Reviewing Home Theater Reviews

This next article is somewhat relevant, only because we are starting to dabble our feet into the home theater review pond. Even though Audioholics presents a holier then though attitude, in the end they do make a few valid points about some of the reviews we see around the net. What did you guys think of our first ht review? Good? bad? indifferent? Check out our OPPO review here.

From the article:

These “reviews” yield absolutely no benefit to the consumer. In today’s surround sound world this is easy to prove. The complexity of operation with a receiver or processor gives away the “review” scam. Where is the clear explanation of the positive and negatives of the unit’s operation? Where are in-depth descriptions of the use of features such as crossover points, variable settings by input/format (and recall when a format is selected), or the remote’s complexity of operation, etc? If they don’t cover all the setup parameters, how could they have properly listened to the component to form any useful opinion? These so called magazines and e-zines aren’t stupid, they just think you are. Follow their logic. Why bother to do a quick setup that ultimately yields a useless receiver review when it is even easier, and far less costly, to yield just as useless a review by simply massaging the press release? Many casual readers don’t even notice.