In last month’s Roger’s Corner, we experienced a piece of audio history with Roger debating David Manley on the topic of vacuum tubes. Roger certainly was not afraid to mix it up with anyone when it came to all topics audio, be it industry giants like Manley and Nelson Pass, who Roger politely debated at a Burning Amp event in my presence, or inept audio engineers. No one was off limits. So, when it came to audio publications and their reviewers Roger found himself a new breed of huckleberries to punch in the nose, and he did so on many occasions.
The audio publications certainly play an interesting role in the world of audio. Unfortunately, it has also become too powerful of one. Audiophiles are limited when it comes to accessing a wide range of components. Local dealers and audio shows provide window shopping opportunities in mostly less than ideal environments. While home demos and trial periods are becoming more popular, not all dealers and manufacturers are on board with the concept.
Enter the audio publication and their staff of reviewers, another resource with access to all types of audio equipment. Roger’s personal experience with most audio publications and specifically Harry Pearson was not very positive. I am being kind here when I say Roger was frugal, if only the audio publications knew just how fugal they probably would not have wasted their time trying to extract money from him. Fortunately, Roger’s products received their fair share of reviews in audio publications, most notably Stereophile. He was also proud of the fact that not once did he ever buy a piece of ad space in an audio publication to secure a review.
Leaning on audio reviewers’ ears to determine whether you should buy a certain component is quite a risky adventure. The audio reviewer and/or their publisher has an agenda and not necessarily an ethical one. I will even go a step further and state that some audio reviewers tend to abuse their power, and as you will learn from this month’s article it started long ago, and Roger was a direct witness to it. I realize that many audiophiles find it hard to trust their own ears or know what type of questions to ask or how to read between the lines of a written review. However, relying on the ears and opinions of audio reviewers is a far worse option.
One thing that Roger felt really allowed audio reviewers to suck in their audience was the “new world audio language” they created. Roger used to get a chuckle out of some of these terms and would often challenge a reviewer to give him a “Webster” style definition. He would then ask them to define more technical terms and interview them to assess their knowledge of the technical aspects of audio component design. Sadly, many of them were highly embarrassed. I guess there is room for only so many John Atkinson’s in the audio review world. Roger respected John Atkinson and Stereophile in general. He read the publication until his health would no longer allow him to do so.
I do not subscribe to audio publications or read component reviews. Obviously, that limits my range of research on audio components, but that is not a concern. After all, I have enough technical knowledge that allows me to learn about a component and how it will sound based on its circuit design and specifications. I realize many audiophiles do not have this knowledge and do not even want it, so they are more than happy to rely on someone else to do their homework, biased as they may or may not be. Now in my golden years my ears may not be as golden as they once were, but I will still trust them over anyone else’s. It might be a good practice for Audiophiles to trust their ears more too. So, for this month’s Roger’s Corner Roger offers an opinion on the topic and if anything, Roger could always be counted on for an opinion.
A Conversation with Roger
By Roger Modjeski
A very intelligent man who happens to be my distributor in Northern Europe called today because he wanted to "talk to someone with some sense.” After thanking him for the compliment we discussed his impressions of a listening session he had with the Beveridge ESL speakers. We both agreed that they were way ahead of their time being available as early as 1975, a time where high-end audio speaker companies like Wilson, Infinity, Avalon etc. did not yet exist. I am happy to say that I was there when high-end audio was born.
At the 1975 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Chicago, Jim Bongiorno was dressed in yellow head to foot playing 45 RPM M&K jazz records in a system with his Ampzilla and Magnepan speakers. Here I saw many competent companies that never got to see the light of day due to no reviews or being unfairly panned by review magazines. This was also the year we opened Audio Art in Richmond, VA representing Beveridge, Acoustat, KLH, Polk, SAE, Magnepan, and simple turntable set ups that could be had for less than $500. Digital audio was a long way off and Nakamichi was king of the cassette. We did not carry the "component of the month", and we sold Audio Magazine because it was about the last bastion of truth. On the other hand, we were amused by The Absolute Sound (TAS), The Audio Critic, and several other publications.
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