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View Full Version : Please sir .... can I have some MORE?



Neil McCauley
08-08-2008, 09:00
A 2-part question if I may:

1. Which audio magazine (UK or otherwise) deserves to disappear currently and ..

2. What would they have to do, in your personal opinion, to turn it into a monthly ‘must have’ for you?

Please note – I'm not undertaking this on behalf of anyone in the industry. It’s just for my/our curiosity.

Meanwhile, as I type this I'm listening to: Part of the Adagio of Mozart’s String Quintet in G Minor – The Heutling String Quartet. Mozart String Quintets, Vol 1. Track LP Side 1 trk 3. HMV. Rec No HQS 1120.

And truly wonderful it is too. Not the system, the music!


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combwork
08-08-2008, 09:49
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That is so much what I'm trying to achieve; sometimes it seems to happen but most times it's the amp I'm hearing, or the speakers or source. I've just set up the Accutrac +6 deck that I've had stored away for a while and frankly, it sounds rough. Most records sound thin and without real depth but whether this is the cartridge or general condition of my record collection (which I have to admit isn't great) I just don't know. The odd thing is that on a few records, most noticeably those by Dire Straights the sound is very revealing; good to listen to. Not warm; I'm beginning to realise that ESL 57's don't do 'warm', but still good to listen to.

The Accutrac+6 has a very strange remote volume adjustment. It involves a couple of LEDs and two light dependent resistors. I cannot remember whether the audio signal is interupted by this assembly or whether it's straight through, with a variable connection between signal and ground. It's a strange device; I'll post pictures over the weekend if I can.

Togil
08-08-2008, 11:03
The G-Minor is the most amazing piece of music where Mozart anticipates Schubert.
My favourite recording is the original Amadeus Quartet recording ( 1960s )

More on magazines later !

Togil
09-08-2008, 08:03
HiFi World can disappear,imo

If someone has £ 5,000 for a speaker they recommend obscure ( ? ) brands like Kudos and Mowgan.

HiFi Critic comes closest to what I'm looking for as it has interesing articles by Tony Faulkner and I still find MC's assessment of equipment very accurate if strangely biased towards one particular importer.

Prince of Darkness
09-08-2008, 10:52
HiFi World can disappear,imo



The only one worth reading in my view. Covers everything from budget to quite esoteric, major and obscure brands, new and second hand. They also cover DIY.:)

Mike
09-08-2008, 11:48
The only one worth reading in my view.

Agreed... News & Choice will be the first against the wall when I come to power! :lolsign:

I also read HiFi+, coz I like to dream from time to time.

Primalsea
09-08-2008, 13:41
For me Hifi World is one of the better ones and I used to subscribe to it. However I no longer do as I found that the reviews tended to be as if they were regurgitated from previous issues. Also it was a bit odd how each month there was at least 1 readers letter that begun along the lines of "May I congratulate you on a great magazine blah, blah, blah".

The Absolute Sound and Hifi News I find completely boring for some reason. Hifi+ is a very nice, well produced magazine but I find the writing to be very arrogant and not down to earth.

What would get me going would be a broad range of music reviews each month with sound snipets of each album available to listen to on the website. They only need to be about 1 minute and mp3 would be fine just so you can get an idea.

My knowledge of music is not big and I'm always looking for new stuff to listen too. It can be very difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Beechwoods
09-08-2008, 17:58
What would get me going would be a broad range of music reviews each month with sound snipets of each album available to listen to on the website. They only need to be about 1 minute and mp3 would be fine just so you can get an idea.My knowledge of music is not big and I'm always looking for new stuff to listen too. It can be very difficult to sort the wheat from the chaff.

For music reviews and features I'd recommend The Wire magazine. I was a subscriber for a number of years and only stopped because my budget for new music dropped to nearly nothing. The Wire dubs itself 'adventures in modern music' and covered modern, or experimental music from all genres, jazz, orchestral, electronic, acoustic, the lot. I picked up on a lot of stuff via them. Their website, plus Resonance FM (web radio station) introduced me to a whole load of interesting music. And WFMU-FM who also broadcast on the web.

http://www.thewire.co.uk/
http://www.resonancefm.com/
http://blog.wfmu.org/

gary
10-08-2008, 21:15
I Stopped reading Hifi mags years ago i'm afraid got fed up laughing at the so called best buys that sounded dreadfull

MartinT
10-08-2008, 23:10
What Hi-Fi has always been a joke - a kind of Which? magazine for poor saps who think that selecting their best buys will construct a good system.

My preferred reading is The Absolute Sound, Stereophile and Hi-Fi News.

AlanB
22-08-2008, 16:15
Agreed What Hi Fi is absulute rubbish. They have never heard of any American stuff!!??
I enjoy Sterophile even if most of it is mostly dreamworld. Nice to read how the other half live.

nat8808
22-08-2008, 20:35
For music reviews and features I'd recommend The Wire magazine. I was a subscriber for a number of years and only stopped because my budget for new music dropped to nearly nothing. The Wire dubs itself 'adventures in modern music' and covered modern, or experimental music from all genres, jazz, orchestral, electronic, acoustic, the lot. I picked up on a lot of stuff via them. Their website, plus Resonance FM (web radio station) introduced me to a whole load of interesting music. And WFMU-FM who also broadcast on the web.

http://www.thewire.co.uk/
http://www.resonancefm.com/
http://blog.wfmu.org/


Resonance FM 104.4 the radio station too! 104.4FM if you are in London, and use your best tuner. All the music programs on there I like, even the avant-garde stuff.

