| Re: Reviews Versus Personal Taste [message #77661 is a reply to message #77605] |
Fri, 30 August 2013 18:48   |
Thermionic
Messages: 208
Registered: May 2009
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It took me several years to realize it, except it was with guitar amplification and pro sound gear instead of home audio. Before I began building my own gear, I'd spent many thousands of dollars and loads of frustration buying equipment based on reviews, before I finally realized what was going on.
By a "strange coincidence," the products that got the best reviews were ALWAYS made by the huge companies with 2 or 3 full-page color ads per magazine issue, and never the small fry, Mom and Pop companies with a black and white 1" x 3" ad hidden in the classifieds section in the back pages. Even more odd was the fact that professionals always seemed to use the Mom and Pop stuff with the so-so reviews, and not the big brand stuff that was hyped to the moon. Hmmmm.....
Years later, I met a staff editor of a publishing company that produced half a dozen of the nation's biggest pro sound and musician's equipment magazines, who verified my suspicions as indeed being standard industry practice. He explained how reviews are commonly biased by how much the company spends on advertising. He cited an example where a new staff member turned in a rather unfavorable review to the senior editor, who reminded him that the product's maker spent about $25,000 per month on advertising in their publications, and ordered him to rewrite his review accordingly.
On the flip side of that coin, he said that superior products from small companies who can't afford that kind of advertising will normally get positive (but not too positive) reviews, but NEVER the gushing, giddy, over-the-top, cartwheels and somersaults reviews the big dogs get, so as not to offend them. 
Thermionic
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