Audio Equipment Reviewing.

Audio equipment 'reviewing'

Please indulge me for a while on this, one of my pet hates, that of audio equipment reviewing. I have some rather strong views on this subject and indeed having done a few reviews myself, I think I know what needs to be the components of a good and accurate review. Firstly, it is a fact that we are all different and our perceptions will vary as a direct consequence, but having said that based on what I have seen, heard and read at the very least some good knowledge of the subject and related aspects in technical respects is highly desirable. Over the years I've been quite saddened by the number of occasions where purely 'subjective' observations have held priority over technical accuracy and factual tuth. I have been utterly dismayed on occasions when reading reviews, the number of times that obvious technical faults and circuit limitations have been somehow 'perceived and praised' as musical and sonic virtues! Valve power amplifiers utilising a particular circuit approach are an excellent example of what I mean. How a distortion level of 30% can be perceived as a good thing is utterly beyond me, even if it is supposedly 'nice sounding' second harmonic distortion!

Some audio reviewers tend to be good at using flowery, attractive sounding english using all kinds of terminology to entice the prospective purchaser. I'm not saying that all reviews of this type are rubbish, but I'll say it again,....beware of reviews that rely on heaps of 'subjectivity'. Human psycholgy can be a big part of the 'subjective' way of things. Ever notice how high end audio gear is often also visually splendid to look at? Years ago, I recall that I think it was in the USA that reviews of TV sets imported from overseas reviewed for general image quality had only the cathode ray tube screen visible so as to avoid potential 'bias' arising from knowing the brand or whatever else that might 'influence'!

Does anyone remember speaker design of the 1970's where there was a perception that the more speaker drivers a loudspeaker had the more 'high fidelity' it was? I do! In my personal observation speaker 'design' continues to be an area of great 'concern' to me. Like the number of drivers mentioned a moment ago, I am somewhat bemused by 'breakthroughs' in aspects of loudspeaker/ crossover design. There have indeed been some major real breakthroughs, however more often than not they are just gimmicks that don't work and can even degrade performance. I can recall one notable example! I recall reading a very honest and technically accurate review of a handsome looking three way loudspeaker, pupporting to use a revolutionary new form of internal 'damping', doing away with conventional and proven methods of 'damping' (wool type material etc). Of course, there was technical 'proof' supporting this new approach to internal damping. Well, the review showed otherwise! It was a terrible loudspeaker with bad 'ringing' and related issues apparently due to the new 'damping' approach used. This was proved by the review team when conventional damping material was placed in the loudspeakers under review which apparently turned them into top notch loudspeakers! Mmmmmmmmm.

Interestingly enough, a short time later whilst at work I visited a customer who had just acquired a new Hi Fi system that these very same loudspeaker models were a part of. The customer played some music for me whilst I was working. He thought they sounded great, but I thought they sounded like &*%#. Of course in the interests of good customer relations, I agreed with the customer! This is not the first time that I've seen that sort of 'quality' passed off as 'high quality'! Years ago, in a fit of monumental stupidity I purchased a 'turntable' that had good reviews. It was utter rubbish, typical of the modern breed that look good but are not even worthy of being called a toy! The really sad thing was that it could have easily been much better at little additional cost. It had a noticeable 'hum' during playback that gave it a curious 'warmth'. That was caused by insufficient power supply 'filtering' A larger filter capacitor completely removed the hum and 'warmth'! I gave that 'turntable' away to a friend whom I presume is still using it happily! That sort of bad design is....well I'm just totally lost for words! However the brand involved was/is quite well regarded in the Hi Fi world too!

I could go on but in the end 'caveat emptor' applies as in all aspects of business! I guess what I'm calling for is a little accuracy and truth in reviews. When one is conversant with the technical realities it is easy to spot errors, however those who aren't are easily........well, as an old friend of mine would say, 'Fools and their money are easily parted'. I'm afraid he is right. More to come! Felix.