OT: Ultimate A/V (formerly SGHT) goes T.U. (1 Viewer)

[Kevin C Brown]

rant mode on:

Yeah, I just roll my eyes now when I see a review by Moncrief in WSR. Good suggestion to do a letter to the editor. He *always* has to point out how he got better sound out of a component by doing something that he/himself specifically thought up and experimented with outside of what the manufacturer recommends. He also writes for the Inner Ear Report too (I think), and he pointed this out for some Plinius amp he reviewed for them. I usually keep reviews of gear that I might be interested in someday. The Arcam pre/pro falls into that category. But his review in WSR was so bad I couldn't throw it away fast enough. All this verbage about how a new level of listening achievement had been obtained, blah blah blah, but he didn't talk jack squat about a lot of the technical attributes of the pre/pro that I'd be much more interested in. And I don't know if you noticed, but a lot of times, he keeps saying the same thing over and over and over again, just using different words.

rant mode off

I also have a subscription to the Perfect Vision's/The Absolute Sound's web only AVguide or something. $15/yr. I mainly got it to have access to their numerous product reviews. But other than that, I have to be honest and say that I much prefer a print publication. I personally spend way too much time on the computer , and reading a "magazine" online isn't something else I want to spend time on. I work in the semiconductor industry, and a lot of trade publications we get are trying to get us to move to the internet, and it's funny because you can tell they aren't being that successful, because they keep coming up with new marketing campaigns, ad slogans, specials, giveaways, etc to get us to move. But you can't bring a PC into the john to peruse while taking care of nature's business...

 

[Ted Lee]

i've been reading through the replacement mag and i like it. for 12 bucks i'll probably subscribe for at least a year to see.

i like the articles (pretty detailed and informative) and the layout. haven't read the reviews yet...they'll probably be no better (or worse) then any other mag out there.

 

[Brian L]

I had sworn off HT about a year ago, after they published an article (don't recall the author) where they tried every imaginable, tweako, nut-job product, and amazingly, they ALL were said to improve the sound to one degree or another. No attempt to take a measurement or two, just turn 'em on and be amazed....NOT.

But when I get the urge to read an AV rag and all my subscriptions have arrived and been read, I am powerless to resist, even if I do disagree with most of what I am reading (is there a name for this condition??? My wife wants to know!).

While I don't see myself subscribing to HT, I will read it for the next few months. Heck, even TAS has been giving a lot of lip service to 5.1, and Paul Seydor has been challenging some of the sacred cows of hi-end like cables, and the disdain for any attempt to measure and quantify what they claim to hear.

BGL

 

[Kevin C Brown]

This is exactly why I subscribe to The Perfect Vision, DVD Etc, and now HDTV Etc. Don't like any of them much, but my ... addiction ... requires I get them anyway.

 

[Steve Owen]

Sigh. I too was more than a bit bummed when my issue of Home Theater showed up with a cover that said to the effect of "Ultimate AV is defunct. Here's this other thing to cover out contractural butts." I've been a subscriber since the first issue (I'd been a subscriber to Stereophile, but eventually let that lapse as my interests shifted from 2-channel audio reproduction to home theater).

I'm glad they're still around in some form (http://www.ultimateavmag.com/). As others have mentioned, I've learned a ton from these guys, particulary Joel Brinkley's takes on HDTV and Russ Herschelmann's excellent series on building a home theater. The reviews have always impressed me with the level of detail and thoroughness. I suppose it was their refusal to pander to the lowest common denomenator is what ultimately did them in (just look at their replacement, Home Theater Magazine. Infinitely more articles covering more products and more "stuff", but ultimately far less information and not much that I'd consider to be comprehensive and insightful).

The online version is OK, but I'd really prefer a molecular verision to be able to read during... um... uh... morning consitutionals. No bits and bytes version of the mag will ever quite get to that point I think.

-Steve

 

[Kevin C Brown]

I also hope that they add all of the old SGHT reviews to their web site. Seems to be a little bare of older eqp reviews.

 

[Lee Scoggins]

I really like The Absolute Sound and Perfect Vision. These have remained really good as far as I am concerned. Harley is at just about every hifi show. He's a really knowledgeable and nice man. His books on the subjects are classics.

Steve is right about Russ. He wrote the best damn HT building column ever. Absolutely superb. I using his ideas for both sound insulation and hat channel ceilings for my basement HT and audio listening room.

Rich, check out The Perfect Vision. That's my favorite HT magazine. I like WSR also.