New Free Stereo Magazine

None that I am aware of IB. Sometimes you'll find a vintage column/article in the regular rags. A vintage hi-fi mag would be cool as would a vintage film camera periodical for that matter. I don't think we'll be seeing either any time soon.
 
Silly question, but are there any periodicals that cover vintage stereos?

What's the point of re-reviewing gear that was reviewed when it was new? I'm aware that Tone Audio does a certain amount of re-reviewing vintage gear.
 
The point of re-reviewing gear is that most people don't actually have access to decades of reviews, nor the enthusiasm to wade through thousands of reviews of mediocre or (genuinely, and for good reason) outmoded equipment. So many people appreciate re-reviews of equipment worth owning.
Of course, that leaves lots of good equipment unnoticed for the rest of us to snag at non inflated prices.
 
What's the point of re-reviewing gear that was reviewed when it was new? I'm aware that Tone Audio does a certain amount of re-reviewing vintage gear.
There is oviously a very large movement of interest in this stuff and a periodical that reviews restored pieces, brand back stories, the value of the gear, and even re reviews of Classic/ Rock/ Jazz music would be awesome. As well as now known stories behind the scenes of recordings and product development would be way interesting.

I just bought a large stash of vintage hi fi mags and seeing reviews of now vintage gear is priceless. Seeing Stereo Review savagely rip and I mean rip to shreds The Magical Mystery in a 1968 issue, feels like having your parents yell at you to turn it down when your 14, but in a fun way, knowing how history played this out.
( by the way they weren't really advocates of most rock music at that time and really crushed a lot of now classic stuff with way negative reviews )

Articles talking about the unknown Eagles or Early Pink Floyd or the progression in real time of Miles Davis is great stuff..And the adds, almost all of which refer to pricing and many with long lost specs or design theory. And the ads treat the consumer like a friend that's in on something great instead of a feeble dope hiding gear from his in charge of all spending wife.. Come on!!! This is great stuff. I would imagine the English hi fi mags at some point will get on this, as they really revere the whole industry including classic recordings in a way the American press hasn't in decades..
 
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There was a member on here a year or two ago that ran across a stash of Stereo Reviews at his town library. If you gave him a time period and subject matter, he was taking photos of the articles and posting them. The rock reviews were pretty funny. I wish I had all my back issues. I do a ton of yard saling in the summer and I'm hoping I run into a box of back issues. Buying them on the Bay can be pricey. Those back issues hold a wealth of information. :thumbsup:
 
A lot of the time, if Stereo Review panned an album, I was probably going to at least try to find someone who had it or could copy it for me. A lot of my friends had decent cassette decks and could crank out a decent copy of an LP for me. Steve Simels was the guy I ALWAYS disagreed with. If he hated it, I would like it. I think we agreed one time on something, and I was shocked. We both hated it.
 
In some ways that is one sign of a good reviewer - a distinct, identifiable, and reliable taste, since that allows you to calibrate your taste against that of the reviewer. Of course it is also important that the review is informative and fair enough to acknowledge that those with different tastes may find qualities or deficiencies in the music that the reviewer is deaf to.
 
Having a reviewer denigrate your likes to promote theirs is an almost certain way to cancel whatever they are promoting. For that reason I've avoided following recommendations from such out of contrarian reaction.

One example, Nirvana. Don't know if they were all that, and don't care.
 
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I never "got" Nirvana either. Same goes for a lot of acts that come along. I had a friend who was into REM big time, and sorry, I don't get it.
 
Of course it's annoying when reviewers don't like groups you like, but if you pay attention to what and why they like or dislike groups, you can infer whether you will like them.
It was no surprise to me that every book review of The Show That Never Ends (which is a rather idiosyncratic history of prog rock) I read that made fun of such bands sooner or later brought up the Ramones as everything prog rock failed to be - apparently every critic wants to be Lester Bangs. But this was useful information about the reviewers, for the next book review of theirs I read.
The idea of the Ramones as the beau ideal of what rock is just baffles me. An amusing joke at first, but as labored and theoretical as the worst prog rock, just a different set of poses. All the same name, all the same song - that's revolutionary and freeing?
If you like the Ramones, more power to you. Just don't rank on those who like MacDonald and Giles.
 
Silly question, but are there any periodicals that cover vintage stereos?
I work at a University. The library has all the back issues of HiFidelity, Stereo Review, etc. that go back to the 50's. Granted, you don't get a perspective of how they perform 60 years later, but you can find original source information and reviews, including MSRP which is always interesting.
 
Some big public libraries may also have back issues. Back in the 70s I used to go to the Boston Public Library and read Gramophone Magazine back to the 50s. The Philadelphia Library used to have all the back issues of Stereophile.
 
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