Negative Bias: the Impartial Reviewer

Negative Bias: the Impartial Reviewer

For a subjective equipment reviewer, whose writings are based as much on impressions as on observations, it is very important to approach a product without personal bias. Of course, all of us lay claim to this ideal, and some of us even manage to maintain the appearance of impartiality most of the time. But just under the reviewer's veneer of urbane professionalism and deliberative restraint lies a darker force&mdash;a leering hobgoblin of anarchy and mischief which scoops usually forbidden adjectives from a well of calumny and offers them for the writer's consideration as the perfect word to describe what he is trying to express. It's an ever-present temptation to accept the suggestion, because every critic harbors a secret urge to be another Dorothy Parker, trashing mankind's most earnest endeavors with devastating <I>bon mots</I> that will endure long after the writer has ceased to. Most of the time, the reviewer is able to resist the temptation to broadside a product, but some products, and the people they represent, make this very difficult. In fact, sometimes it is impossible.

Miscellaneous March Musings

Aloha!

Working my way through the new issue, and some items are too small for their own thread, but did catch my eye, so here goes...top ten list.

1) That Tannoy Autograph Mini is cute. A pair would look good sitting next to my computer. Cool juxtaposition of old and new.

2) Are there any writers you just "don't get?" There's one who I can't seem to really get any cohesive feeling for. His stuff hits me more like selling words by the pound, using 1,000 words to say what he could have said in a paragraph.

Oh Those Naughty Boys!

From the BBC:

"Sex Pistols snub US Hall of Fame

Punk band the Sex Pistols have refused to attend their own induction into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

In a handwritten note posted on their website, they called the institution "urine in wine".

"We're not your monkeys, we're not coming. You're not paying attention," continued the statement.

The band, named as inductees alongside Blondie, Herb Alpert and Black Sabbath, were due to take part in an induction ceremony in New York on 13 March."

Rant about subscription-expiration reminder... ruins issue!

Hi, all,

I've been a subscriber to Stereophile since 1984. I have kept all of my back issues, and although I'm not "anal" about keeping them pristine, I like to keep them in nice shape.

Occasionally, over the years, I have neglected renewal of my subscription until the "reminders" started arriving.

Prior to the past couple of years the magazine would be sent in a poly bag or wrapper, and the subscription reminders were seperate sheets of paper mailed with the issue.

Speaker Polyphony

I am looking for the 60 second explantion of speaker polyphony or direction to a reference on the matter. If a single note is played it is reproduced at single frequency through a single speaker. How can a single speaker reproduce several frequencies simultaneously? In advance, thank you for your input.

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