State of the industry - Roy Gregory Editorial

www.ebay.co.uk

Brahms Symphony No. 2 (Vienna Phil, Kubelik) London blueback CS-6004 vg+ | eBay

Record play-grade is very good+. Great performance, a classic! Records have been gently cleaned with distilled water and a microfiber cloth (no chemicals used). Used records are visually graded ("appears near mint") unless "play-graded" is indicated.
www.ebay.co.uk

An ED0 "pancake" pressing for under $20. I have posted sheer value and quality that is available right now.

Kindest regards,G.
 
I don't think the issue is that Vinyl is not available in an absolute way, the issue is more that when I apply the selection bias named ' my preference' availability becomes quite poor something which likely is the same for many people. Just last week I 'walked' through a couple of thousand records, availability was huge...just too bad the selection was not for me (not a single classical recors, not a single mono recording). Discogs is a great tool, but my 'want' list is not shrinking very fast.
 
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MarcelNL said:
I don't think the issue is that Vinyl is not available in an absolute way, the issue is more that when I apply the selection bias named ' my preference' availability becomes quite poor ans that is likley the same for many people. Just last week I 'walked' through a couple of thousand records, availability was huge...just too bad the selection was not for me (not a single classical recors, not a single mono recording). Discogs is a great tool, but my 'want' list is not shrinking very fast.
Click to expand...

Yes and often when you find the one you want the quality could be crap. There are too many disappointments buying LPs online. Of the ones General posted, most are sold off and one is an auction. And if it requires his expertise to identify the seller and the pressing to recommend some bargains, it makes the argument for digital in my previous post stronger. These should be available to average audiophile who walks in to the hifi show with some knowledge of what pieces he wants to hear, and is able to discover these pieces during his random explorations with some online help
 
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I thought the point of this thread was the relationship between print media/advertising and manufacturer.

Years ago there was a great thread on this topic on Audionirvana. It prompted me to write Robert Harley. He responded in the next print article calling me by my full name 3 times. The thread has been deleted. It was way to telling the relationship between print and reviewers.

Personally, i would be fine never seeing another Wilson review. I like many are tired of thr same 15 products in the Awards categories or buyers guides.

I wish print was actually a place to hear about the more esoteric items. I want to know about botuque direct to consumer products. I find Audiogon forum ok for this but I am a little wary who is actually saying what.
Rex
 
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Kingrex said:
I thought the point of this thread was the relationship between print media/advertising and manufacturer.

Years ago there was a great thread on this topic on Audionirvana. It prompted me to write Robert Harley. He responded in the next print article calling me by my full name 3 times. The thread has been deleted. It was way to telling the relationship between print and reviewers.

Personally, i would be fine never seeing another Wilson review. I like many are tired of thr same 15 products in the Awards categories or buyers guides.

I wish print was actually a place to hear about the more esoteric items. I want to know about botuque direct to consumer products. I find Audiogon forum ok for this but I am a little wary who is actually saying what.
Rex
Click to expand...

Are you referring to this post by Richard Austen?

Stereophile Recommended Components List - Audionirvana.org

Stereophile Recommended Components List
www.audionirvana.org
 
Kingrex said:
I thought the point of this thread was the relationship between print media/advertising and manufacturer.

Years ago there was a great thread on this topic on Audionirvana. It prompted me to write Robert Harley. He responded in the next print article calling me by my full name 3 times. The thread has been deleted. It was way to telling the relationship between print and reviewers.

Personally, i would be fine never seeing another Wilson review. I like many are tired of thr same 15 products in the Awards categories or buyers guides.

I wish print was actually a place to hear about the more esoteric items. I want to know about botuque direct to consumer products. I find Audiogon forum ok for this but I am a little wary who is actually saying what.
Rex
Click to expand...
And I am tired of Stereophile Recommended components, Editors Choice and the High End buyers guide from TAS. A total waste of pages IMO. MIght be a good thing for the advertisers and manufacturers, for us readers not so much..
 
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I think I can explain where the thinking splits into two camps here and perhaps why my opinion differs in some ways with David and Tim.

Where I believe Tim and David are correct is that the basics of analog playback are still intact. Yes, a focus on the recording chain, AAA mastering, and minimalist miking techniques create on average the very best way to capture a live event. I have recorded professionally over 200 classical, pop, and jazz events live to two track using ORTF and other minimalist techniques while in Atlanta recording the ASO or the Peachtree String Quartet and also my day spent with Chesky Records. There is no doubt in my mind that these techniques are valuable if you treasure the best possible sound.

