Do magazines have too much influence?

[professorhat]

[quote user="The specialist"]I'd be more inclined to trust said review, and more likely to read it in the first place[/quote]

Fair enough. I find it a little bizarre I have to say, what kind of magazines do you read when you need a new car?! I tend to go with the ones reviewed by people who know cars intimately, have driven a vast range and, most importantly, have the same passion for cars as I have (hmm, I think there's a point in there...

My point - if the pages of WHF started filling up with a load of technical waffle that really didn't interest me, I'd start buying another mag. Far better in my opinion to keep the crucial points in there, such as what it sounded and looked like. As I've said before though, other magazines cater to the level of technical knowledge you want so clearly these are the ones you should be looking at.

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="The specialist"]Why don't you use your experts knowledge in your reviews. [/quote]

I would imagine because the type of people who are looking for maybe their first system won't understand the measurements, how to measure and what the results are telling them, if it was so easy then many more people would be designing and making high quality hifi. They (WHF) need to cater for their customers which are more than likely first time buyers and they just want a general idea, I don't know anyone or very few who asks for measurements unless the want to go DIY.

 

[John Duncan]

[quote user="Andrew Everard"]
ÿThe ability to write, and thus explain to readers the differences between products, helps too IME.[/quote]

Like journalists, you mean?

 

[gpi]

Now that, Silly, is a good point. WHFSAV have to cater for their readership, which is mainly hi-fi newbies.

 

[plastic penguin]

What hi-fi are here for one reason: to test and review hi-fi/av/mp3/ipods so on and so forth. This enables people like myself to see what's in the market place. Beyond that, it's down to you, the individual, to either take the mags advice on a certain product (s) or to find a viable alternative. They should not be censured for providing a service. We all have a CHOICE!!!

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="darrenwm1"]There are countless threads on here asking if one should purchase products x, y, and z.

The same products seem to be mentioned frequently, so I suspected they have recently received some praise by a magazine.

It seems that people compile their systems from the backpages of what HiFi and seek reassurance from the forum if they've listened to something that they really like the sound of, BUT it isn't an award winner, or heaven forbid, has received a dreaded four star review.

What are people's views on this?

Darren

[/quote]

The problem is the sheer impossibility of auditioning everything on the market. Finding a consensus of opinions is much easier than attempting such a feat.

.

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="JohnDuncan"]Like journalists, you mean?[/quote]

That'll be the one...

 

[John Duncan]

Of course, meerkats are really cool. Maybe it was a compliment?

 

[Anonymous]

magazines are only good as a guide, just like most newspapers ,you dont have to believe everything they say,,but without them how would we know what is on the market ,as all of the gear currently on development or production cannot be seen at even 10 good dealers..so use your mag to whittle down your choices which usually comes down to price anyway...
ive been into hifi for the best part of 40 yrs .inheriting my first system from my late uncle..i have been to numerous shows over the years mainly to see how the technology has moved on from year to year ,but apart from buying a brand new rotel RCD965 discrete when it first appeared in a magazine i have not purchased anything new off the shelf..like all items we buy nowadays they lose approx 25% of their value in the first year..and upto 80% within 5 yrs ..
there are no big jumps now in sound quality from year to year,,that all happened between the 60s and 80s..so you can buy an awsome kit for 5 grand recommended by a reviewer in a magazine 5yrs ago costing 30 grand ...or spend 30 grand for some brand new kit now. which would not sound that much better ..there will always be people who must have the new toy on the block at whatever price .to prove my point. a little story in question is a mate of mine..goes and buys a brand new porche carrera with aero body kit for 70,000. 18months ago..hes actually done about 3000 miles.. i worked out that with depreciation on the value of the car each mile he has driven it has cost him £7..
thats the equivalent of paying £136 for a gallon of petrol to run it...and we think £6 gallon is dear
kindest regards

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="JohnDuncan"]Of course, meerkats are really cool. Maybe it was a compliment?

[/quote]

So we're meerkats now as well as meerjournalists?

 

[John Duncan]

Does one of you have to keep lookout at all times?

 

[Andrew Everard]

[quote user="JohnDuncan"]Does one of you have to keep lookout at all times?[/quote]

Two usually, Q.E.D. this evening...

 

[Anonymous]

[quote user="Andrew Everard"]
[quote user="JohnDuncan"]Of course, meerkats are really cool. Maybe it was a compliment?

[/quote]

So we're meerkats now as well as meerjournalists?

[/quote]

and one day if you work really long and hard at it you might just become a koolkat

 

[Anonymous]

I have bought a number of products after first reading about them in WHF, but did check them out first...Exept one, my most expensive product, my Panny Projector..I must say that I bought this soley on the review from WHF, although I I knew how good the PT-AE3000 was. Once the 2000 got a great review from WHF that was good enough for me. And it's as good as they said. Reading the review from HCC was also very good but the technical data although interesting made it too black and white for me personally and in my opinion lacked passion..

