Sound & Vision magazine....?? (1 Viewer)

[Rutledge]

S&V is not that bad. It is much better than Stereo Review was. Thankfully they have gotten rid of Julian Hirsch. He was the guy who beleived all amplifiers sounded alike. His opinion carried no weight with me and he was the butt of jokes among other members of the audio press.

They recently tested a Sony receiver that only put out 31 watts with all channels driven. I have been complaining about what Sony has been doing for several years. They are quoting figures at 1khz with audible distortion instead of 20hz-20khz with say .05% distortion.

HT is okay, but i got burned by them last year when i bought a Sony HITB for our vacation home. It was reviewed by someone who had zero experience, i later found out.

I have already sold the thing. I just couldn't stand to listen to it.

I like Widescreen Review, but they are only testing high end stuff that is way out of my budget.

 

[Chip E]

"$6 sounds expensive."
Lol Jason...kidd'n right? I actually receive S&V for free from Tweeter. It's ok... I'd like to see more high end gear reviewd too.
- Chip

 

[Rick Radford]

Brajesh,

Thanks for the link to the $3.95 subscription site.

How about Guide to HT? That worth $3.95 for 10 issues?

 

[KeithH]

Greg said:

I have been complaining about what Sony has been doing for several years. They are quoting figures at 1khz with audible distortion instead of 20hz-20khz with say .05% distortion.

I have never seen that with Sony's DB or ES receivers. I had an STR-DB930 and it was rated into 8 ohms from 20 Hz to 20 kHz with 0.09% THD. My 'V444ES is rated at 110W x 5 with all channels driven into 8 ohms from 20 Hz to 20 kHz with 0.05% THD. No 1 kHz, 6-ohm load, power rating for one channel, etc. here. Still, the measured power for the 'DB1070 is disappointing. I thought the 'DB930 was an excellent receiver for the money. Maybe Sony cheapened the 'DB1070.

 

[Scott-C]

That may be true of the US magazines, but not true of British magazines such as What Hi*Fi? and Hi-Fi Choice. They will trash equipment at any price point if it's deserved.

That's really good to hear! The more objective equipment reviews I can get my hands on, the better. I get worried when I sometimes read a review in a US magazine on a piece of equipment that the reviewer absolutely loves, when prior to the review I've read tons of negative comments from experienced users on HTF.
Now if I could just do something to lower the price of the British magazines. KeithH, care to start a loaner program for your magazines? I could set up a "subscription" to read your magazines when you're done with them!

 

[Bhagi Katbamna]

Pretty good magazine IMO but I would agree with the other posters that they "seem" to like everything they review.....money talks.

This is true of Stereophile as well. I have seen them give a high rating to a 5w/ch tube amplifier that could only put out 2 w/ch(just an example).

 

[Parker Clack]

I have been getting Sound and Vision since it started and have no problems with it. $6 for a 10 month subscription is a steal. I also get Audio Video Interiors and Widescreen Review. All very good to excellent periodicals for little money.

To be honest though, IMHO, I get all the information that I want from here. The wealth of information that our membership brings to this site makes reading a HT magazine something just to pass the time by when there is nothing else to do. Like at the airport.

Parker

 

[Scott-C]

The wealth of information that our membership brings to this site makes reading a HT magazine something just to pass the time by when there is nothing else to do. Like at the airport.

Parker, very true! I remember, before I discovered the existence of this forum and some others like it, that I couldn't wait to receive my HT mags. I'd read them cover-to-cover in the days following their delivery. Now, I just read them whenever I get a free moment. The portability of the mags is about the best feature of them for me now, since I have no way of accessing HTF during transit.

I subscribed to a bunch of them in the beginning of the year, but when it's time to renew the subscriptions, I've been thinking I'm going to renew only a couple of them.

 

[Arthur S]

S&V is valuable in comparing receiver specs from the test bench. Especially multi channel power output and noise. Unlike many of the other posters in this thread, I have a problem with David Ranada, especially when it comes to Denon receivers. It's kind of funny that he has never found a Denon THX receiver that did not have perfect crossover points and slopes. Especially when reviewers at other magazines find differences. Ranada is also obviously bored silly by testing receivers and spends precious space talking about his favorite musicals from the 70's, instead of the receiver. To me, at least, Daniel Kumin has much more credibility with receiver reviews.

Of course Tom Nousaine is arguably the best subwoofer reviewer in the business and his reviews of surround systems are welcome.

Too bad S&V can't lure Don Keele into the fold. With Tom Nousaine and Don Keele you would have the best sub and speaker reviewers around.

Arthur Soifer

 

[Drew Bethel]

Scott, you can actually access past reviews from most of the British mags websites...just add the .co.uk or .com and you're in. You'll be a month behind but who cares! A new one I just found is www.whatvideotv.com.
i was quite disappointed to see that Widescreen didn't offer any free access at all to past reviews.

 

[Scott-C]

Hey that's a good point Drew! I'll try that out. Thanks.

 

[KeithH]

Drew,
Good point. I have read past reviews on Hi-Fi Choice's web site here and there. It's a good resource.
Scott said:

Now if I could just do something to lower the price of the British magazines. KeithH, care to start a loaner program for your magazines? I could set up a "subscription" to read your magazines when you're done with them!

How much money you got?
With regards to the subjective reviews in the British magazines, just bear in mind that they are at times reviewing products that are not available in the US. However, since these magazines are objective, they, in my opinion, give you a good feel for what the manufacturers are up to in general.

 

[Scott-C]

How much money you got?

Well, with all the upcoming DVD releases I want to purchase, I don't have a lot left over...maybe we can trade magazines? I'll mail you my wife's copies of Self , Cosmo , and Glamour for copies of your British HT mags. Sounds fair, doesn't it?