Stereophile is lame, irrelevant, and unexciting?

It's great to see Dudley still doing his thing after Listener - I loved Listener.

I let my Stereophile sub lapse years ago as it just didn't seem to have much for me given the audio path I have chosen - with Dudley though, I think I will re-subscribe.
 
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Thanx my friend, I'm just trying to enjoy sharing a possibly, less visited point of view around here, but that is the way some of us truly see it and I realize I'm not alone. It is no surprise to anyone who knows me, that I can go on a bit. I suppose what I am really sorry about is less my writing skills and more that we have conflict over an idea, or music... it seems ironic.

I need a well made Manhattan!

(so as always) Happy Listening! :beatnik:
 
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It's great to see Dudley still doing his thing after Listener - I loved Listener.

I let my Stereophile sub lapse years ago as it just didn't seem to have much for me given the audio path I have chosen - with Dudley though, I think I will re-subscribe.

Me too!

I'll try not to run down the rest, but to me, Mr. Dudley's 'Listening' is a natural extension or evolution of 'Listener' and every cent worth the entire subscription price. I hope you visit the free archive on line, there are some good reads in there.

I know this is a bit tangential to suggest a bigger idea within the context of this simple thread, but I would not care to imagine where our little hobby or community would be if all of the past subjective rags never existed. They have all helped form a culture and supported our collective whole and much of it is very supportive and nourishing. Let's not start another book burning.

Happy Listening!:beatnik:
 
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Another interesting read from memory is "Are You a Sharpener or a Leveler?"


"Are You a Sharpener or a Leveler?" was the title of my "As We See It" in the February 2009 issue. The terms sharpening and leveling come from work in the field of perception by the early Gestalt psychologists, sharpening referring to the exaggeration of perceived differences, leveling to the minimization of those differences.
 
Almost any magazine anymore is ouey gooey over any advertisers product. It's called don't bite the hand that feeds you. Hod Rod Magazine is another example.
I would also say most online forums are no exception.
 
double guilty: Stereopile and Absolute crazy

I subscribe to both Stereophile and Absolute Sound. Reason is simply because that's the cheapest way to get the three or four issues a year that will have something that interests me . The main value of these mags for me over the years has been the occasional high value component that impresses these folks and ( in the case of AS - music reviews) - that's how I ended up with a Benchmark DAC-1 and the extremely impressive Ortofon 2m Red and blue. No local dealer sells or demonstrates this stuff. Like a lot of you -I scan the prices first : Cables that cost more than my used work truck ? Turntables that cost more than any new truck I've ever owned ? Speakers that cost more than any home I've ever lived in ? IMHO -this stuff is mostly bling. Not worth reading about.Occasionally -someone comes along with a legitimately "new" idea and these mags review it - Stereophile may even run standard tests of this stuff.. Especially recently they have fewer interviews with designers who really open up about what they think is important or novel about their products.
Want a Real HI-Fi magazine - I drive between 20 and 35 miles each month to find a copy of Hi-Fi News and Record Review - now THAT'S worth reading!
 
Well, except when it's not. As we grow older, we are continually challenged and our vitality put to question, can we still perform? I happen to believe Stereophile and its writers can. And to those who feel the need to go out and burn their past copies of Stereophile, like a few fanatics did (after first buying with fanaticism) those early Beatles records, please point your attention to yet another 'Listening' column, this time in the October issue. Once again our beloved Art Dudley has been a naughty, but cunning lad with his review 'The Man with the Wooden Arm'. I need to start out first by saying that seeing someone cooked up like catfish in a frying pan and having their livelihood possibly served distastefully plated, is not what I revel in. Yet, sometimes telling a truth, as brutal as it might be, is refreshing, certainly informative, and reassuring in that the whole world has not been completely sold out. So like John Lennon in 'How Do You Sleep', Art chooses to exercise his craft while making a few stinging points. This time with the fact that our twig tonearm cobbler is attempting to defy some of the most basic laws of physics and consumer tolerance and although it plays, it just doesn't play well, with either the music or the assembler. It's not that Woody's creator should be faulted for simply blazing his own path, it's just that sometimes when you do, the flames wind up catching you, down said path. Not because you choose a different path than the rest, but because it was avoided by everyone else for numerous reasons. As with his hilarious review/interview last year of the tweaker products with the Belt's, remember the P.W.B. Cream Electret? My favorite audio reviewer has taken on the task of trying an analogue product that you or I may have saw merit in and been convinced by the pseudo-science that precedes such a thing to be worthy of our hard earned dollars. Wood tonearm wands or floss suspension alone are nothing new and not an issue, as the Schröder's Swiss watch precision has so adeptly shown, amongst others. I guess I just appreciate the honesty Anyway, I know there are those who will scream bloody murder about a big time audio reviewer picking on a small time craftsmen and not going after the big whales like Wilson or whoever, for selling a product less representative of a Hifi value, but most assuredly those same folks were the whiners that said review magazines were irrelevant because they had nothing but happy, fluffy, five bunny ratings for every product that passed through (and maybe stayed) in their listening rooms. You can't please us all. But to the point of my mentioning this article, Stereophile has a usefulness to entertain and inform and IMHO it does, and I think this article (as countless others) have shown unequivocally, Art Dudley's pens, needs no Viagra.

