I hear you on AudioXpress. I have every Speaker Builder ever printed and continued with aX after the demise of SB. After a couple of years of limited and very poor speaker coverage in the new magazine, I did not renew. The internet is so superior to the speaker coverage in aX. Also I'm not interested in glass audio (about one third of the current coverage) so aX has lost me as a customer. I doubt that aX will live much longer in its current format.

Jim

aX was going to republish (or maybe they have) a series
of craft magazines on audio from the 70's.

When we look at the hobbyist activity world wide with
Klang and Ton and other mags internationally, there should
be some way to maintain print publications which I still hold
in tremendous value.

I believe that aX was/is digitizing their whole archive. Still
articles on disk are not the same as a printed monthly mag.

Thanks for answering Dr. Griffin.

My experience parallels yours, I also have every issue of speaker builder and each year I debate continuing my aX subscription. I keep renewing and I am not sure why, it only takes me a few minutes to "read" the latest aX when it arrives and not much interesting stuff is found inside. There have only been one or two speaker articles in AX the past couple of years that I thought were of much interest. I am not interested in any more small two way projects or kits. I was hoping that aX would present more aggressive or unique designs, something that made me think or introduced a new enclosure geometry or exotic driver. The tube audio stuff is of no interest to me.

The Internet is a much better source of info. I think one of the problems with aX is the long wait for an article to appear in print, on the Internet it can be instantaneous and feedback follws almost immediately. While you need to be careful of what you find on the Internet and think a little about the information presented, I don't think that aX is necessarily much better. The technical review of articles submitted must be fairly shallow and they do not seem to know what is old news on the Internet.

I guess the only positive thing to come to me from aX occured after I filled out an on line survey telling them how unhappy I was with the speaker related content. It was not a positive survey response by a long shot. Low and behold I won that months drawing and received a free book from their on line store.

I think aX's days are numbered and it will be intereting see how much longer they can continue.

Martin

Many of the AX articles I see are written by the same handfull of guys looking to show different ways they have constructed audio gear or recycling old ideas under new construction techniques.

What I would like to see is; the examination of new parts and techniques for building things. Ie; taking parts out of all of the catalogues that we usually don't see and showing how they can be used in construction; tolerances; methods of mounting; universal applications of common pieces.

Really at the end of the day has there been a serious improvement in the home constructors ability to design and build his own stuff that will compete with whats out there. Other than individuals like yourself who have experimented deeply into one aspect of sound reproduction and acquired reams of usable data that can be applied to designs similar to what you study and thereby creating the potential for better sound in that venue; has there been a general quantifiable improvement in sound reproduction in the last ten years?

My point is what would a magazine offer? Reffering back to your point that they are pretty pedestrian and rehashed articles; of which I agree BTW. I ask you as a result of your comparison to the internet and the fact that you have thought about this and your experience in DIY experimentation. I would be interested to know what types of articles of interest you would seek to read.
Thanks Much.

"Aside from the IP issues involved what would be the incentive for someone to offer an expensive or unique driver in an innovative cabinet geometry to the general public. I mean if the enclosure was a novel design and the driver was perfectly suited to that situation; they would probably be marketting it for profit."

I am not sure that is the case with everybody. Not everybody wants to run a business. There are a lot of people who do it just for enjoyment and are looking for an outlet, some feedback, and a discussion. They are happy making a few speakers for relatives and friends. The problem with aX (really any formal magazine) is it takes many months to get an article in print and then any letters discussing the article take another couple of months to get in the magazine. Not many people are willing to sit and wait for this painfully slow process when the Internet provides a rapid way to present your ideas/work/designs and the feedback is almost instantaneous. Then again, some people are highly motivated to see thier work in print and are willing to wait. So I am not sure business options are a big consideration for or against sending an article to aX.

