prodj101 Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 well, I just got the latest issue of Stereophile and they did a review of the RB-15. It is generally favorable, and they say they compete well with all other speakers in the price range. I wish they would review something like the RF-5 or 7's instead though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkBK Posted January 22, 2004 Share Posted January 22, 2004 I agree the "audiophile" rags always seem to ignore Klipsch - it's been that way ever since I purchased my first Klipsch speakers in 1980. In in depth comments on the article? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prodj101 Posted January 23, 2004 Author Share Posted January 23, 2004 well, I had gone as far as to scan it up, and I was about to post then I thought "waaaiiitttt isn't this infringing on some sort of copyright?" and stopped. there's nothing too special about the review, just the usual stereophile dribble.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkBK Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 They do have a pattern to reviews don't they. For kicks I picked up recent issues of Stereophile and The Absolute Sound and after reading reviews of SACD/CD/DVD-A players resigned myself to the fact that even though years had changed the content quality had not improved. In TAS - the more it costs the higher the praise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkBK Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 BTW - my compliments to your taste in 2.1 systems. I have cherry RF5s with McIntosh C22 and MC240, still using HK HD7500 CD player Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prodj101 Posted January 23, 2004 Author Share Posted January 23, 2004 I don't think I've ever read a BAD review in stereophile. I have read speakers with a little less praise then others, but never anthing bad, and some of the things they've reviewed definitely deserve that....thanks the RF-5's are great speakers, especially with mcintosh gear! my most recent addition to that system was the MIT cables, it really helped alot, you should look into them. I have black RF-5's and RSW-15, but lately I've found myself wishing I had gotten cherry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted January 23, 2004 Share Posted January 23, 2004 The newer Stereophile doesn't print many "bad" reviews primarily because the economies of the times don't afford them the luxury of doing a full review on anything that they don't have a pretty good idea they're going to like. Ad dollars won't support enough pages of editorial content to have a lot of "fluff". While it is kind of fun to read a really nasty review of something once in a while, you can't sustain readership if you use up a lot of the increasingly scarse review pages with reviews of stuff you're telling people not to buy. If you go back a ways, you can find some really aggressively bad reviews. One in particular I always got a chuckle out of was a review Corey Greenburg did of a small pair of Tannoy speakers. Don't remember the model number, but part of the review text (and I'm quoting verbatim here, to the best my memory allows): "... OUT, vile transducers!!! These are, without a doubt, the *WORST* sounding speakers I have ever heard..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdm56 Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 Ah, the Corey-meister! I still miss his writing. He made reading about audio fun. Ever notice how in Stereophile, the review goes hand in hand with the glossy ad? I've seen it a jillion times. Of course, I'm SURE it's just coincidence. Still, it was nice to finally read about a Klipsch product in S-phile. When I saw the cover, I thought for a second Stereo Review had been resurrected! Not exactly a glowing review, though. Sounds like Klipsch needs to beef up the enclosure a good deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prodj101 Posted January 24, 2004 Author Share Posted January 24, 2004 yeah, I saw the cover and thought to my self for a moment "is this really possible?" and yes, I have noticed that the adds in the magazine are usually what they happen to be reviewing....really kind of lame. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray Garrison Posted January 24, 2004 Share Posted January 24, 2004 Okay, you're a salesman working for Primedia. You have no interaction with John Atkinson or anyone else on the Stereophile payroll, your job is to sell ad space in the family of magazines Primedia publishes. How are you going to do that? One approach is to get the review schedule, see who's getting products reviewed in which issue, call 'em up and say "Hey there! I see your MegaBlaster SonicBonic is scheduled for review in next September's issue of Stereophile. Why not take advantage of the increased exposure and run a full page ad..." There's nothing shady or nefarious about it - simple economics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdm56 Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 But then again, it really could be a conspiracy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vital Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 Why doesnt Klipsch send a high-end system to be reviewed and place a nice ad in the mag? I get so sick of people dogging Klipsch on the HT forum when I know damn well 95% of them have never heard them. To call the RF-7s bright and horny sounding is just plain ignorant. Klipsch needs more exposure IMO. I had never heard of them before a year ago. I was just very lucky to have run across a set and checked out this forum. After that it was audition time and the rest is history. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Posted January 28, 2004 Share Posted January 28, 2004 I particularly enjoy the bashing reviews. One learns so much from people ranting about how things should be. In our litigious society however, anyone whose pockets jingle with coins is apt to have them picked by a lawyer. Instead, we must scour the pages of audio reviews for the word or two, which signifies how this model stacks up against others, both ultimately, and in the same price range. Only with a glimpse of this gold can we impart a realistic, useful, value to the review. John Atkinson, who crunches the numbers for the venerable Stereophile magazine, carries on this parsimonious relationship. He coined the phrase different difference. The phrase refers to the slight or insignificant, but enjoyable, difference resulting from a change or tweak in a home movie and music reproduction system. In the month of sweethearts, he cozies up to one of the best selling speaker manufacturers, venerable horn maker Klipsch of Indiana, with a qualified good endorsement of a bookshelf model (02-04, page 115). As one audio magazine after another transmogrifies into oblivion or the multi-channel HT arena, Stereophile magazine is obviously catering to the masses lately. Each issue carries a low cost story about loudspeakers or amplifiers. Atkinson does NOT normally review the budget level models, leaving that valuable task to Robert Reina. His review of the Klipsch RB-15 bookshelf speaker suffers from a disjointed line of comparison. After many of Reina reviews, it would be nice to hear Reinas take on the $299 Klipsch RB-15. Atkinsons objective measurements are a hard line of performance. His graphs clearly depict differences between loudspeakers. He tries to tell with scientific pictures what our ears cannot hear. Last months review of three popular $1K towers was wonderfully useful. (Moth Audio Cicada, Horn Shoppe Horn, Meadowlark Audio Swift, Art Dudley, Vol.27 No.1, January, 2004) The meaning of these differences however is hard to discern. Only a word or two suggests the subjective value of those differences. Take the two-way RB-15 for example. Atkinson said it had above-average sensitivity and well-suited to being driven by inexpensive amplifiers and receivers. Its lively cabinet bothered him, leading to some lower-midrange coloration and unevenness. He said the speakers generous low frequency alignment made it sound bigger and balanced the highs. With a few caveats, he said the RB-15s spatially averaged in-room response is extraordinarily flat. Other than a slight ridge, he said the waterfall plot is very clean. This is very commendable for such an inexpensive speaker. Atkins said the RB-15 lacked top-octave energy, low frequencies and despite its rather boppy upper bass, provided basically well-balanced sound at a very competitive price. The RB-15, he concluded, can hold up its head in the company of Epos ELS-3 (I can think of no speaker that produces greater sound quality for the dollar), Alón Lil Rascal MK.II, Paradigm Atom 3 and PSB Alpha B. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manuel Delaflor Posted January 30, 2004 Share Posted January 30, 2004 Ray, Do you happen to work as a sales man? How can you ignore that the editorial and sales departments on any kind of media should work separately in order to give the publication some credibility? The reviewers should be able to tell whatever they think without ANY kind of pressure from the sales department. Otherwise, you are only reading an expensive and absurd ad. The sad part on this is that in a world like the one we have created this is almost impossible. No one would buy an ad if you can destroy their products. And no one would make a review if they are not sure they are going to receive money. Disgusting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-MAN Posted January 30, 2004 Share Posted January 30, 2004 The only reviewers that you can really trust are on the sides of your head (preferably). All of the rest are simply after money in one way or another. Hey, come to think of it, the 2 on the side of my head are just after money, too... waitaminute! this isn't right! DM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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