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1.0 Contents 
2.0 Organization 
3.0 Purpose 
4.0 Omissions 
5.0 Credits 
6.0 Errors and Corrections
7.0 Disclaimer 
8.0 Copyright Notice

Part 2 Systems 

9.0 High Fidelity Systems

Part 3 Sources 

10.0 CD Players, CDs, Turntables, and LPs

Part 4 Amplifiers

11.0 Amplifiers 

Part 5 Speakers 

12.0 Speakers 

Part 6 Rooms

13.0 Listening Rooms and Houses

Part 7 Recording

14.0 Recording

Part 8 Wire 

15.0 Wire 

Part 9 Retail 

16.0 Retail 

Part 10 Mail Order

17.0 Mail Order 

Part 11 Networking

18.0 Net Protocol

Part 12 The Press

19.0 The Press

Part 13 Misc

20.0 Miscellaneous

TOP

FAQ: rec.audio.* The Press 2/99 (part 12 of 13)

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 Magazine (US $24/year 12 issues. Mid-fi)

Subscription Office: PO Box 53548
Boulder CO 80321-2548 USA
800-274-8808, 303-447-9330
Editorial Office: 1633 Broadway
New York, NY 10019
212-767-6000

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:

02001 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 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 $35/yr 12 issues) (High-end)

208 Delgado
Santa Fe NM 87501 USA
800-238-2626 or 505-982-2366

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

http://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.