[hungrych]

This list makes no sense, how can an 85k speaker be in class A if it's outdone by multiple speakers costing 8 times less?  

Stereophile does not order within classes.  i.e., within class A the 85k speaker may or may not outdo all the rest.

Notice the alpha ordering.[/i]

Ahh, I should have noticed.  

But still, some of the Stereophile rankings are a joke, if you haven't read this you definitely should, even if the guy is incredibly jaded and cynical.

[Dracule1]

mcrespo71,

Back in the day I also subscribed to Stereo Review at which time Stereophile was actually a different mag - it got me into planar speakers .  So besides assuring me, please telll me what the distinct differnce is now.  

Stereophile is  overloaded with advertisements more than ever (like Stereo Review was), and I don't recall reading a negative review (like Stereo Review) in recent years, just glowing reviews that fills the Class A category with its subcategories to the point it's meaningless.   The Class A components in the 70's and 80's I could count with one hand.  Now I can't keep track of what's in Class A, A+, A low freq limited...  Most, if not all, of the Class A components are heavily advertized in Stereophile.

[kfr01]

I will say that Stereophile seems to be one of the only mags that gets the measurements right... (or even bothers with measurements).

[James Romeyn]

Hi,

 If more drivers mean better sound than I must be nuts using my homebrew Single Driver speaker with one 6" Fostex per side + super tweeter!

  It all about "quality rather than quanity" my friend.  

Take care,
Buddy

I understood John to mean that a $14k speaker, regardless of any other consideration, is overpriced with such a limited amount of money spent on its inards.  I did not take what he said to mean that there was a direct link between quality & quantity.  The link he expressed was the ratio of  MSRP vs. manufacturer's cost to produce.  Also, he seemed to believe that spending huge amounts for new high technology was unjustified unless objective measurements proved its worth & value being better than conventional technology that preceeded it.

Megadittos as far as I'm concerned, to both thoughts.

[James Romeyn]

I will say this much about that list.  NO speaker that is sold via audiocircle manufacturers sounds anything like an MBL.  

Michael

That's a pretty darn interesting point, & probably very true also!  I've sure never heard anything that sounds like those suckers.  They have a unique, high-energy, very dynamic, thick & creamy texture, don't they?

[markmarc]

It is policy at Affordable$$Audio, that the writers have complete freedom to write good or bad reviews.  All I ask as publisher is that they back up their opinion with specific observed items to justify their point of view.

Regarding advertising, originally I had planned on refusing all manufacturers advertising.  Unfortunately, the costs of bandwidth, etc. forced my hand.  However, since the e-zine is never intended to make a true profit, I have no problems with publishing mediocre or even poor reviews.

[john1970]

Jim,

You are a wise man.  You made my points all the more clear.

Thank you,

John