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Why You Tube speaker reviews are so poor...........


ClaudeJ1

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I find Mr. Gutenberg, who has reviewed Klipsch speakers favorably, to be unwatchable. He just looks at the camera a babbles on for 30 minutes without EVER turning on the sound of the speaker for us to hear for any length of time. Amazon give sample reads of their books, so, at the very least, we should hear what each speaker sounds like in his particular room from a particular sweet spot with a good Stereo Recorder, like a Zoom, at the sweet spot. Same place each time so we would get a better idea, especially while listening to headphones. I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

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I think you're being a little rough on the guy, all the while agreeing with your description.

 

As far as favorable reviews are concerned the Audiophiliac picked the RP-600M as his 2018 Speaker of the Year.

 

He picked the Cornwall IV as one of his Speakers of the Year for 2019.  The 2019 RP-8000 is on his "recommended" list.

 

You are right of course that he doesn't play music clips so we can hear how the speakers sound.  I prefer to hear the speakers played but many reviewers don't do that, their reasoning is that you can't judge another speaker through your computer speakers.  If you play music from a pop artist it almost immediately gets flagged, removed and the money from that that copyright infringement goes to the artist.  I can understand why a lot of reviewers don't do that.

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5 minutes ago, oldtimer said:

Listening over the internet from a recording of a recording regardless of how consistent the method is an exercise in futility.  

Perhaps, but I'd like to see an attempt as a normalized method. ANYTHING would be better than blah blah blah, 

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On 12/31/2019 at 5:17 PM, wvu80 said:

I think you're being a little rough on the guy, all the while agreeing with your description.

 

The Audiophiliac picked the RP-600M as his 2018 Speaker of the Year.

 

He picked the Cornwall IV as one of his Speakers of the Year for 2019.  The 2019 RP-8000 is on his "recommended" list.

 

You are right of course that he doesn't play music clips so we can hear how the speakers sound.  I prefer that but many reviewers don't do that, their reasoning is that you can't judge another speaker through your computer speakers.  If you play music from a pop artist it almost immediately gets flagged, removed and the money from that that copyright infringement goes to the artist.  I can understand why a lot of reviewers don't do that.

For photographers, there is royalty free music that can be purchased and used if that's a legal problem (aren't most problems cause by overpaid lawmakers??). Besides, I find that the whole music thing, from a "reportage" perspective to be really stupid. Since artists only make money from live performances, they should look upon their music being played as advertisement and compliment. I remember the big brouhaha about PAYOLA, where record executives paid to have their recordings played on air by DJ's to get maximum exposure. Times have changed for the worst.

 

 

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Just now, jimjimbo said:

Completely agree, and Gutenberg is a boob.

I wouldn't go as far as name calling. I just wanted to use his schpiel on Klipsch as a springboard for discussion. I like the videos he did with Nelson Pass, and the guy who DYI built his over the top all horn system and turntables. That is interesting show and tell, but to listen to a guy talk about a speaker without playing one seems rather incomplete to me.

 

There are others, but he was the most convenient at the time.

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Just now, ClaudeJ1 said:

I wouldn't go as far as name calling. I just wanted to use his schpiel on Klipsch as a springboard for discussion. I like the videos he did with Nelson Pass, and the guy who DYI built his over the top all horn system and turntables. That is interesting show and tell, but to listen to a guy talk about a speaker without playing one seems rather incomplete to me.

 

There are others, but he was the most convenient at the time.

Claude, after reading several of his reviews on Klipsch and other gear, I decided not to waste my time with him anymore.  His more than frequent use of cliche's and other audiophool speak is annoying and lacks any value to me.  Is nincompoop better?  Nitwit?   

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19 minutes ago, jimjimbo said:

Claude, after reading several of his reviews on Klipsch and other gear, I decided not to waste my time with him anymore.  His more than frequent use of cliche's and other audiophool speak is annoying and lacks any value to me.  Is nincompoop better?  Nitwit?   

I've not had that much exposure, other than what I mention. But since you and I seem to trust each other's judgement on many things, especially audio and photography, I would, possibly, have a tendency to agree with you following a broader exposure to his videos. Thanks for the feedback.

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44 minutes ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

I'd like to hear your thoughts on this.

