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From: wjm@whuxk.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.audio
Subject: Re: Stereo Advice Wanted - (nf)
Message-ID: <276@whuxk.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 26-Sep-83 08:59:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: whuxk.276
Posted: Mon Sep 26 08:59:02 1983
Date-Received: Wed, 28-Sep-83 03:46:38 EDT
References: uiucdcs.2940
Lines: 35

One caveat about using Consumer Reports for audio equipment selection.  While
their test procedures work very well for washing machines, automobiles, and
televison sets, I have many problems with their speaker judging. Their
evaluation of electronics tend not to be quite so prone to this problem, and
are more valid.
Consumer Reports tries to distill speaker performance down to a single number
called an "accuracy score".  This is a noble goal, unfortunately it doesn't
work in the real world - since two speakers that both receive a grade of 90
(which is considered to be an excellent score by CU) may sound quite different
since they lost their 10 points in different places.  You might want to start
with the CU ratings and go to a cooperative neighborhood dealer and listen
to several of their highly rated speakers in your price range (CU tends to
rate speakers of the same general price class together, as one should - you
cannot - as many of us have mentioned earlier on the net - expect a $100 
speaker to sound the same as a $1000 model.).
The key to getting a pair of speakers you'll be happy with is to listen to them
Bring several of your favorite records and spend the better part of a morning
or afternoon at a local dealer A/B'ing speakers.  Be sure to use an amplifier
of similar power to what you are considering and make sure that the volume
is set the same when comparing speakers.  Psychological testing has shown
that the louder of two speakers in an A/B test where the levels aren't match
ed almost always sounds "better".
In defense of Consumers Union (CU) and Consumer Reports - they do not accept
advertising and are very strict about refusing to allow their test results to
be used by manufacturers, so they will give you (as much as is humanly posssible)
an unbiased report.
They are also one of the few publications that will say something BAD about a
product.  Most of the reputable stereo publications (Stereo Review, High
Fidelity, and Audio, to name three) will not print a review that makes a bad
product look good but they won't print the bad review either.  So if a product
isn't mentioned it could mean its a dog or it could mean they didn't have the
space to review it.
                               Bill Mitchell
                               Bell Laboratories
                               Whippany, NJ  07981 (whuxk!wjm)