I appreciate that you are all focusing on the substance of reviewing subwoofer performance, here. But I think there is a bigger story.

The reason why this is news is because Gene DellaSala chose to make it news by publishing what I think is a pretty nasty, whining editorial. The focus of his diatribe is that "shootouts are a pain, and here's why". Oh, my, the kitchen is hot! I shall wallow in it! DellaSala and his crew are presumably getting paid to opine about their hobby, and nobody but their staff decides on their methodology or messaging. Deciding to do a shootout and then complaining about the dynamics is tiresome, and helps no one. I hope it was cathartic for DellaSala, or something.

Audio is a business for Axiom and for the other represented manufacturers. It is how all the people employed by those companies put food on the table for their families. There is a LOT of risk involved in a subwoofer shootout, because even savvy consumers (unlike Robert Pirsig) believe that you can quantify quality. There is very little upside for any established company. Before participating, any prudent manufacturer would have to trust both the methodology and the editorial biases of the reviewer. And I believe that DellaSala's editorial proves there is a breakdown in trust, if not worse.

Where DellaSala lost it for me is his obvious commingling of the advertising and editorial sides of the Audioholics business. Tsk tsk. Whatever journalistic integrity they may have had is now squandered for me. The entire "Groundplane" section of his editorial is - to me - very clearly "payback" for Axiom pulling its advertising. Which certainly begs the question - if you are going to "payback" former advertisers, why shouldn't I think you are "paying off" current advertisers?

I don't care how Axiom or any other manufacturer spends their advertising dollars - again, it is their business. I do object to being told how rigorous and objective your methods are while you are openly bitter about lost advertising revenue. I thought that Paul Apollonio's last paragraph was particularly McCarthian - "if you don't want to be interrogated, you must have something to hide!"

Puhleeze. Combined with recent assertions about lack of impartiality due to the product lines carried in the Audioholics store, this episode makes me want to boycott anything and everything on that site.


Last edited by tomtuttle; 11/10/10 08:44 PM.
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