 

[Anonymous]

I find WHF to be much more 'trustworthy' when it comes to reviewing, mainly because they take the point of view of your average listener, not your average hi-fi enthusiast. I get the impression other magazines (HiFi Choice, HiFi News) test the equipment with mainly well-recorded classical, jazz etc. and concentrate more of hi-fi specifics than the overall attributes that make the music involving. That and they aren't very comprehensive in the number of products they review, particularly in the mid-price to budget area. It also really annoys me when they refer to albums as 'discs', or 'recordings' - which is of course what they are - but you get an idea of where they're coming from, and it's not what I'm into...

 

[Anonymous]

"good" is a very subjective word. good to WHF doesnt mean good to others. WHF never force anyone to 100% believe them. WHF is our guide (just like the oracle in the matrix)

for me, magazine helps manufacturer/hifi shop more than consumer.

i prefer the majority consumer review, considering magazines are one of the consumer.

 

[Clare Newsome]

You'll be delighted to hear, then, that users will be able to add their own comments and reviews at the end of our own reviews when they appear online.

 

[John Duncan]

[quote user="Clare Newsome"]
You'll be delighted to hear, then, that users will be able to add their own comments and reviews at the end of our own reviews when they appear online.

[/quote]

But we are meerusers, what do we know?

 

[Thaiman]

[quote user="paktongko"]"good" is a very subjective word. good to WHF doesnt mean good to others. WHF never force anyone to 100% believe them. WHF is our guide (just like the oracle in the matrix) for me, magazine helps manufacturer/hifi shop more than consumer. i prefer the majority consumer review, considering magazines are one of the consumer.[/quote]

I try hard not to post on this subject as I do post on this forum a lot so I don't want any hard feeling. WHF&V magazine's reviews can single handedly determind What is the shape of HiFi industy.
Some of HiFi shops don't even stock varity of eqipments any more, all they do is pushing magazine's 5 stars reviews products regardless of synergy matching!
The MAG has a massive responsibility as in "How people gonna spend their hard earn cash on the costly hobby", if the MAG get it wrong!!!!
I am not just talking about WHF&V here so for example, one of Densen CD player get a bad ink from HiFi choice, this cd player has been selling more slowly than expected (the cd410's replacement was B400 +which was a fine machine and highly sort after) the same go to WHF&V reviews of saxon Cd player! I still hasn't come across anybody that own them yet! I would be intereting to see how many HiFi dealers in UK that stock the model.
I am not saying every reviews should be a 5 stars but I just answer the original question....Do magazines have too much influence?
YES!

 

[Clare Newsome]

[quote user="Thaiman"]

Some of HiFi shops don't even stock varity of eqipments any more, all they do is pushing magazine's 5 stars reviews products regardless of synergy matching!

[/quote]

That's more to do with a retailer's strategy than it is with us, I'd argue.

[quote user="Thaiman"]

The MAG has a massive responsibility as in "How people gonna spend their hard earn cash on the costly hobby", if the MAG get it wrong!!!!

[/quote]

We're well aware of our responsibilties - it's instilled into each and every reviewer. And just in case for any reason that one particular tester is having an 'off' day, there's the rest of the team there to take over - that's the benefit of our team-testing, which you simply don't get with reviews conducted in isolation.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

[quote user="Thaiman"][quote user="paktongko"]"good" is a very subjective word. good to WHF doesnt mean good to others. WHF never force anyone to 100% believe them. WHF is our guide (just like the oracle in the matrix) for me, magazine helps manufacturer/hifi shop more than consumer. i prefer the majority consumer review, considering magazines are one of the consumer.[/quote]

