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Horror Stories

Posted by jdarby (R) on February 19, 2007 at 15:23:23

In Reply to: I keep saying the same thing over and over again, but nobody seems to care. posted by Charles Hansen on February 18, 2007 at 11:50:47:

I don't know. I have not been in this biz very long, but I have already heard literally hundreds of horror stories from just about every manufacturer and distriubtor to whom I've had the priveledge of conversing. And it's not ancient history; it seems to be endemic and ongoing.

From CES 2007: A publisher brings a reference quality table he'd had for over 6 months with no review back to the distributor, with heavy platter, arm and cartridge in place and sits it down in front of the distributor - AT CES. No boxes, no manuals, no nothing. "Here's your turntable back", he says.

Another distributor sweats because the expensive, custom monoblocs had been with a reviewer for over 6 months with no review in sight. The distributor needs them for display at CES. He gets them back at the last minute, one of them malfunctioning. He can't play them in the room he'd spent thousands on.

Other stories include the "big name" reviewer who sent back a $20k+ table in one box that had originally been packed in thee. The table was utterly destroyed..

A speaker designer tells me his$20k+ speakers got a good review, but when he asked about getting the speakes back, he was put off by excuse after excuse for many onhts more until he gave up, AFRAID he was going "piss off" the reviewer - his words. So he never got them back and the speakers have never again been mentioned in subsequent reviews. What do you think happened to them?

Another very high end amp maker told me he has had 5 pairs of his monoblocks out for over a year - after the reviews were published. He's never gotten them back and is sure they are being used in "someone's" surround system. We are talking 6 figures here.

I have heard similar stories from several others. One designer went so far as to tell me he thought it was an "unwritten rule" that if you got a rave review, you can "say goodbye" to the product.

Hi-end cable manufacturers have had to go to serial numbers because so many of their "loaners" were ending up on Ebay. There is also some counterfeiting going on, too, and that's an additional factor, though counterfeiters can print bogus serials.

There are industry persons who refuse to submit anything for review because of bad experiences they've had with reviewers who wrote reviews based on their own arbitrary expectations rather than a review based on the designer's actual design goals. Designers resent that they are never asked what their design goal is. That is the first question I now ask, based entirely what I have been told. Sure, I have to sometimes dig a little deeper when I get an oblique reply like "To make the best sound for the least money". But the amazing thing I've found is, if I just ask a couple of questions that suggest I am truly interested in what they have to say, audio people will enthusiastically talk your ears off like they are talking about their children.

Now, all these anecdotes are not about TAS, though I have heard plenty of those. I might interject here, that to this day I have still not heard anyone in the industry say anything personally negative about JA. His mag, yeah, but JA, no. In fact, I have heard a lot of very complimentary things about him. My limited interaction with him would lead me to believe it is a well earned reputation. It grieves me to see all the unwarranted slag he endures here, but that's just me. I admire him for how he handles it - much better than I ever could. I have learned a lot from him just reading his posts. JM, too. Two of my audio journalism "heroes".

I said some negative things. I added some positive things for balance. There are many, many GREAT things about and great people in the audio press. They are not all scoudrels.

And...it's not as easy as it looks.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:

Kimber Kable

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