Some may be surprised at Stereo Review's winning of Sound Off's fifth annual Cuckoo Clock Award. They shouldn't be. Responsible and relevant audio journalism has suffered a major blow with Stereo Review joining the other major audio publications in spreading the audio world equivalent of mad cow disease. About the only sanity left in the audio publishing world is now confined to Peter Aczel's, The Audio Critic magazine. Sadly, The Audio Critic, a paradigm of factual and responsible writing in the audio world, has a negligible effect on ridding the audio world of mysticism. I might also add that this negligible effect is due in some part to the erratic and infrequent publishing schedule of the magazine. If you are going to lead the battle in debunking audio mysticism you have to be out there fighting the mystics on a regular basis; publishing once-per-twelve-months, or even less frequently, doesn't cut it....no matter how much you and others proclaim the superiority of your writing skills and technical knowledge.

I had no sooner written the above when what should come bouncing in but the latest issue of the audiophile voice. The latest issue contained an article that almost caused me to rewrite my opening paragraph of this editorial. But no, let it be to show that things change. And let it be to show that what was correct yesterday may not be correct today. And let it show I don't know everything!

The latest audiophile voice had an article written by Don Fostle (Don is a writer/reviewer for AUDIO) at the request of Gene Pitts, editor and publisher. The article (titled Skeptical Feedback) is a milestone in audio journalism for rationality, factuality, and good old fashion gutsy! I don't want to steal any thunder from the article (I suggest it be read by all audiophiles) but this is Gene Pitts making a statement, and the audio world now has two periodicals that are paradigms of factual and responsible writing. And one of the two (the audiophile voice) appears six times a year without fail!

If you want to see what chaos, mob mentality, and disgusting personal attacks are about I suggest you visit the various "consumer audio" sites on the Web. I consider these sites of such little value for meaningful exchanges that, except for my initial foray into the land of the nuts, I have no intention of going back. Speaking of audio Web sites....

The best audio magazine Web site out is none other than the Stereophile Web site. Surprised, huh? No, it's not perfect but it's put together in a manner that makes for easy navigating from one area to another. A close second would be the Web site for The Absolute Sound. The Absolute Sound would be number one except for the fact that it is not updated on a regular basis. Sadly, this failure to update is a reflection of problems financial being encountered by the publication. I hope the publication finds a way to continue; anytime a publication ceases to exist we lose a bit of our freedoms of speech and expression. If I may take some liberties with Voltaire: I might disagree with what you write but defend to my death your right to write it!

I quote with pure, unadulterated delight from an article by D. B. Keele, Jr. (AUDIO magazine, November, 1997 issue) in which he reviewed the Sunfire Mark II powered subwoofer: "Since a sine wave's peak-to-average ratio (crest factor) is 3 dB, the subwoofer's built-in amplifier is clearly capable of generating roughly 2.5 kilowatts of continuous sine-wave power, at least for intervals of 2 minutes." Anyone care to argue with Mr. Keele, huh? I rest my case.

Just as this issue of Sound Off is going to press I find myself in informal correspondence with the new CEO of Carver Corporation, Raj Bhatia. Raj has taken over control at Carver....that's the good news. The bad news is I am not sure that the takeover took place soon enough to save Carver from what seems to be inevitable disaster. I hope I am wrong.