I try hard not to post on this subject as I do post on this forum a lot so I don't want any hard feeling. WHF&V magazine's reviews can single handedly determind What is the shape of HiFi industy.
Some of HiFi shops don't even stock varity of eqipments any more, all they do is pushing magazine's 5 stars reviews products regardless of synergy matching!
The MAG has a massive responsibility as in "How people gonna spend their hard earn cash on the costly hobby", if the MAG get it wrong!!!!
I am not just talking about WHF&V here so for example, one of Densen CD player get a bad ink from HiFi choice, this cd player has been selling more slowly than expected (the cd410's replacement was B400 +which was a fine machine and highly sort after) the same go to WHF&V reviews of saxon Cd player! I still hasn't come across anybody that own them yet! I would be intereting to see how many HiFi dealers in UK that stock the model.
I am not saying every reviews should be a 5 stars but I just answer the original question....Do magazines have too much influence?
YES![/quote] It's the old addage; "do not believe everything you read". You won't go far wrong if you do just that. Newspapers, magazines, generally all media, will at some point, influence the general public. We can all be "Sheep" from time to time (no picture please John!). I take Thaiman's point about the Saxon player. Was it that bad? Who knows, we will probably never now listen to it. £600 in my book is a decent amount for a disc spinner. I really don't see a reason other than it was worth no where near that amout of money, for WHF to slaughter it in that way. If that's the case, maybe it's a good thing that no one has been duped into buying it. If there was a particularly bad mortgage product that was on the market, no one would mind a journalist telling those interested to steer well clear - I suppose they are all bad at the moment but I'm sure you get my gist. In conclusion; the mag and the guys and gal on this forum, always stress to listen and demo products first and that the star rating is awarded down to value as well as ability. That's as good a waiver as you are going to get.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Thaiman,

So it sounds like you're saying not that hi-fi magazines have too much influence, but that one does, and that this is to a great part due to retailers slavishly following WHFSV test results and not standing by products and manufacturers in which they believe, and promoting those products to potential customers.

Strangely enough, such influence doesn't seem to affect Bang & Olufsen shops, or Bose stores, too much - they seem to be doing pretty well in actually selling to customers the benefits they see in the products they stock, rather than relying on the reviews to do their job for them.

What can we conclude from that...?

 

[John Duncan]

[quote user="Gerrardasnails"]We can all be "Sheep" from time to time (no picture please John!)[/quote]

Sorry, what?

 

[Anonymous]

I am stunned by some of the arguments advanced on this thread. I find the Specialist to be incredibly stupid. Is that an unpopular thing to say? Does adding IMO make any difference? I'm surprised that everyone is defending WHF - from who? Who is this so called Specialist? I can justify why I think he's on the dumb side.

The Specialist seems to be claiming to have a greater understanding on Hi-Fi than professional critics, yet he's not a trader. What does he do? What are his academic credentials? It's very easy to take pot shots from behind a picture of a pair of loudspeakers and an ostentatious nom de plume. The respected reviewers on this site and of this magazine use their own names and reputations and stand by them.

The Specialist offers insults to the providers of this forum ("mere journalist" is a term ignorant to the point of being obtuse and in no way a simple view point). Without the consent of WHF the advice he is so keen on giving would most unfortunately have to be given elsewhere. The insults he offers I feel extend to me. I have joined this site following my respect for the magazine and hence it's writers.

The Specialist's apparent altruistic motives perhaps deserves some examination. Of course, he doesn't regard the views of others using this forum, oh no! He doesn't even take accoutn of the views of the editor of this magazine! He here to help us poor peons! What a swell guy! However, I find his aggressive commentary and abusive tone to at odds with apparently doing this all for our own benefit!

Added to the above the Specialist contradicts himself from one post to the next! (I won't quote, you can read this thread for evidence). Self contradictory, insulting to his readers, writing anonymously . . . . my my my it seems to me this 'Specialist' could learn a lot from journalists.

 

[plastic penguin]

[quote user="Thaiman"][quote user="paktongko"]"good" is a very subjective word. good to WHF doesnt mean good to others. WHF never force anyone to 100% believe them. WHF is our guide (just like the oracle in the matrix) for me, magazine helps manufacturer/hifi shop more than consumer. i prefer the majority consumer review, considering magazines are one of the consumer.[/quote]

I try hard not to post on this subject as I do post on this forum a lot so I don't want any hard feeling. WHF&V magazine's reviews can single handedly determind What is the shape of HiFi industy.
Some of HiFi shops don't even stock varity of eqipments any more, all they do is pushing magazine's 5 stars reviews products regardless of synergy matching!
The MAG has a massive responsibility as in "How people gonna spend their hard earn cash on the costly hobby", if the MAG get it wrong!!!!
I am not just talking about WHF&V here so for example, one of Densen CD player get a bad ink from HiFi choice, this cd player has been selling more slowly than expected (the cd410's replacement was B400 +which was a fine machine and highly sort after) the same go to WHF&V reviews of saxon Cd player! I still hasn't come across anybody that own them yet! I would be intereting to see how many HiFi dealers in UK that stock the model.
I am not saying every reviews should be a 5 stars but I just answer the original question....Do magazines have too much influence?
YES![/quote]

There are a couple of issues here. Yes, all mags have an influence, but that can be a positive step. My only real issue with WHFS&V is they claim to give impartial advice. Which is true, but in doing so, with 5 stars and annual awards is they also endorse that product.

Can I reiterate by saying that its down to the indivdual to decide what product to spend their money on.