Stereophile and TAS have lapsed

Or you could sell them *cough* elsewhere "as new" for two cents under the original cover price. ;)

"Tell me, where are you going to find these magazines in perfect 'as new' condition for this price?

What, wait, you can get them cheaper than newsstand pricing?"
 
Are you going on Saturday? Those are some pretty interesting looking speakers. (and it will probably the closest to me SMAC now since BOT departed for the corn fields)

Naw.... It's one of two weekends a year I have to work. Speaking of Bot, I thought of him last week...

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@Andyman Funny, I did not realize they were a mainstream distiller.

I am not a whiskey drinker, but I have had a Margareta made with that Hornitos Tequila in the background.

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At one time I subscribed to both mags. I also had a subscription to The Perfect Vision, a sister publication of TAS geared toward video, which I had a keen interest. The Perfect Vision just stopped production without giving subscribers any notice. Decided to drop TAS because of that. Stereophile soon afterwards.
 
Stereophile should change its name to Stereophool.
Stereopile !

My friend Steve gave me a huge stack of Stereopile and TAS ...
I just gave the Stereopile mags to Stefan, and kept TAS to read when I need a chuckle!
 
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I occasionally look through Stereophile at my local library. Most of the articles are too technical for me (right brainer). But I always learn something from it. That said, print is a dying medium and our hobby is comprised of an aging target market. Enjoy it while you can.
 
The Golden Age of this hobby was the 1970s. All of my friends were up on the very latest products, reviews, and fads. None of them were rich, and yet all had amazing systems. In that era, a really expensive preamp was the Audio Research SP3 for about $695. Yes, that was a lot of money, but not "the price of a house" like so many products today.

I'll say it---the rich spoiled this hobby for good. And the magazines helped them do it. If I'm not mistaken, Dynaco sold over 50,000 bookshelf speakers. Hope many pairs of$250,000 speakers does Dave Wilson sell?

A great many mega dollar pieces sounds not an iota better than a run of the mill piece. Everyone knows that, but they pretend they don't. High end, got turned into high price, and they lost all the working guys to elitist snobbery that destroyed the hobby.
 
While part of me agrees with you, I don't think you sufficiently acknowledge the role of TV/video/home theater/IPods/downloads, and the desire for convenience in using them, in pulling people away from full range, low distortion stereo reproduction. I'm not convinced that surge of interest in hifi was a pure expression of desire for accurate reproduction of real music - it was a fad, albeit a widespread, long lasting, and productive and satisfying one. But people have all sorts of interests, and video, once it became practical and affordable, appeals to many people, and perhaps more people than are music lovers. And humans are lazy (if you want, put in whatever efficiency term appeals more than lazy), and some thing that sounds pretty much like music is good enough for many people. One suspects that those who listen to current music may be more likely to be satisfied by processed and compressed sources since the way the music itself is made is processed and compressed, but that group includes a very large part of the public.
 
While part of me agrees with you, I don't think you sufficiently acknowledge the role of TV/video/home theater/IPods/downloads, and the desire for convenience in using them, in pulling people away from full range, low distortion stereo reproduction. I'm not convinced that surge of interest in hifi was a pure expression of desire for accurate reproduction of real music - it was a fad, albeit a widespread, long lasting, and productive and satisfying one. But people have all sorts of interests, and video, once it became practical and affordable, appeals to many people, and perhaps more people than are music lovers. And humans are lazy (if you want, put in whatever efficiency term appeals more than lazy), and some thing that sounds pretty much like music is good enough for many people. One suspects that those who listen to current music may be more likely to be satisfied by processed and compressed sources since the way the music itself is made is processed and compressed, but that group includes a very large part of the public.

Great comments, Nat. Yes, I recall when home theater sort off took everyone's interest away from stereo. Every system picture had a giant TV in the center.

And of course in the 80s the PC was all the rage.
 
. . .Corey Greenberg was brought onto the editorial staff when I was a subscriber; I realize that dates me. :D

Is that Mr. Fancy Feet?

I still remember a couple from the first review of his that I read.
 
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I wish Stereophile and other magazines would only publish reviews accompanied by comprehensive testing. Both subjective and objective measurements are helpful in helping potential buyers make good choices. Also tests need to focus on measurements that matter. As an example, amplifiers act differently into complex simulated speaker loads than 8 ohm resistors. Also if you want to test digital show and measure 20,000 hertz tones at -90 db.
 
I do like Stereophile's album reviews. I always pick up something new to listen to. But most of the gear is priced into oblivion. $170k for a pair of Dartzeel monoblocks - I mean come on! I just laughed.
 
This past issue of Stereophile was the last of my subscription. When I saw $170,000 Dartzeel amps on the cover, I knew I made the right choice in dropping the magazine.
 
I do most of my listening through my phone and JBL Charge 4 bluetooth speaker or headphones. My actual stereo is in my sig. I get Stereophiile and Sound & Vision. I can't figure out why I find Stereophile more relevant.

Go figure.
 
I agree that the latest cover item was too far over the top and almost an insult to readers. I mean, come on, $170K?
 
This past issue of Stereophile was the last of my subscription. When I saw $170,000 Dartzeel amps on the cover, I knew I made the right choice in dropping the magazine.

My sub just lapsed with the same issue. I actually don't mind the reviews of crazy-costly items though I agree there may be a few too many of them. I have enjoyed SP for bedtime reading for the most part...helps me get to sleep... However this time they did an 'auto-renewal' for $28.97 and that was a bridge too far.
 
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