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Archive-name: AudioFAQ/part12
Last-modified: 2007/07/12 Version: 2.17 See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge 19.0 The Press 19.1 Which magazine should I read? Which ever one you like. None are absolutely objective. Here's a list of some common ones: audioXpress ($30/yr 12 issues) (Do-it-yourself) Note: This is the successor of Audio Amateur, Glass Audio, and Speaker Builder Magazines Audio Amateur Publications Box 576 Peterborough NH 03458 USA 603-924-9464 http://www.audioxpress.com Audio Critic (US $24/yr 4 issues) (High-end) PO Box 978 Quakertown PA 18951 USA 215-538-9555 or 215-536-8884 audio Musings (US $24/year 6 issues) 25500 Hawthorne Blvd. Suite 1250 Torrence CA 90505 USA Editorial Office 562-424-7911 Business Office 310-378-6011 Audio Observatory (US $15/year 12 issues) 22029 Parthenia Street West Hills, California 91304 Audiophile Voice ($18/year 4 issues) Subscriptions: Michael Tantillo 132 Beach Avenue Staten Island 10306 USA Phone 718-351-9365 Editorial Office: 2001 Palmer Ave Suite 201 Larchmont, NY 10538-2420 USA Phone 914-833-1417 FAX 914-834-4070 Bound For Sound (US $18/yr 12 issues) (High-end) 220 North Main St Kewanee IL 61443 USA 309-852-3022 Car Audio and Electronics ($19.95/year 12 issues) Avcom Publishing Ltd 21700 Oxnard Street Suite 1600 Woodland Hills CA 91367 USA 818-593-3900 CD Review (Music Reviews; all tastes, only CDs.) $19.97 per year 12 issues PO Box 588 Mount Morris IL 61054 USA Hi-Fi Choice (Mid-fi. Comparative reviews with graphs, tables, and subjective commentary; 'Buying Guide' section) Dennis Publishing Ltd. 14 Rathbone Place London, W1P 1DE, UK +44 71 631 1433 Hi-Fi News and Record Review (Broad. Good new record reviews. Good equipment measurements) Subscriptions Department Link House Magazines Ltd 1st Floor Stephenson House, Brunel Centre Bletchley, Milton Keynes MK2 2EW, UK Hi-fi+ (Mid and high end with reviews and tweak tips) Available in US/Canada thru Disticor outlets Unit 12, Albany Business Park Cabot Lane, Poole, Dorset. BH17 7BX, UK http://www.hifiplus.com Hi-Fi World (Friendly, lower-to-mid-fi magazine) (reviews and "how things work" articles) Audio Publishing Ltd 64 Castellain Rd Maida Vale London W9 1EX, UK +44 71 266 0461 In Terms Of Music (Emphasizes music reviews, new) PO Box 268590 Chicago, IL 60626 USA 312-262-5918 International Audio Review (US $38/yr, 12 issues?) 2449 Dwight Way; Box 4271 Berkeley CA 94704 USA Positive Feedback Mag. (US $30/yr 6 issues) (high-end) Positive Feedback 2939 N.E. 155th Avenue Portland, OR 97230 USA 503-256-1300 Primyl Vinyl Exchange (Equipment for LP users) (US $15/yr 6 issues, $20 International) PO Box 67109 Chestnut Hill MA 02167 617-739-3856 pvx@ma.ultranet.com Sound Practices (US $20/yr 4 issues) (Do-it-yourself) Box 180562 Austin, TX 78718 (512) 339-6229 Voice/Fax 72411.533@compuserve.com Stereophile (US $20/yr 12 issues) (High-end) 110 5th Avenue New York, NY 10011 USA 800-666-3746 or 212-229-4896 Stereo Review (US $6.97/yr 12 issues. Lower end/mass market) Subscription Office: PO Box 52033 Boulder CO 80323-2033 USA Editorial Office: 1633 Broadway New York, NY 10019 212-767-6000 The Absolute Sound (US $46/yr 8 issues) (High-end) Subscription Center: Box 6547 Syracuse NY 13217 USA 800-825-0061 Editorial Office: 2 Glen Avenue Sea Cliff, NY 11579 516-676-2830 The $ensible Sound (US $29/yr 6 issues) (Mid/High-end) 403 Darwin Drive Snyder NY 14226 USA 800-695-8439 e-mail SensiSound@aol.com http://www.sensiblesound.com Ultra High Fidelity (UHF) (High end, no advertising) Box 65085, Place Longueil Montreal PQ J4K 5J4 Canada 514-651-5720 What Hi-Fi (Mid-to-high End; comparative, subjective reviews. Contains it's own buyer's guide with recommendations) Haymarket Trade & Leisure Publications Ltd 60 Waldegrave Road Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 8LG, UK e-mail answers@whf1.demon.co.uk +44 181 943 5000 US Enquiries should go to: Eric Walter Associates Box 188 Berkeley Heights NJ 07922 USA 201-665-7811 You can find e-mail addresses for many magazines at www.audioweb.com 19.2 Which reviews are better? Some reviews are so colorful and exciting, that they make great journalism and fun reading. Lets ignore these for now, even though they have their place. Beware of reviews from magazines that advertise the same product. The likelihood of bias is too high. Unfortunately, that rules out 99% of the reviews in magazines. Stereo Review has a bad reputation for loving everything made by every advertiser. Even high-end journals such as Stereophile and The Absolute Sound can be influenced. A classic example of misleading reviews occurs with equipment submitted to a magazine for review. The manufacturer may send the editors a carefully built, adjusted piece for review. The magazine will honestly rave about it. The manufacturer will then send the design off-shore for more economical manufacture and assembly, and the quality will suffer. Lower quality components will be substituted for prime parts. Adjustments will be made to wider tolerances or will not be made at all. The design may be completely changed to make it more manufacturable. You will unknowingly get a completely different piece than reviewed. Home auditions with one or two candidates from each of a few dealers are your best guide to be sure that you get what you want and pay for. 19.3 Is Consumer Reports right? Consumer Reports is the most objective testing lab we have ever found. Unfortunately, they are also the world's least specialized testing lab. They market their testing to the average consumer. The average consumer will not hear some of the subtle differences which audiophiles hear. For that reason, Consumer Reports ignores issues that others feel vital. Consumer Reports also insists on basing their audio testing predominantly on lab measurements. Although lab measurements do tell many differences between devices, interpreting lab measurements for best sound is difficult or impossible. For example, it is very hard to compare two speaker frequency response curves and tell which will sound better. Some $3000 speaker frequency response curves look worse than some $600 speaker curves, even when tested in the same setup. On the other side of the issue, Consumer Reports has improved its test methods, and will continue to improve. Expect the accuracy of their reviews to improve with time. The Consumer Reports frequency-of-repair data base is larger than any similar data base published and can be trusted as well as any statistic. COPYRIGHT NOTICE The information contained here is collectively copyrighted by the authors. The right to reproduce this is hereby given, provided it is copied intact, with the text of sections 1 through 8, inclusive. However, the authors explicitly prohibit selling this document, any of its parts, or any document which contains parts of this document. -- Bob Neidorff; Texas Instruments | Internet: neidorff@ti.com 50 Phillippe Cote St. | Voice : (US) 603-222-8541 Manchester, NH 03101 USA Note: Texas Instruments has openings for Analog and Mixed Signal Design Engineers in Manchester, New Hampshire. If interested, please send resume in confidence to address above. User Contributions: 1 yashar ⚠ music art - guitar and violon making plan - painting - sculpture - robotic - mecatronic - CNC Comment about this article, ask questions, or add new information about this topic: |
