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Reading
Reviewers
And another thing. Any reader of the
audio magazines still extant, cannot escape the sense that
if a person is writing
equipment reviews for a living, they must know something.
That is somewhat right and somewhat wrong. I have to think
that any given hobbyist who can write a complete sentence
is likely to tap out his/her opinion about great sound. There
are plenty of audio blogs. If they write well enough, and
start writing “knowledgeable” reviews, a mag
may just hire them…for compensation
One catch-any given reviewer may have painfully limited experience
and exposure. I once bought a pair of Coincident Troubadors
from a guy who had praised them
in a review in an audio magazine. He had raved about the speakers in the magazine
and did so over the phone. As I probed just a little further however, I discovered
these speakers were his third pair of speakers ever. Hmmm, an audio reviewer,
a person of "authority" the proud owner of three sets of speakers,
none priced above $1,500, crowing about these weird little speakers. They were
decent, but flawed.
Secondly, reviewers work for others. Seasoned readers may remember Jack English,
a reviewer for Stereophile some years ago. My own sense of his writing, his background
and opinions was that he was sharp and knowledgeable, knew what he was talking
about, and effectively described a product's qualities, since, I actually purchased
a few of the products he raved about and found them to be what he said they were.
He is not longer writing for that mag, as of about 1999, maybe he's retired,
but it seemed a sudden departure with no explanation that I can recall and then
the "feel" of reviews seemed to shift. Certain products seemed to get
lots of great accolades and ads for their products were everywhere. You know
where I''m going with this. I could be wrong, but it seemed to me that maybe
a guy like Jack English wouldn't play that game.
I stopped reading these reviews about then. I started trusting certain insider
folk, people in the business who are music-loving hobbyists at heart. People
in the biz can get comped just about any equipment they might desire, so when
you ask them what they have at home, what they actually own, you get some pretty
good ideas what they think is pretty fine. Mark O'brien of Rogue Audio isn't
trying to coax me into some speaker brand when he tells me what he has in his
living room. He's heard his gear on a lot of fine speakers, so what does he own?
And of course, I started trusting my own ears more. I almost called my business "Your
Own Ears Audio". Problem was, lots of people who sit down in front of an
audio system haven't done it that much, or only at their house mostly, in their
one room, with their own system. Or, they don't have a system at all and they
come and see me.
The thing I've learned is that one's hearing gets better as it is used for critical
purposes. Tune in one of those hunting shows on TV. Ever notice how the guide
sees the prey about a half hour before the "hunter" does. Same thing.
He is out there every day, using his eyes to make discernments that are subtle,
not obvious. If you drive for a living, you're a better driver than I am, just
for starters. Even if you hate it. Now, if you love to drive and drive for a
living, and get a new car every two years...I'm sure I could learn from you.
So, here at Archive Audio, I'm a guy who has been goofy about audio for about
30 years, and since I do this from my home and have 10 systems set up at all
times, and I like all my little places to sit and relax, I'm a little like that
hunting guide...it doesn't take me long to pinpoint something breathing in the
bushes across the meadow...so to speak.
Experience is a great teacher and so I thought showing a comprehensive list of
all the speakers I have ever owned might give some grounding to some of this
opining I'm doing-like that old hunter, these represent my field experience.
I'm not talking about speakers in boxes in my warehouse. I 'm talking about speakers
I have owned and listened to over decades, in systems, at my house as a music-loving,
critical-listening hobbyist.
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