What do you think?

Happy Listening! :beatnik:


Thought I should chime in here, and offer a bit of discussion on this subject. Now I am not a disinterested party as I bought in on the beta offering of the woody tone arm, and own serial #006. I do understand how the arm sets up and performs, and have my opinions on it. I do also know Pete Riggle, and know a bit of his history, and can comment on it. For what it is worth, Pete was a mechanical engineer for his working life, and builds some analog products in his retirement time....but this is not a person who decided to build a tone arm on a whim. He is a solid engineer, and not an idiot.....so that is something to consider. Now He is also a wood worker, and this tone arm is based on a woodworkers perspective, adn his solutions would be different than a machinist.

What is also interesting is that a Manufacturers comment was written, but not included with the article. Perhaps it missed a publication deadline? Might it be included in the nest issue? I don't know. But in the case of a review that worked out this way, you would think the magazine would allow for time for a Manufacturers comment to be written and included, as to offer a view of the other side of the coin.

Another point that is unusual is that this arm has been out for a few years now, and the comments tied to it from audio shows and other events are generally positive, this is the first harsh piece I have ever seen written on it. What is worth considering is that the points that are the negatives seem to be more theoretical in nature than anything else. From what I have heard, I was under the impression that this was supposed to be a multiple cartridge review, and it was stopped well short of that. I wonder if this piece went the way it did due to a conceptual disagreement of how a tone arm should be built and how it functions.

From my perspective this arm is a synthesis of technology, and not exactly ground breaking. String hearing like the Well Tempered arm...but more complex, twisting of string to provide anti-skate...a variation of tone arm wire leads providing anti-skate in uni-pivot arms, a pin and channel arrangement to provide initial set up of azimuth, a reservoir to hold dampening fluid and a pin/ to rest in it...provides dampening but also stiffens the string bearing much like the WT...and somewhat similar in thought to the Schroeder. The arm is adjustable ini many ways, and that allows for proper set up.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect is the VTAF. Where the arm floats in a bushing and allows for a decoupling of the arm from the table. There is a price to be paid for that in terms of a slight bit of play. Some may object to that in principal, and that certainly makes sense to me. But a lot of people have used the VTAF on Rega arms and report positive results, so perhaps there is something to this idea. the way I see it, the Woody has a great deal of mass over the arm pillar, and it seems very stable to me, so i do not see it as an issue.

Anyways, the Manufacturer comments are located here. About 2/3 down the page. Some might be interested in what is said.

http://www.vtaf.com/id83.html

What I do know is that Pete Riggle is a pretty caring guy, and enthusiastic about his products...believes in them. He is also a very competent engineer, so I think his solutions have more than a little value. I know I enjoy my arm, and have no interest in replacing it. Remember this is a $1600 arm, not a $5,000 Shcroeder of a $10,000 Durand. While $1600 is not a small amount of money, this arm costs a bit more than a tricked out Rega RB 300, and less than a RB 1000. I happen to also enjoy an Eminent Technology II arm, and the current 2.5 versions sells for more than $4K....even a used version of the II is $800 to $1000.

Perhaps my post is of interest to some people, perhaps not. I just thought to add a bit of a different perspective. Things may not be quite as cut and dried as it appears, and may require viewing from more than one angle.

Regards
Mister Pig
 
Great stuff, Rob. Nice to see a little passion around these parts again.

I agree with everything you say about the great Mr Dudley. The thing about Art is that he is actually a musician, and knows what real instruments sound like. He listens to audio from that perspective. Does it sound like, or make him feel like, being at the live performance would. He is also a guy who really understands what PRAT is about, and how so many systems just seem to lose it. Not that he can't be wrong on occasion ( :) ), but I still crack open my old issues of Listener. I've probably learned more about audio from him, and understood more of what *I* want out of audio through his work.

