Week ONE A Very Happy (& Hopefully Prosperous) New Year from Talk Audio

It is at year end that we take stock, form resolutions and make plans. The year 2013 for Talk Audio has all sorts of cool things possible, from destruction blow-it-all-up testing of subwoofers to possible record attempts on the Ground Pounding front for the Guinness World Bass Quake record, to all sorts of new technologies and toys. There is the Bass King contest, hopefully to happen again at the Modified Nationals to crown the UK’s baddest bass head for the year. It was Edd Elson in 2012 and maybe we’ll even have an enclosure-sounder contest to see who can make a Damson Twist’s Bluetooth speaker’s output play the loudest!
And of course, I take stock of the work on the magazine and have resolved to be better at linking out to Facebook to our Talk Audio page, as we do have gaps in folks spotting us. There was a post from a lad who phones me quite often, reckons he reads a lot of my stuff but yet proved he had missed a major banner advert on the magazine, as he didn’t know if Digital Designs even had UK distribution, yet their advert is on a global across the magazine pages…
And then, the sheer misery of the casual nature of the cynicism of one member in particular, who simply reckons all reviews everywhere are corrupt and that a mysterious ‘THEY’ pay for them. Made my blood boil even enough to tell him off, after he had a dig at the Vibe Bass Generator review’s top score, thus:
‘And as for the perfect score, how much did vibe give you for that?’
I replied:

‘Hey mr sideways, you young cynic. The BFD was that there is very little else IN THE SAME BRACKET and the review scores are aimed at a Top Trumps style thing so, function is key, as is VFM and this is cheap and does one job really well.
I am profoundly insulted meanwhile, you arse! As you have just decried my entire career and accused me of accepting bribes for reviews basically. I could get all aerated and bring mayhem upon thine head but the sheer lazy casualness of how you just typed your comment means that you would be as likely to call me a cheating lying reviewer to my face as you would be to sprout wings.
I take reviews very seriously indeed and yes, it IS a fine path to tread when taking advertising money off the very same people whose products you are testing. But paid for reviews are like paid for love, worthless and meaning free. I have been doing it twenty years and even given a ‘gong’ from the trade. I am far from infallible but NEVER fib as you will get caught out
But a ‘sorry’ would be accepted…yer Nard!
:-))))
Oh yes, and the VIBE components came last in a set of twenty pairs of components reviewed a while back. It did cause stress at the time.’
Well, I called a forum member an ‘arse’ and a ‘nard’&; great way to start the New Year! Fact is, this sort of cynicism is borne from ignorance and far from being actually raised-of-blood-pressure, I just wanted to make a point – reviewing is the focus of my life and I do care, like crazy. Based on the days when it was my tiny amount of terribly hard-earned cash and wanting to spend it on the very BEST item it could buy.
Here’s to a 2013 of great products and lots of fun with music and media on the move.
Adam Rayner On Line Editor