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Hi-Fi Magazine Recommendation


Exponential

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I'm sort of getting deep into this now, and would like a subscription or two.

I am familiar with Stereophile, but are there some other 2-channel Hi-Fi or Audiophile magazines you might recommend?

Thanks. Expo.. **************** Also, how the heck do you insert carriage returns into a post????????

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Well beware due to the amount of BS being propagated by magizines who give favorable reviews to those that advertise. Although there is some good comedy in these magazine like the cable reviews. I've learned more by reading audio forums and audio diy sites but there is also a large amount of BS but after a while you learn what who to ignore. Audio Shows are great places to hear lots of gear Rocky Mountain Audio Fest, Lone Star Audio Fest, Capital Audio Fest. I went to LSAF in Dallas this year and it was interesting. I'll probably go back next year. I think it is around May.

Good luck.

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TAS is worthless. Hi Fi+ is a Euro version of TAS, same difference. Stereophile pushes the BS tweaks but has objective measurements that may be of help in making equipment choices. The best thing to do is to listen to different equipment, at another enthusiast's home if possible. If you go to a retail shop be aware that these guys usually have a financial interest in pushing the items they have for sale, often aggressively marketing the high profit margin worthless tweaks that are advertised in the magazines.

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  • 4 months later...

I'm sort of getting deep into this now, and would like a subscription or two.

I am familiar with Stereophile, but are there some other 2-channel Hi-Fi or Audiophile magazines you might recommend?

See http://www.high-endaudio.com/magaz.html and http://www.dailyaudiophile.com/

Also http://audiomatters.blogspot.com/2013/01/hi-fi-as-rip-off.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FIPuyM+%28AudioMatters%29

Chris

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What those guys said!

HiFi magazines exist to sell advertising which is there to sell product. The problem with home audio is that if you've invested well initially (and let's face it, the used market is a godsend) you're really set for almost a lifetime of enjoyment, great for you but horrible business for the companies that place the ads.

Therefore the magazines must constantly sow seeds of dissatisfaction and need into you so you'll support the manufacturers who buy the ads that keep the magazines in business. If they can't get you with the hardware then it's cables, wooden blocks and other paraphernalia, most of which ignores even the simplest laws of physics and science. If that sounds cynical well that's exactly what it is.

If you buy music to listen to your system then the magazines are absolutely for you. However, if you bought a system to listen to your music you have no need of them.

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Well, I'm going to think you have enough sense to weed out the BS and answer your question.

I subscribe to Stereophlie, Downbeat, Home Theater and The Absolute Sound magazines. Why? Because I still like to hold a magazine sometimes. Like Doctors appts. etc...!

Like others have said, the mags. are money makers because of the ads and sway their reviews accordingly. But if you're like me, you still want to know about the "new" stuff and whats coming out, they can be helpful. Just proceed with caution.

Oh and I do like getting my "Audio Advisor" mag/ad every month or so. You can go Audioadvisor.com and sign up for the mailings.

Dennie

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I buy stereophile, , absolute sound , and hifi+ on a fairly regular basis. I like a lot of the columns and I really like the lp/cd/sacd/etc reviews. My other source of discovering new music is rolling stone. And the reviews in the audiophile pubs cover more genres and also review the sound quality. I don't pay much attention to the equipment reviews however.

Josh

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I have a subscription to Stereophile (aka Stereo-pile by some), and find some articles and reviews interesting; but alot of it is bull. They tend to shill for their advertisers, especially those selling tweaks which are high priced and diffiicult to evaluate objectively. Too bad that The Audio Critic is no longer available on news stands. The editor-in-chief, Peter Aczel, has a sarcastic yet humorous style which some find irritating; especially when he tells them that the $12,000 pair of cables that they just purchased are no better than 16 gauge lamp cord. He still has an on-line webzine, and a link for you to obtain free .pdf files of his back issues. Pay special attention to issues #16 and 17.

Mr. Aczel believes in electrical tests and double blind tests to back up subjective listening impressions. The more I read him, the more sense he makes. He is a very well rounded individual and is knowledgable of music and recording (mostly classical) as well as electrical engineering and acoustics.