But where I believe we possibly diverge is to not credit recent advances in playback technology which are numerous. We have better parts, such as high performing capacitors, and better amplification and speaker systems designed by ever better tools. In digital a good example may be where we realized that human ears with critical listening skills could hear to single digit picosecond timing differences. We have the Ring DAC and improved ladder technology for DACs. That has vastly improved linearity. And for analog, we have a whole set of composite material research which also has helped speaker playback in such things as the phenolic materials of Wilson Audio.

Maybe the common ground here is that while we respect the legacy of these wonderful analog techniques, we keep pushing to take things farther. We include better vibration handling on turntables, we make cartridges that more precisely get information out of the groove, and we create a movement among recording engineers to use minimalist miking and EQ In the studio.

But technology doesn’t stand still. We are the recipients of better sound because of these advancements.
 
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Kingrex said:
I thought the point of this thread was the relationship between print media/advertising and manufacturer.

Years ago there was a great thread on this topic on Audionirvana. It prompted me to write Robert Harley. He responded in the next print article calling me by my full name 3 times. The thread has been deleted. It was way to telling the relationship between print and reviewers.

Personally, i would be fine never seeing another Wilson review. I like many are tired of thr same 15 products in the Awards categories or buyers guides.

I wish print was actually a place to hear about the more esoteric items. I want to know about botuque direct to consumer products. I find Audiogon forum ok for this but I am a little wary who is actually saying what.
Rex
Click to expand...

I hear you and we do endeavor to feature more boutique products. However, these products are difficult to review because consumers can be burned without dealer support and we may fall victim to recommending products that fail in 1-3 years. It’s difficult to make recommendations until some base level of support for the consumer is proven.
 
jep123 said:
And I am tired of Stereophile Recommended components, Editors Choice and the High End buyers guide from TAS. A total waste of pages IMO. MIght be a good thing for the advertisers and manufacturers, for us readers not so much..
Click to expand...
What would be your recommendation for The Absolute Sound to do if we don’t offer awards for what we consider exceptional products?
 
Kingrex said:
I thought the point of this thread was the relationship between print media/advertising and manufacturer.

Years ago there was a great thread on this topic on Audionirvana. It prompted me to write Robert Harley. He responded in the next print article calling me by my full name 3 times. The thread has been deleted. It was way to telling the relationship between print and reviewers.

Personally, i would be fine never seeing another Wilson review. I like many are tired of thr same 15 products in the Awards categories or buyers guides.

I wish print was actually a place to hear about the more esoteric items. I want to know about botuque direct to consumer products. I find Audiogon forum ok for this but I am a little wary who is actually saying what.
Rex
Click to expand...

The other issue here is that there is no business model that could work without major advertisers. The print and digital magazines must have advertising to support a network of writers and increasingly expensive paper and ink.
 
Lee said:
What would be your recommendation for The Absolute Sound to do if we don’t offer awards for what we consider exceptional products?
Click to expand...
Hi. First of all, I have enjoyed TAS for many years and I am still a happy subscriber and I am looking forward to (mostly) every issue. Reg the awards: Isn`t it enough with a great review? Instead for xxxx pages of awards I would like to see more music reviews, equipment reviews, presentation of manufacturers (small and not so small "under the radar") etc. The High End Buyers Guide I do not read at all, goes directly to paper recycling. But that`s me and there might be a commercial reason for publishing these issues.

But as I said, I greatly enjoy the magazine after many years of subscribing. Thank you.

JP
Norway
 
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jep123 said:
Hi. First of all, I have enjoyed TAS for many years and I am still a happy subscriber and I am looking forward to (mostly) every issue. Reg the awards: Isn`t it enough with a great review? Instead for xxxx pages of awards I would like to see more music reviews, equipment reviews, presentation of manufacturers (small and not so small "under the radar") etc. The High End Buyers Guide I do not read at all, goes directly to paper recycling. But that`s me and there might be a commercial reason for publishing these issues.

But as I said, I greatly enjoy the magazine after many years of subscribing. Thank you.

JP
Norway
Click to expand...

Thank you JP for subscribing. We really appreciate that. We have some fun content coming so I hope we continue to earn your business.

We tend to get more advertising with awards issues, just like other magazines. Manufacturers like to tout their products being successful. We need those ad pages to pay for writers who do the reviews and the editors salaries.
 
Lee said:
The other issue here is that there is no business model that could work without major advertisers. The print and digital magazines must have advertising to support a network of writers and increasingly expensive paper and ink.
Click to expand...

Hello Lee,

I want to thank you for your candid and open participation here as we discuss the future of print versus digital, the challenges faced by originally print-only magazines, and how you see TAS evolving. Your executive position at TAS makes you the architect of this evolution at TAS, and I appreciate your insight and your thoughts on these topics.

Is there any answer or solution to the apparent conflict of interest highlighted by Roy arising from the traditional positive review leading to advertising business model?
 
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