Thanks again for posting what you did, Rob!
 
@Mr Pig,

Products are sometimes reviewed to tear them down as much as lift them up, it all depends on how the piper is being paid ...

Regards
 
Is it me or is Stereophile not a big fan of monkey coffin sized speakers? It seems its always either mini monitors or something huge that needs to be craned in the reviewers living room. I remember the Harbeth Super HL5 and Acoustic Research AR 303.

Any other good monkey coffins Stereophile reviewed?
 
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Well, Art gets paid to formulate good sentence and paragraph structure, be authoritative on the subject, and be entertainingly witty... guess he deserved something. On balance, I don't, but also have no vested interest in remaining polite when someone cares to pick away at how I communicated what I had to say, rather than about what. Go figure

And to think some regular people have the nerve to think that all us Audiophiles are just obsessive, compulsive, arrogant, a**h****. Where do they get that from?! :D

Happy Listening!:beatnik:

Hey guy it's called communication. I have original interesting thoughts in my head that I want the world to know about. I need paragraphs or at least some form of spacing so people can understand my thought process and what I'm trying to say.

For my part I skipped over most of your message and read the responses.
 
OK, enough with the personal attacks - if you don't approve of the OP's style fine, don't read it, don't post in the thread he started and move on.
 
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There seems to be a pervasive thing about advertising, mega expensive gear, and a general mistrust (of, if I have kept count, just about everything) that seems to get in the way of Hifi guys, having a good read about something they're (evidently) passionate about.

I started this thread to hopefully share thoughts and enjoyment of one Hifi writer, one article at hand, about a simple product that with its foibles, doesn't quite perform... and yet, beyond my limited writing skills put to question, few of our astute community have commented a single note of enjoyment of said article. I wonder if more folks read the actual column, they would not find as some us do, another way to more thoroughly enjoy the their Listening...

Happy Listening! :beatnik:
 
Art Dudley writes a lot of things in that magazine that people here should like if they just open their minds to him. Like his recent review of the Altec Valencias. As far as advertising goes, we live in this here capitalist society, what the heck do people expect?!

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Mr. Pig, Always a pleasure, I so often appreciate your comments and experience as it is unfailingly balanced and well studied, and offers the rest of us a greater working insight. Thank you for once again sharing so much.

In all fairness, I hope to see manufacturers comments in print by Pete Riggle.

Happy Listening! :beatnik:
 
Art Dudley writes a lot of things in that magazine that people here should like if they just open their minds to him. Like his recent review of the Altec Valencias. As far as advertising goes, we live in this here capitalist society, what the heck do people expect?!

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk 4

My guess is clear distinction between advertising and journalism.
 
Art Dudley writes a lot of things in that magazine that people here should like if they just open their minds to him. Like his recent review of the Altec Valencias. As far as advertising goes, we live in this here capitalist society, what the heck do people expect?!

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My sentiments precisely, and an excellent example as well.

Following the money is something we all need to stay conscious of, for even our fair AudioKarma would probably not exist very well without advertising. But for the continual thumping of the one note bass, pounding out the very narrow minded (in my opinion) belief that, everyone else has sold their soul to the devil of the all mighty dollar, and no ideas or personal comments are worth a sh*t because they are all bought and sold, seems a bit simplistic, boring, and inaccurate.

Again, is this thread just a dumping space for unhappy audiophiles, or could some more of you actually comment on the article? Commenting on my take of the article is optional but, I would welcome it, save sentence structure. :D

The single fact that many of the nay-sayers to this thread (and Stereophile magazine) have not even read the article and fail to reap the rewards of Art's wordplay and wit. It seriously makes me wonder if they enjoy their Hifi or music at all...

Happy Listening! :beatnik:
 
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The single fact that many of the nay-sayers to this thread (and Stereophile magazine) have not even read the article and fail to reap the rewards of Art's wordplay and wit. It seriously makes me wonder if they enjoy their Hifi or music at all...

Or that they didn't even bother to actually read your original posting, but felt compelled to comment on it anyway, makes me wonder if they even bother to actually listen to their music? Or do they just put the CD in the tray and read the liner notes?

Keep listening, my friend. :music:
 
I thought based on the thread title that the OP was going to be negative. I was pleasantly surprised when it was not.

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