| Editorial January 2002
An Unqualified Rave Review
This month my sights are set to tackle a subject that has
long been the plague of audio and home-theater review publications: the unqualified
rave review. Recently I read a product review in another publication that made my head
spin. It stated in no uncertain terms that the product under evaluation offered
state-of-the-art performance. It went on to name numerous designs eclipsed by the
up-and-comer. The defeated stalwarts were the epitome of a cost-no-object design mantra
and have garnered praise from consumers, dealers, and the industry in general.
To think that some of the industry’s established
references could be easily and absolutely eclipsed by a product costing one-tenth of the
price would be an exciting development for a business where one does not always get what
one pays for. If only we knew for sure. It won’t come from reading this review,
though.
Looking closer at the review was disheartening for this
member of the audio and home-theater press for several reasons. First, as many in the
clergy can attest, one bad seed can paint a broad brushstroke across everyone in the
field. Well, this unqualified rave takes the credibility away from those that treat
product reviewing with the utmost professionalism, careful consideration, and
responsibility.
To put it bluntly, if you deal an absolute deathblow to a
product, you damned well better have had an extended, careful evaluation with appropriate
playback gear, software, expert set up, and the experience to be taken seriously. This
reviewer had none of that. Why? He had never reviewed the comparison products under
question. Oh, maybe a trade-show audition here and there, or an hour or so at a
dealer’s store. Would you give credence to a product review that was based
solely on these types of tests? If so, I can get all of my equipment reviews done for the
entire year at the CES show in Vegas this January. My, wouldn’t that make life
simple.
This situation insults the companies that produce the
comparison products as well as the consumer relying on the reviewer’s judgment to
help make buying decisions. Mostly, it erodes the credibility of the manufacturer that
produced the product under review. This is the most important point to remember. An
unqualified rave draws into question whether the review was performed under, shall we say,
the strictest of ethical considerations. It likely was, and the reviewer is
probably just a star-struck chap who doesn’t know any better because he is in love
with the product under test. But the fact remains, the damage is done, and the laughing
from peers and readers will not go away soon.
Perhaps it does not damage the credibility of the reviewing
press. Maybe it simply draws a dividing line between the professionals and the amateurs.
So be it.
...Jeff Fritz
editor@hometheatersound.com |
