What about equipment reviews ?

[George Bellefontaine]

Do they help in making your purchasing decisions? Based on good reviews, I purchased a Zenith CRT, The Yammy A3090 and the Sony VPL400 projector, and the reviewer was dead on in each case. On the other hand, I purchased a Sony Laserdisc player a few years ago based on a review, and that was a big mistake.




My Homepage!

[JonMarsh]

A good, thorough review evaluation can go a long way to qualifying my interest in a product. I like Stereophile's reviews, because they combine both reasonably sophisticated technical measurements with the subjective side also. Frankly, if I had to go with either the technical side as Sterephile implements, or subjective only reviews as TAS does, I'd never read TAS in all likelyhood. Maybe it's because I lived in Missouri for a while when I was a kid, so I've got a bit of the "show me". Plus, I like the insights into the design and actual performance that a good tech review of a speaker or amplifier can give.

Notice I said "GOOD"- there have been organization including some objective measurment data that is so pitiful in its paucity of detail that it's hardly worth wasting the printer's ink on....


-Jon




Earth First!
_______________________________
We'll screw up the other planets later....

[Andrew Pratt]

I read magazine reviews to find out general details about products coming out but they rarely influence what I buy. Online reviews on the other hand do influence what I audition. If someone I know and trust recomends "X" product I'm far more likely to take a closer look at it.

[John Holmes]

I'm like Andrew. The mag reviews will help clearify feature info and maybe a few ins and outs. If I am remotely interested, I'll then persue the on-line community to see how it favors. However, I have only purchased one piece of gear (subwoofer) without my personal auditioning it first. And it was a great purchase.




"I came here, to chew bubble gum and kickass. And I'm all out of bubble gum!!!" My DVD's

[Bob]

We all love flipping through the mags and, if you are looking for a new peice of equipment they are great for wetting your appetite. But, they can only reveiw so much which means some of the best products that are older and established aren't brought to the attention of a new reader.
For actual purchase I prefer to find a owner of a audio store that has similar taste to mine and seek their advice.

[LarryB]

I read audio magazines mostly for the pretty pictures, since I take most of what the reviewers say with a grain of salt. (Or as my physics teacher used to say, "with a grain of malt.")

Larry