Here are the links:------

http://www.theaudiocritic.com/-------

http://www.theaudiocritic.com/cwo/Back_Issues/------

Here's another one from Roger Russell of McIntosh labs:------

http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm------

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I have a subscription to Stereophile (aka Stereo-pile by some), and find some articles and reviews interesting; but alot of it is bull. They tend to shill for their advertisers, especially those selling tweaks which are high priced and diffiicult to evaluate objectively. Too bad that The Audio Critic is no longer available on news stands. The editor-in-chief, Peter Aczel, has a sarcastic yet humorous style which some find irritating; especially when he tells them that the $12,000 pair of cables that they just purchased are no better than 16 gauge lamp cord. He still has an on-line webzine, and a link for you to obtain free .pdf files of his back issues. Pay special attention to issues #16 and 17. Mr. Aczel believes in electrical tests and double blind tests to back up subjective listening impressions. The more I read him, the more sense he makes. He is a very well rounded individual and is knowledgable of music and recording (mostly classical) as well as electrical engineering and acoustics. Here are the links:------ http://www.theaudiocritic.com/------- http://www.theaudiocritic.com/cwo/Back_Issues/------ Here's another one from Roger Russell of McIntosh labs:------ http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm-----

Mr. Aczel is definitely a good read and my type of writer....but a good portion of his comments are complete engineering block headed BS to the oposite direction of say Stereo phool mag... some where in the middle the truth is found.

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Bruze Rozenblit of Transcendent Sound is one of my favorites. His book "Audio Reality" will equip you with the tools to seriously evaluate equipment & claims.

As a designer he's one of the few to really push the boundaries of tube audio design unlike 90% of his competition who are merely content to repackage the 1936 Radiotron Designers Handbook in very attractive cases.

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http://www.tnt-audio.com/what.html


You are here > Home > What's TNT-Audio? Who pays 4 this?


You might wonder how all this can be possible without subscriptions, advertising, banners, readers' support and the like.
The answer is simple: our Editor (that is, me) is so kind to pay for everything: web space, Internet connectivity and everything else.

When I decided to create a whole new concept of on-line magazine it was clear that to be really different
from the rest, TNT-audio needed to be entirely independent: independent
from readers' subscriptions, advertising, Companies' support and stuff.
So someone had to pay. And since at the time I was running this all alone I decided to pay for everything from my own income.

Obviously enough, I have a well-paid job so that I don't mind spending
some extra bucks to rent the domain tnt-audio.com and pay for a standard
Net connection.
I'm not rich: web space is cheap nowadays.

Consider saving some money from hifi mags subscriptions and fancy hi-end
cables and you'll raise enough money to cover every expense.

Since there's no advertising and no subscriptions there are no profits of any kind.
The reviewers who write on TNT are not paid for this, they do everything just for fun.
Our readers' satisfaction is our only reward.
I'm not crazy: I love this hobby and I like to communicate ideas. That's all. Simple and crystal clear.

If you like this idea, feel free to contact us (send a proposal to editor@tnt-audio.com) anytime as we'd like to have (serious) correspondents from every Country in the World.


© Copyright 1996-2012 Lucio Cadeddu


The Naked Truth about Speaker-Cables

http://www.tnt-audio.com/clinica/spkcbl_e.html

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I have a subscription to Stereophile (aka Stereo-pile by some), and find some articles and reviews interesting; but alot of it is bull. They tend to shill for their advertisers, especially those selling tweaks which are high priced and diffiicult to evaluate objectively. Too bad that The Audio Critic is no longer available on news stands. The editor-in-chief, Peter Aczel, has a sarcastic yet humorous style which some find irritating; especially when he tells them that the $12,000 pair of cables that they just purchased are no better than 16 gauge lamp cord. He still has an on-line webzine, and a link for you to obtain free .pdf files of his back issues. Pay special attention to issues #16 and 17. Mr. Aczel believes in electrical tests and double blind tests to back up subjective listening impressions. The more I read him, the more sense he makes. He is a very well rounded individual and is knowledgable of music and recording (mostly classical) as well as electrical engineering and acoustics. Here are the links:------ http://www.theaudiocritic.com/------- http://www.theaudiocritic.com/cwo/Back_Issues/------ Here's another one from Roger Russell of McIntosh labs:------ http://www.roger-russell.com/wire/wire.htm-----

Mr. Aczel is definitely a good read and my type of writer....but a good portion of his comments are complete engineering block headed BS to the oposite direction of say Stereo phool mag... some where in the middle the truth is found.

Yes, I will agree with you. I just did a five day stint with Monster XP 16 AWG wiring replacing my Nordost Blue Heaven cables. The result was better than I expeccted, but compared to the NBH cables; the bass was reduced and the general sense of clarity, transparency, and illusion that the music was coming from behind the speakers were missing. My ability to measure electrical properties of the cables is limited. However, the DC resistance of the NBH cables repeated measured 0.0 ohms, whereas the Monster XP repeatedly measured 0.1 ohms. The Monster was 7' long, whereas the NBHs were 14'7" long. I have no ability to measure inductance, which is supposed to also be important.

So here is an expensive cable which to my ears is definitely better than 16 gauge stranded wire with LPE insulation. I have owned them for 15 years and see no reason to change.

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