topoisomerase, i'll be sure and whistle while i work.

Ah, I foresee our winter of our discontent. But nobody can beat Joseph Heller's Catch-22

Some men are born mediocre, some men achieve mediocrity, and some men have mediocrity thrust upon them. With Major Major it had been all three.

Arnold. My kind of guy. Is he a guy? Who cares? He's handsome, talented, and laconic. Obviously, he prefers the nearfield and likes to respond actively to the tunes. Lamont, where have you been hiding this hi-fi hog? And his resume includes a stint at Hooter's (I assume Hooterville birthed the first joint in the chain). JA, what are you waiting for? Sign this guy up. Wait. Lamont, you said " lived his entire life." Does this mean...? Awww. Arnold, we hardly knew ye. I swear, I'll never eat bacon again.

Quote:

I have been following this thread and I'm not really responding to Clifton's post, it just gave me the trigger, is all.

I publish Jason's work because it passes my essential test: he has something to say that I feel needs to be said, and he is able to say it in the minimum number of words (a much underestimated skill). My attitude to my role as a magazine editor has always been that I choose stuff to publish that I personally would want to read. That doesn't mean everyone will, but I hope enough do to make the effort worthwhile.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

*Future F-Bomb alert...

OK, I got my September issue today.

I stand by my optimism about wanting to read things Jason writes, but I have to call a small "bullshit" on JA.

JA, I'm almost there with you, but then I hit that last paragraph of this month's "As we See It:

"Only music can serve as the ultimate guide. If the system allows you to to repeatedly transcend the limitations of time, space, and electronics, and to merge with musical dimensions that exist far far beyond any collection of individual notes, you are there. All the rest is illusion."

Pardon my syntax, but really, the whole fucking thing is an illusion! The whole premise of our frigging hobby is frigging illusion!

The "minimum number of words" should have been at least five fewer.

I have a friend who takes part in publishing Bridal magazine, and I recall the same feedback about Stereo Review: Every twelve months, there is a recycling of information. This is meant to get new bride wanna-be's into the wedding planning loop - which makes sense, given the limited lifespan of a Bridal reader. "Readership turnover" every year makes sense for a beginner's magazine; and Stereo Review used to proclaim the necessity of re-wording Hi Fi platitudes each year to try and snare new readers, but this tired old crap about music providing "the absolute sound" is coming up every freakin' month in "As We See It."

It's redundant and supercilious.

I think that's a fair gripe about the column.

Plus, according to the last issue's "As We See It," we have been lead to believe that JVS didn't even know the absolute sound until he traded up his symphony seats into the row where he finally "heard" what's going on, anyway. He said so himself!

How could he have been talking live sound in 2003? He hadn't traded seats yet!

Plus, really, "he confessed that he hadn't attended a live concert in at least four months, appeared to have scant idea what timbre means."

Bull freaking she-yit.

Tell me, when does one's ability to recall live music expire?

90 days?

20?

I've had four month dry spells, and it didn't turn me into a Bose endorsing tin ear (I hope).

I'm now three or four columns into a streak of "As We See It" reports that are making me shake my head. I don't even know any audiophiles that fit the JVS model of "end all" systems that keep the "music trapped inside an all consuming maze of boxes and wires."

I went on the BAAS listening tours and know that JVS "traps" music with as many boxes and wires (and cut tennis balls) as any of us.

Spare me the tripe of one alcoholic calling another alcoholic a drunk, as though we differ.

That's the problem with with "As We See It" this year. Please stop the Catcher In The Rye, "I hear what you don't" bullshit. That kind of pronouncement only works with "new money" and the religious right.

I want all the JVS you'd like to publish, only minus the crap about judging fellow hobbyists from the same vantage point of the god-damn hobbyists!

It mostly comes off as glimpses of insecurity in someone with a superiority complex.

We already have one Harry Pearson.

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I'd be okay with it, if JA would change the lead-in to "As I see it."

I agree thatthe "As We See It" name suggests it represents the editorial position. But it has been shared among the magazine's writers since the beginning. Perhaps it should be viewed as more of an Op-Ed without an "Ed" to face. I write about half of them and about half of those I write are intended to convey the magazine's policy. Perhaps the "We" should be reserved for those? Except then it all gets a bit confusing.

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

I just don't want to see my favorite magazine get all pompous and stuffy -- like that other one. One of Stereophile's endearing traits, for me, is its humor, the writers' abilities to avoid "official," be-all-end-all pronouncements about the (gasp) TRUTH in things audio. I suppose that is what triggered my remark about the location of the editorial voice. I enjoyed reading various overviews about the foremat wars, the i-Pod effect, and the increasing incursions of PC's into high-end territory in past versions of "As We See It." Of course, I am not the only subscriber. What I want may not be what other subscribers want, and that is just another editorial problem one encounters when running a magazine: how do we please the maximum number of our current readers and, if possible, increase circulation? Yet, as Buddha suggests, few among us want to greet the day confronted by a stuffed shirt. And "As We See It" is how we greet the day with Stereophile. I can live with it -- as I said, I'm not demanding a refund or quitting the subscription (in fact, I just got a good-deal offer for renewal in my inbox, which I shall take advantage of). Still, Mr. Serinus, to me , is Obvious Man in search of a new angle into things obvious, and the result is needless verbal thrashing around. That is as I see it. The situation can be remedied with a flip of the page, so, in that sense, this whole thing is a fart in a windstorm. Continued best wishes for an otherwise wonderful publication.

I'm not even going to give my two cents. Let's just use his own words...

"Conclusions
As I write these words, the Progressions sit boxed up, awaiting shipment to JA's house. With the first few reviews I wrote for Stereophile, each such farewell was accompanied by the gnawing fear that John's measurements would lead him to write, "These are some of the worst-measuring amps ever to cross my threshold," and reveal me as a total dolt (footnote 2). I harbor no such fears about the Dan D'Agostino Master Audio Systems Progression Mono. Instead, I'm eager to discover if JA's tests will help explain how these monoblocks produced such detailed, natural-sounding, air-filled, ultra-dynamic, supremely musical sound."

Guess what... The amp he reviewed was broke when JA measured it. Didn't he say outright that he was a "total dolt" if the measurements proved him wrong? I'm sure this amp will be in recommended components too. After all, it costs $55k, broke twice, and has about $800 in parts per mono. That's a Class A steal by Stereophile's ZERO journalistic standards.

I rather enjoy the writings of Jason Victor Serinus. He covers all of the Audio Shows, Music Matters Events and Classical music reviews. JA and Stereophile are very fortunate to have him on their staff.