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Defending DAK I just received the November issue and felt it was time to make my feelings known concerning the DAK advertising. I love it! These ads are informative and interesting, often for gadgets not widely available-much better than automobile or cigarette ads! JAMES GRAHAM Kalona, IA In 1946 or 1947, I built a preamplifier for a G.E. magnetic cartridge from scratch. Since then I've been on the audiophile bandwagon, and I have seen it all. The Kenwood KA-900 integrated amplifier I purchased from DAK is driving my Leak Sandwich loudspeakers just beautifully from the signal provided by the original $800 Philips CD player in my living room. The Cerwin-Vega sub-woofer and the BSR equalizer I bought from DAK have made my bedroom sys tem, with a JVC RK20 receiver and the Baby Advent speakers, into a pleasing full-range system. Only a very foolish snob would complain about saving hundreds of dollars on a fine amplifier like the Kenwood or its companion tuner. I hope Drew A. Kaplan keeps marching on! FRANCIS L. POST Blaine, WA I really enjoyed November's editorial, "Mad About Ads." I have ordered a few things from DAK and have never been let down as to the quality of the merchandise. It is true that there is some junk in the DAK catalog, and you have to watch what you order. But don't you have to do that with just about every thing these days, from radios to groceries to cars and high-priced electronic components? KEVIN THOMSON Salt Lake City, UT Editorial Me All of your editorials are about yourself. Me, me, me. A name dropper. A few months ago, you were on an ego trip by telling your readers of the opportunities you have to meet important people. Who cares who you meet? Now you are a picture dropper. Arm around President Reagan. Write about electronics trends, etc. Pay attention to business, and forget your vanity. Cancel my subscription. I don't like you or your magazine. There are other stereo magazines I like much better. I don't want a refund. ROBERT SIEFERMAN; Freeport, IL Friendship To CBS Magazines and all readers who have been annoyed with the personal ads from Asian women in STEREO REVIEW, I would just like to say that I have found some wonderful friends through these ads. I would like to see them reinstated so that others may benefit also. Why don't the "annoyed" readers skip over these few lines? In four years of reading, I've never been "annoyed" by an ad in the magazine. GERARD RICHTER; West Hempstead, NY Trivia? I think I have agreed with only one of Steve Simels's reviews, but I don't write in and complain about it. Over the years I have read complaints from readers about all sorts of things that have no consequence to the content of the magazine. The ones in the November issue were more of the same. If John Lin thinks less of STEREO REVIEW because of its outward appearance, what might he think about important things such as the outward appearance of people? And if Peter Williams does not like the DAK advertisements, perhaps he would prefer an increase in the subscription price; then the magazine would be more elitist like he is. Several years ago when I became really interested in audio I took out subscriptions to several hi-fi magazines. STEREO REVIEW is the only one I still read. I think your staff does a very good job, and I will continue to subscribe. JAN M. PEAR; Marquette, MI Do-it-Yourself Speakers Two letters from readers in the November issue, in "Letters" and "Audio Q. and A.," requested information on do-it-yourself improvements to loud speakers. In both cases, the reply recommended purchasing new speakers. While I agree that willy-nilly replacement of drivers is likely to do more harm than good, I hate to see STEREO REVIEW discourage its readers from the hobby of building loudspeakers, which has many sonic, economic, and personal rewards. For a bare minimum of preparation, I would recommend David Weems's booklet Building Speaker Enclosures (Radio Shack #62-2309). And in order to produce results that are easily com parable to good commercial speakers, readers might check out Speaker Builder magazine (P.O. Box 494, Peterborough, NH 03458), which also carries advertising for several distributors of raw drivers. Finally, STEREO REVIEW'S own classified section contains ads from several dealers offering loudspeaker kits and components. RALPH GONZALEZ; Philadelphia, PA Air Supply For many years I have read your music reviews before purchasing any albums, but a few weeks ago I bought Air Supply's new album just because I like the group. When I saw Alanna Nash's review in the November issue I couldn't believe it. I understand what she means by calling the performance "big as all outdoors," but she failed to mention that there are some very good songs on the album. The Power of Love and When the Time Is Right are two of the most beautiful love sings I've heard in a long time. Granted, Great Pioneer and Black and Blue are totally stupid, but you can't condemn a whole album because of a few bad songs. If Air Supply is that bad, I'd really hate to see a review of a Twisted Sister album. But thanks for all the good reviews, which have helped me spend my money wisely. MARK G. SENN; Pembine, WI Audio Pioneer I read with much interest "The Search for the Perfect Speaker" by Daniel Sweeney in the September issue. My interest was mixed with pride since full credit was given to my grandfather, E. W. Kellogg, for co-developing the paper-cone loudspeaker with C.W. Rice. As Mr. Sweeney noted, the technology they developed in 1923 is still in widespread use today! According to my records, however, the paper-cone loudspeaker was not developed at Bell Telephone Laboratories but rather at General Electric in Schenectady, New York. In all other respects, the article was an excellent history and survey of speaker technology. ROBERT F. MEHL III; Rockwall, TX Taking the CD Plunge Just as I was getting a little jaded with STEREO REVIEW, along comes your November issue, prompting me to take the CD plunge. I ordered a Technics player from one of your advertisers, CD's from another, selecting titles gleaned from past reviews. I depend on STEREO RE VIEW to keep me current on music and equipment. I just wish you had more reviews of under-$500 equipment and recordings of organ music, instrumentals, chorales, folk, old-fashioned country, and unusual or different kinds of musical experiences. I wonder what the chances are that some old collections of folk and country-and-western music will be rereleased on CD. I'm tired of the care and feeding of record players. DONALD P. OLSON; Seattle, WA Gal Costa Bravo! Thank you for mentioning Gal Costa in "Record Makers" and reviewing her album "Gal Profana" in the October issue. You have reaffirmed my belief that there is more to life than rock! Your open-minded attitude has earned my thorough admiration. I'll be a subscriber for life! IVAN VERNON MCKINNEY, JR. Santa Ana, CA Video Formats I must differ with Chris Albertson's advice in October "Video Basics" about choosing a video format. Readers of STEREO REVIEW are likely to try to get the highest quality and performance from their audio equipment. Why should it be any different with video equipment? Do not buy into a particular video format just because your friends did. Don't make a mistake just because your friends have made an uninformed decision! Case in point: I bought a new Sony Super-Beta as my first VCR even though my father and all but one of my friends had VHS machines. After seeing the picture (and hearing the sound) on my SuperBeta, two of my friends replaced their VHS machines with Super-Beta, and almost all the others plan to do the same. In addition to the better picture quality, they have discovered the many features that VHS owners can only dream about. In short, when you shop for a VCR, compare features and picture quality on a high-quality monitor. If a store won't let you do that, take your business to another that will. DANA V. ARCHER Sepulveda, CA Correction The test report on the Nikko NR-750 receiver in the November issue gave an incorrect price. The receiver's actual suggested list price is $379.95.
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Source: Stereo Review (USA magazine) |
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