I Subscribe to too many HT magazines; which ones to keep? (1 Viewer)

[Scott-C]

Well, the title says it all. All of a sudden I'm getting renewal requests to my HT mags, and I'd rather not renew all of them. I currently subscribe to:

Home Theater

Widescreen Review

Sound & Vision

The Perfect Vision

Stereophile Guide to Home Theater

Audio Video Interiors

Which two or three, in your opinion, should I keep? I'm primarily looking for insightful articles about new equipment, and ideas for a future dedicated HT (AVI comes in handy in this regard). Since joining HTF I feel like I don't have as much need for all of these mags, so it's time to downsize.

 

[Norm Strong]

How on earth would we know? You have all the information with which to make a sound decision. We can only guess!

 

[AaronNWilson]

I would drop widescreen review and audio video interiors.

 

[Deane Johnson]

Scott:

I'm not a rocket scientist or anything, but it seems to me that you should keep the ones you enjoy the most and discard the ones you don't care as much for.

Everyone has different opinions. For instance, I think Sound and Vision is absolutely worthless, but others like it. I dropped Perfect Vision as being worthless for me.

I would put Stereophile Guide To Home Theater high on the list, though I don't like the firm they hired to telemarket their subscription extentions because they lie and play silly games. For me Audio Video Interiors make sense since we can use it for ideas for clients for our screen curtain manufacture.

We're all different, we all want something different out of a magazine.

Deane

 

[Brajesh Upadhyay]

Scott, I'm in the same boat as you ... I'm just renewing Sound & Vision & The Perfect Vision. I feel the others are no more than glossy fluffs or cater to richie-riches.

 

[Claude M]

Keep the ones you read, pitch the rest. If you don't read any of them, pitch them all.

 

[Deane Johnson]

The post by Brajesh amplifies my point. The two he likes are the two I don't care for. Can you imagine him picking magazines for me, or me for him. Wouldn't work. Probably won't work for you either.

Deane

 

[Vlad D]

Keep what you like most. Personally I I get Perfect Vision, and Sound&Vision.

Vlad

 

[Wayne McRae]

Do what I do.Check out what's in each issue at the store,then decide if it's worth a purchase or not.It's more expensive this way,but I find I only buy 4-5 issues of each mag.per year.That way it works out about the same,and you only have the issues that interest you.

Hope this helps.

Wayner

 

[Michael Reuben]

Check out what's in each issue at the store,then decide if it's worth a purchase or not.

You don't even have to go the store to browse. Most of these mags list the contents of the current edition on their website.

M.

 

[Rob Robinson]

I like AV interiors...

I get all my technical /reviews online, so yeah, when i "read" these, I'm really just looking at pretty pictures. While I don't even own a home, let alone one nice enough to merit appearing in AV interiors, It is nice to see what people are doing...

 

[ThomasL]

Scott, I was going to ask a similar question since I just decided to subscribe to one and was wondering if any others were cheap enough to warrant getting it for "commute" (I take a subway part for part of my commute ) reading or what have you. I signed up for a year of Sound & Vision for $12. Since it's $4 newsstand, I figured $12 for a year's worth seemed like a good deal. I have no misconceptions about any of these magazines. No matter what they may say, they all get most of their revenue from advertisers and hence suffer from grade inflation when it comes to technical reviews of products. I'm not looking for a magazine to tell me what to buy but rather just to tell me what exists, show some pretty pictures of it, and give some technical facts - the "in the lab" sort of stuff. When it comes down to actually purchasing equipment, I think this forum, places like audioreview.com and hands on experience are essential in making an informed decision.
cheers,
--tom

 

[Dennis Oblow]

At one time or another I've subscribed to all of these mags except AV Interiors. The only one that I still get is SGHT which will lapse next issue. I'm tired of reading about equipment that is 6 months to a year old. I can find out what I need on the net in greater detail and faster than these magazines.

 

[Scott-C]

Thanks for the opinions guys. I realize that it's a very personal decision and everyone's opinion on what is "good" will vary. I was really looking for a "sanity check" if you will regarding the quality of what is in the magazines (i.e. review accuracy, etc.). But Dennis and Tom, among others, bring out good points that I've thought about for a while now. I can get the information so much quicker on the 'Net from places like this, and I put a lot more faith in the accuracy of the online reviews in most cases.

Thanks for helping to validate some things I've been considering.

 

[John Geelan]

I love:

Home Theater

Sound & Vision

The Perfect Vision

Stereophile Guide to Home Theater

All are great little magazines.

