Reputable Audio Magazines:An Oxymoron??? (1 Viewer)

[Kelly Scott Rickards]

Which A/V mag(s)do you read whose reviews are worth their salt, in your opinion.
Personally, I have a subsription to (don't hate me) Sound and Vision magazine. Although it is probably the most mainstream mag out there, they do cover a lot of upcoming products and some of the data on speakers, recievers and such from David Ranada sidebars are pretty informative, IMO. The downsides to this mag (rag?) are many, of course, but it does have some merit to *me* (could I be any more defensive?)
I also enjoy:
Sensible Sound
What HI FI
The Absolute Sound
The Perfect Vision
Widscreen Review
Stereophile(though they cover stuff I will never be able to afford)
Thoughts?
Opinions?
Flames?

 

[Michael Lomker]

I subscribe to S&V, Widescreen Review, and TAS. I'm sure the UK rags are good but I don't want to pay the premium price. TAS is my favorite by a fair margin.

 

[Alex F.]

Kelly:

If you enjoy all the magazines that you listed, why the character assassination implied by your thread title? Interesting way to acknowledge people who bring you pleasure and enjoyment.

 

[Mike_T_]

I think these magazines can be very informative and entertaining to read. I like Stereophile and Home Theater myself. It's like TV essentially, if you don't like what's on, don't watch it...but don't spend your time bitching to me about how much (what you don't watch/read) sucks.

 

[Andrew Santos]

i subscribe to S&V. why is that magazine so hated?

 

[chella]

I subscribe to S&V, Stereophile, Guide to HT and Perfect Vision. I like S&V the most. Reviews are good and they must be taken as the personal opinion of the reviewers - not in any absolute terms.

 

[ling_w]

S&V is not even worth the paper to line your cat litter. Julian Hirsch lives on in this piece of trash. I wonder why they didn't cease publication after they declared CD is perfect sound forever and there is no reason to review any digital equipment anymore.

S'phile is going down the hill ever since they got sold.

SGHT same, but they were never that hot in the first place.

TAS is still up there, but not like it use to be.

TPV, the grandaddy of all high end HT rags, still hanging on.

The Euro rags are a strange bunch, going into sound quality of $200 amps, a catagory in which nobody cares about how it sounds.

 

[John Desmond]

Take them ALL with a large grain of salt. Money talks. If you carefully read between the lines you can learn about equipment by reading a variety of mags. You have to learn the reviewers biases, but you'll never know the what the behind the scenes motivation is. The free trips from the manufacturers, the free equipment, the wining and dining. Use reviews as screening tools, but don't think of them as gospel. In the end, you have to listen for yourself.

 

[Karl Englebright]

If you carefully read between the lines you can learn about equipment by reading a variety of mags. You have to learn the reviewers biases, but you'll never know the what the behind the scenes motivation is

I agree with this. Having said that, I've read reviews in magazines on equipment I've had for a while and I usually end up agreeing with their conclusions.

You also have to realize that every reviewer you read WILL have their biases and you have to factor that into the equation. That also goes for reviews on Internet forums.

 

[John_VI]

I've had a subscription to Home Theater for a couple of years and really enjoy it. It certainly is not an "in-depth technical read", but I enjoy it nonetheless. I tried a few issues of WSR but the tenor of it really turned me off. I enjoyed the few issues of TPV I've picked up, too. Can't say the same for SGHT or S&V. I'm interested in seeing the new DVD etc... mag that is advertised on the home page here. Will try to pick up the premier copy this weekend at B&N.

 

[David King]

I currently get Home Theater and Audio Video Interiors. I do not like Home Theater at all, to me its all ads and no content. AVI isn't really meant as a review Mag, but they do offer some. They even had a killer review of some home theater website in the recent issue.