'Where's the Skill In That?' is a great show and is actually Radio 3's 'Mixing It' team on a different station doing it for free! Wed nights 21:00.

This week sounds good to me (plus the normal shows):

"From Monday the 25th to Friday the 29th of August, Resonance FM traverses the globe in pursuit of digestible sound. Edible Landscapes is a series of recordings of diverse environments and the life that exists within them.

Gloucester cathedral, Elephant & Castle, Romanian sheep and sheperds. The horns of Napoli, vile weather in north London, lightning storms in southern Italy, fireworks in Lewes, carnivals in Mexico. Food being prepared and food being eaten. The sounds of a crop circle being constructed, rural rambles and urban yomping; domestic nothingness and somethingness. The truth about super markets, meat markets, cattle markets, and fruit markets and plenty of action and inaction on buses, trains, planes and tubes and many places inbetween. "

Once you get into Resonance FM, remember to donate every now and again to keep it going.

Forgive the interlude - back to the thread..

jandl100
23-08-2008, 08:44
In the past I've subscribed to HiFi World and HiFi News, but I let them lapse. Same reviews over and over again, and fairly boring, respectively.

I now only subscribe to HiFi+ (and I'll let that lapse next time renewal comes around) and Stereophile. I've subbed with Stereophile (dead cheap if you deal direct with the mag in the States) for over 10 years ... still the best for me, even if they do increasingly focus on US kit and their classical music reviews are now minimal.

MartinT
23-08-2008, 10:59
I like the fact that Stereophile have minimised their involvement in home theater (sic) and surround sound. Hi-Fi News - otherwise a good mag - have somewhat sold out to HT to the detriment of the rest of the content.

It'll be a cold day in hell before I defile my lovely system with Dolby decoders and surround sound.

tfarney
23-08-2008, 16:51
I like the fact that Stereophile have minimised their involvement in home theater (sic) and surround sound. Hi-Fi News - otherwise a good mag - have somewhat sold out to HT to the detriment of the rest of the content.

It'll be a cold day in hell before I defile my lovely system with Dolby decoders and surround sound.

Good man. Two channels are enough, thankyouverymuch.

Tim

Togil
24-08-2008, 00:38
It'll be a cold day in hell before I defile my lovely system with Dolby decoders and surround sound.

This is, of course, only because of the available standard and lack of decent recordings. Custom 4-channel recordings on a properly set up system are stunning in their realism.

MartinT
24-08-2008, 09:40
This is, of course, only because of the available standard and lack of decent recordings

No, it's because 1) for any given amount of money to spend, I would have to divide it up between two amplifiers, four speakers and a load of processing. Therefore I could not experience the fabulous quality I have now if I went the surround sound route; and 2) because I've never yet heard a surround demo which has convinced me that it's necessary and I've heard some £100k setups doing it.

Neil McCauley
26-08-2008, 19:39
Two aspects of magazines that the ‘civilians’ among you might not be aware of.

First, the reviews in Stereophile are not restricted in length by Editor Atkinson in order to accommodate the demands of the ‘suits’ who have their eye always on the moneeeeeeey – money that comes from advertising. By this I mean that a lengthy (alright, perhaps a tad excessive) review is not emasculated in order that it can sit prettily within a series of pages of advertising. Believe me please when I tell you that as a freelance writer for some UK mags a while back, this is certainly not the case! All the better (than me) and more prestigious writers face the same, more or less.

I should point out that Paul Messenger, when recently inviting me to write a piece for HiFi Critic, he left it to me to write 700 or 1400 words; my choice. Mine was a fairly hard-hitting piece about some importers looking at their buying public as ‘walking wallets’ when out-of-warranty servicing becomes an issue. Not sure it will be published, but I appreciated the flexibility.

Secondly, as far as I know, Stereophile does not edit the subjective evaluation in order for it to fit the measurement findings (or is it prejudices I wonder? Oh surely not you gasp) of editors as happens in some UK publications. Sadly, in the UK in some instances, the guy with the biggest pile of measuring kit, the biggest need to justify their existence, the largest personal insecurity and the sign-off against a writer’s invoice wins – always!

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doodoos
28-08-2008, 05:47
Two aspects of magazines that the ‘civilians’ among you might not be aware of.

I should point out that Paul Messenger, when recently inviting me to write a piece for HiFi Critic, he left it to me to write 700 or 1400 words; my choice. Mine was a fairly hard-hitting piece about some importers looking at their buying public as ‘walking wallets’ when out-of-warranty servicing becomes an issue. Not sure it will be published, but I appreciated the flexibility.

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With respect to 'out of warranty' issues and 'walking wallets' I would consider that if my (not inexpensive) after warranty equipment were to fail, I would cite the sale of goods act. Guarantees, however long or the 1 year minimum, are in addition to your consumer rights that state a product should last for a reasonable length of time. If I pay plenty for a product, I would be more than willing to go to court and argue that 5 years would be a reasonable period to guarantee a piece of hardware, or longer, dependent on the initial cost.

Togil
29-08-2008, 18:40
Isn't the extension beyond one year only for faults which must have existed at the time of manufacture but only revealed later ( famous case : Land Rover engine )