recommended systems - speaker chg remarks

[kleinwl]

Recommended What to buy.

I understand when the tv or other electronic equipment changes *newer=better* but I don't understand how or why the speakers change... It would be helpful to mention why you are no longer recommending the old speakers and now recommend this other one. Especially when you don't have a review

 

[gene]

We update the recommended systems every several months to make sure the latest products are in there. The latest update occurred this week. We still have many of the older systems as alternatives and of course we still recommend those systems provided that they can still be bought online or at local retailers.

 

[kleinwl]

Thank you for the response Gene. I'm just a little confused when you do replace something like speaker (that don't really get "replaced" by new tech). It would be helpful for me to know why the last year's speakers got replaced with this year's speakers. It was just unexpected to me that, for example, last years $1000 recommendation was AV123 x-series, and this year the $1000 recommendation is the EMP ECA-4 with the Yamaha YST-FSW100.

I admit, the fact that the x-series price increased to $1K for the X-ls/x-cs & x-sub didn't leave a budget for the receiver/ect... so that wasn't a good option.

But, the same thing happened with the $3500 balanced system recommendation (I just don't remember what the old recommendation was).

I'm not critizing your recommendations... I know that it's your best judgment and that's fine. It just would be nice to know why it changed year to year. (the electronic changes are obvious... HDMI switching at lower price points/more tv less change/etc./etc.).

 

[Fancypants]

I too am not criticizing the changes, as my knowledge on the subject of home theater and associated hardware is limited to a casual enthusiasts level, however, upon the release of the Audioholics store, I had a concern, and I am afraid that it may be coming true to a certain extent.

While I trust that you would put nothing but quality equipment in the Audioholics store, I have a general concern that I believe others may have as well, and that is that Audioholics may start to favor products in their own store. I am not trying to say that the products in the store are not quality, as I had not previously considered the Yamaha NS series, and now they are high on my list, for example, I also really like the EMP EF30T (just not in black). However, I fear that the Audioholics review section may become more of a catalog or commercial for the store.

Please shed some light on this concern of mine, as I hold the reviews and opinions expressed on this site in high regard. My main curiosity, is if there is any official/unofficial policy amongst the Audioholics staff regarding the subject of favorability toward products that the Audioholics store sells vs. other manufacturers that may not be in the store.

 

[Fancypants]

Bump Bump Bump

 

[Sheep]

Was there really a point to your post? It was just thinking/speculating aloud.

Question is, what does it matter what AH puts in it's recommended system guide? Don't like the choices? Don't buy them. Don't like what they're recommending? Do you're own research and draw your own conclusion. I doubt you will sway how they operate their site.

SheepStar

 

[gene]

Read:
http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/audioholics-storefront-2013-breaking-the-rules

We try to pick quality products in our e-store that we think our readers are interested in and incidentally test well in our labs. Sometimes we have some dudes but regardless they will be reviewed under the same scrutiny as any other products. The store is a bonus to the site and in many ways should be viewed as another online vendor like an Emotiva or Axiom.

 

[rmk]

Read:
http://www.audioholics.com/news/editorials/audioholics-storefront-2013-breaking-the-rules

We try to pick quality products in our e-store that we think our readers are interested in and incidentally test well in our labs. Sometimes we have some dudes but regardless they will be reviewed under the same scrutiny as any other products. The store is a bonus to the site and in many ways should be viewed as another online vendor like an Emotiva or Axiom.

What exactly do you do to those dudes in your labs ? Bring in the Gimp?