JohnG

 

[GordonL]

Stereophile & Home Theater are usually available dirt cheap on ebay. For example, http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI...tem=1321526009 $14.99 will get you 3 years of Stereophile and 3 years of Home Theater. That price is the total for both, not each. That's 6 years worth of magazines for the price of one year. Sometimes, that dealer has Stereophile, Home Theater, and Stereophile Guide to Home Theater as a package for only $22. The dealer is legit because I ordered that package a couple months ago and the labels have been changed to reflect the new issues. He also has other magazines at excellent prices. Check it out. For those prices, you can afford to keep all your subs.

 

[KeithH]

Just my $0.02, but I don't really like any of those magazines. Then again, I am more into audio than home theater. As a result, my favorites are Stereophile, What Hi*Fi? (UK), and Hi-Fi Choice (UK). The two British magazines cover audio as well as home theater, which is more than can be said for most of the US magazines. Also, the US magazines like Sound & Vision and Home Theater get old real fast because they like just about everything they review.

 

[Jerome Grate]

I'd have to say for me Home Theater mag and Sound & Vision can be eye candy to me with the great pictures and the articles are o.k. Stereophile's Guide to HT is a serious reader's magazine hence those would be the three I'd keep. The others like Audio/Video Interiors I find to be a bit geered towards those with true dedicated HT with full screens, projectors etc. Widescreen, I just can't follow it as well as Perfect Vision especially they're lacking in sound equipment.

 

[Larry B]

KeithH:
I'm with you 100%
Larry

 

[Richard Burzynski]

Here's what I think of 'em:

Home Theater

Still get it (I let it run out for a while, sometimes I cancel it, and then I renew it again). Goes up & down in quality every few months, they seem to have 2 or 3 good issues every year but rest of them or just so-so. Now that they're owned by same company as SGHT, I see the same gear reviewed monthly (by both mags!), but the quality ain't the same as SGHT. Very limited in terms of industry editorials, one whole page - oooh. Reviews have become very superficial, good for the beginner HT enthusiast, not for the experienced reader, but at least they do print lab results for amps. Sample review comment: "I love/hate this receiver just because." I'm always left wondering, well . . . continue/complete your review. I miss Mr. Butterworth, now working for Dolby Labs.

Widescreen Review

Stopped getting it - think I will start again. It's not cheap though. Can be technical, which is good for the experienced crowd. Hardware review is limited to a few pieces per issue when compared to the other rags. Good website though, even for non-subscribers.

Sound & Vision

Still get it, remember when when Audioreview.com was giving out 3 year free subscriptions for reviewing items? Becoming one of my fav's. Let me explain. I don't read any review to see if the reviewer *likes* the product. I look for good pics (including back of unit - important!), reviews which mention ergonomics, technical issues, deep menu settings and amp test results. This mag also has good industry editorials and news-type info. S&V also offers a good "trendy" section in almost every issue, including PC/convergence/auto - "cool" type stuff. Overall, very well-rounded mag. Also, I may not always agree with Mr. Ranada's opinions, but I do like his no-nonsense approach, he's an asset to S&V. And it's one of the cheapest ones to get.

The Perfect Vision

Still get it, will NOT renew. When it was resurrected, I was quite happy. It was SUPER technical, as a result it was very stimulating. Then they put Mr. Harley in charge and changed the format. It's review style is similar to HTMag now. "I like/don't like it just because." No amp test # results and never a picture of the back of the units. The movies part of this mag is great, but that's not what floats my boat. The one saving grace of this mag is the HDTV Insider Newsletter by Gary Mearson. It's now the only way to get this info as Gary stopped his online subscription. It's also one of the most expensive mags, and the new review style drives me nuts - it doesn't offer much. It's getting cancelled.

Stereophile Guide to Home Theater

Still get it. Still king of the hill! Best editorials (Joel Brinkley is the man). Great pics, great technical and features evaluations, including test results and manufacturer feedback area. Suggestions: make the issues bigger.

Audio Video Interiors

Don't subscribe, never did. If you like eye candy, this is the one. I love to see how rich people spend their money. The architectural ingenuity is quite impressive in almost every issue. Funny thing is, I've heard alot of people say that some of these "pretty" installs have poor acoustics. For that kind of money I would like both, wouldn't you? Side note: I'm always amazed by the gear the instalers choose for these clients. I'm sure that 99% of us would never pick half the gear in these systems. They throw weird stuff into these systems. One of my favorite mags when I hit a Barnes & Noble.

Audio

R.I.P. I miss it, it was a quality mag with thorough, well-written reviews; and I liked the writing styles of the staff. Corey, where you be man?

Rich B.