Opinionated High-End Nutters - links please :)

estreeter

Super Member
I know Arthur Salvatore is about as popular as genital warts with many AKers, but I like the fact that he isnt afraid to ruffle feathers/dent egos - similarly Lukasz Fikus' rants often cast aspersions on certain gear which is considered 'sacred' elsewhere. This isn't class warfare - both of these guys have gear costing many thousands of dollars - and the big difference between these guys and various naysayers elsewhere is that they have actually HEARD the gear they are describing, often paired with similarly specced partners, over a period of months not a few hours in a dealership.

In an industry characterised by a *very* cosy relationship between the magazines and many of the industry 'players', I get a perverse kick out of reading the odd rant - when its based on experience and not simply a rehash of something written elsewhere - I know that makes me a sad, strange little man, but I'd appreciate any links you may have to opinionated types who arent afraid to call it like they see it. A lot of Steve Deckert's marketing hints at a fairly cynical attitude to his competitors, but very few in the industry are prepared to 'name names' : even Fikusz pulled his 'blacklist' of Audio Manufacturers' when it became apparent that there were real consequences for putting something like that in print. Smart man, but I still wish he had published it.

http://lampizator.eu/Thegoodthebadandtheugly.html

(fwiw, both these guys are nutters, IMO, but Lukas is an evil genius who puts his soldering iron where his mouth is - Mr Salvatore is just an extremely opinionated guy who has bought and sold a lot of high-end gear. Both have websites that look like they were designed and maintained by grade-schoolers, but that just adds to my perverse joy at visiting their sites)

Lets have those links, people. :D
 
I love the lampizator site. At least he backs up what he talks about with tech knowledge. Salvatore is a different story - his writing reads like one of those spiritual Gurus out of northern California (nothing religious against them, just don't like their fubbly wobbly semantics).

And yes, a good rant is good to keep people honest.
 
I like randi.org to keep me balanced and realize that many people - like the ones already mentioned - can take this hobby w a y too seriously. He's put $1M on the table many times for audio review magazines and audiophile product producers to put up or shut up, and no one has walked away with the prize yet.

The stories there are as entertaining as the fringe audio nuts are on their own sites....


Jblnut
 
I like randi.org to keep me balanced and realize that many people - like the ones already mentioned - can take this hobby w a y too seriously. He's put $1M on the table many times for audio review magazines and audiophile product producers to put up or shut up, and no one has walked away with the prize yet.

The stories there are as entertaining as the fringe audio nuts are on their own sites....


Jblnut

He is Anti-High End.
 
How about an opinionated reviewer who actually makes good sense, fully tests the gear he reviews, respects audio engineers and uses their expertise in his reviews?

http://www.theaudiocritic.com/plog/

Nice one! Looks high end, if by that one means "excellence in sound" as opposed to "very, very expensive". The two may meet, or diverge. When they meet it is too bad for me, because I can't afford it :D When they diverge, sometimes is good for my ears+wallet, the other bad for both (equipment, no matter how cheap, is a waste of money if it sounds bad).
 
Stereophile? ;)

You are correct, I believe in fact that it was Stereophile that made Aczel the biggest fraud in all of audio. I've heard that it was his spite towards them for calling him out on collusion that began his wonderful war on all that stuff he once held dear (high end audio). Nice catch, Chicks! ;).
 
You are correct, they did in fact make Aczel the biggest fraud in all of audio. I've heard that it was his spite towards them for calling him out on collusion that began his wonderful war on all that stuff he once held dear (high end audio).

Very interesting to read old issues of the Audio Critic compared to the stuff he has written since he got caught red handed mis-representing the products of the company he owned. He actually believed that amps sounded different back then. Strange how he never has put those issues online.
 
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