  1. Are you aware that Guttenberg creates a new video each day?
  2. Are you aware that Guttenberg's reviews of Klipsch loudspeakers has probably significantly influenced an increase in sales?
  3. Are you aware that Guttenberg does a fairly good show as compared to say, Srajan Ebaen, whose purple prose is so bad that you can't tell what he's saying...and you have to read it instead of seeing the man and watching him speak--as well as his body language, etc., which is probably at least 10x better from an understanding viewpoint of what he's saying?
  4. Are you aware that the idea of listening to loudspeakers over the web that have been recorded on a smart phone, compressed into oblivion, then replayed on your setup has no validity at all?
  5. Are you aware that it has been Guttenberg who has plucked Klipsch and Pass Labs/First Watt from the pack and has given more than a cursory review of what he's hearing and how it relates to the emotional involvement of the listening experience?
  6. Are you aware that Guttenberg himself might actually read some of these posts here?  I think it would be fair to tone down any rhetoric and talk about the guy as if he were a real human with feelings--just like you...

 

I find that, for a guy that doesn't use technical language and doesn't appear to have the ability to connect the technical aspects of the products he's reviewing to what he's hearing, he actually does a fairly good job in reviewing and giving a fair assessment pro and con, in a way that leaves the viewer with a more informed view of the products.  I also think that he's pretty fair,, actually (speaking only from the Klipsch and Nelson Pass videos).  His videos of Nelson Pass are almost legendary in my assessment--because he's giving us the man--not the reputation, especially as compared to something like Stereophile or something like that. 

 

Video takes more time than reading, but that's just the point, isn't it?  Taking a little more time to think about the subject, and being able to form more informed opinions based on conversation.

 

YMMV.

 

Chris

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2 minutes ago, Chris A said:
  1. His videos of Nelson Pass are almost legendary in my assessment--because he's giving us the man--not the reputation, especially as compared to something like Stereophile or something like that. 

 

Video takes more time than reading, but that's just the point, isn't it?  Taking a little more time to think about the subject, and being able to form more informed opinions based on conversation.

 

YMMV.

 

Chris

Thanks for the Feedback. I asked for this, so I did not expect universal agreement, just your thoughts.

 

To be clear, my comment had to do with the TOTAL lack of speaker playback vs. pure words spoken, PERIOD. Nothing more. I used the term blah blah blah, to create greater readable IMPACT and CONTRAST vis a vis NOT PLAYING ANY SPEAKER SOUNDS, nothing more or less.

 

I did not assign descriptive adjectives to the man himself, just his review METHODS.

 

Take me down from the dartboard, I'm just the messenger here with another opinion.

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17 minutes ago, Chris A said:

Are you aware that Guttenberg himself might actually read some of these posts here?  I think it would be fair to tone down any rhetoric and talk about the guy as if he were a real human with feelings--just like you...

 

16 minutes ago, mike stehr said:

 

He look's like John Lennon crossbred with a rat

Perfect timing.

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22 minutes ago, Chris A said:

Video takes more time than reading, but that's just the point, isn't it?

 

Not if you use youtube-dl to fetch the video and use mplayer to play it, hitting the [ key a few times to take it to 1.something playback speed...  Of course this implies using a console window to interface with the computer, which is the best most productive way anyway.

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28 minutes ago, Chris A said:

Are you aware that Guttenberg himself might actually read some of these posts here?  I think it would be fair to tone down any rhetoric and talk about the guy as if he were a real human with feelings--just like you...

 

Are you aware that anyone who puts themselves out in the public domain with their opinions and product reviews should expect to be criticized harshly, especially if your statement below is true..... 

 

28 minutes ago, Chris A said:

doesn't appear to have the ability to connect the technical aspects of the products he's reviewing to what he's hearing,

Really?  Well then even more of a reason to consider his "reviews" of a product suspect.  I am certainly not someone who blindly follows and purchases products simply on specs, but I will consider them prior to listening and purchasing.  Not having the ability to connect the tech with the product is a serious fault.

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25 minutes ago, jimjimbo said:

Really?  Well then even more of a reason to consider his "reviews" of a product suspect.  I am certainly not someone who blindly follows and purchases products simply on specs, but I will consider them prior to listening and purchasing.  Not having the ability to connect the tech with the product is a serious fault.

I think that he listens to the guys that design the gear, etc., so he is aware of the technical stuff, but probably chooses to keep his reviews at 10th grade level in order to connect with the greater part of his audience (which I've found largely is ignorant of the physics and engineering, as well as the psychoacoustics--how we actually hear).  If he started to use that information, he'd instantly lose 50% of his audience, so I think he's actually a fairly wise person to avoid those discussions and focus on the sound subjectively (which 90% of the other audio reviewers do, too).

 

25 minutes ago, jimjimbo said:

Are you aware that anyone who puts themselves out in the public domain with their opinions and product reviews should expect to be criticized harshly, especially if your statement below is true..... 

This doesn't mean that we should pile-on in this forum like a "lowest common denominator" approach to posting on the web.  I think that this forum has a bit more capability than that going for it.   There are a couple of other forums that also behave in a more civilized manner, and shows up as a better quality forum when they do, I think.

 

Chris

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