"My point is what would a magazine offer? Reffering back to your point that they are pretty pedestrian and rehashed articles; of which I agree BTW. I ask you as a result of your comparison to the internet and the fact that you have thought about this and your experience in DIY experimentation. I would be interested to know what types of articles of interest you would seek to read."

In the early editions of SpeakerBuilder the articles were very technical in nature and they not only presented speaker projects but also technical details on box design, crossover theory, and measurement techniques. I remember getting my hands on my first copy of Speaker Builder and not having a clue what they were talking about. It took me a while to come up to speed on the speaker theory and start to be able to read and appreciate the articles. The articles were also very diverse, everthing form building an ESL to the IMP articles. The last really good technical articles that I remember were Augspurger's TL articles just before the merger. What I see is a lot of small two way projects/kits and reviews by the husband and wife team that brought us the soldering iron toy, if I wanted reviews I would read stereophile.

Speaking as a DIY speaker builder and ignoring the electronics articles which don't interest me at all. I would like to see detailed articles on ESL, line arrays, single driver full range, big three way systems, open baffle designs, horns and TLs where the engineering trade-offs in the design are discussed and measurements made of the finished system. I would like to see more articles on measurement techniques with explanations of the strengths and weaknesses of the different methods. I would be interested in learning more about woodworking, veneering, and finishing from people who are excellent cabinet makers and woodworkers. Maybe some articles about baffle step and different ways of addressing this problem, some room placement studies for example.

I think aX needs go out and solicit new authors with fresh ideas, turn around the contributions and get them into print in less than two issues, publish responses and author's comments in the two issues following the article, they need stronger technical review of articles against what is currently SOTA or on the Internet to make sure the article has some merit/validity, stop publishing bunk that has been proven incorrect just to fill pages, publish articles as installments so the authors can put some meat into the discussion, no more articles by manufacturers/consultants being used as advertising for the product, and no more subjective reviews of products/kits. I think aX should be out on the Internet recruiting people to write articles on unique and interesting drivers and design, maybe even finding these types of projects with well known and proven amateur DIYers.

I would rather drop back to four issues a year dedicated to speaker building then 12 issues a year that typically take me less than an hour to read. If aX sits back and waits for the DIY community to come to them they are as good as out of business.

That is my 15 minute opinion,

Martin

I can't speak for other potential contributors but my experience with Speaker Builder was not positive when I first started documenting my work on TLs. So now I pay ~$100 a year for my own website and I can add or delete articles, change anything on the pages, put up new pictures, or edit one of my previously posted articles any time I want. The stuff I write is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week and about 300 visits are logged each day. I get comments and questions almost daily. Why would I wait six months and waste my time with a printed magazine? Some would argue that my work would have more credibility and be more readily accepted in the Speaker community, I could not care less about this arguement. I think many people fall into this same category.

"Unfortunetly the magazine you describe appears to be the perfect DIY format. I wonder if we will ever see that level of sophistication in print ever again."

I don't agree, a forum is questions, answers, and discussions. A forum is not complete pieces of work with all of the engineering, pictures, test data, and extensive text. The printed media and the technical society journals are in direct competition with the Internet and in my opinion they are going to lose as the older contributers are replaced by younger more aggressive and impatient contributors. I consider myself an older contributor who has run out of patience with the printed media.

"What about Voice Coil; is that still extant?"

I don't know, I used to get a complimentary copy but this stopped coming a year or so ago.

"How do you think that level of technicality would play in a newstand offering?"

I think technical hobby magazines are going the way of dinosaurs. They have already lost most of the readership and contributors.

But I take your point regarding the forum discussion issue. It is definately a more active and viable medium in that respect. And irregardless of how old guys feel time will march on and this is the way it is going to be. Unless there is an unforseen consequence of which we have no way of determining involved in using the net for experimental inquiry. The statement you make regarding the ability to change or alter information at will instantaneously does hold a little angst for me though.
So; one hundred a month hah? Not bad.

$100 per year, less than $10 per month.