What Hi*fi? and their reviews of JM Lab 816s and 806s
Posted by: Steve Toy on 01 August 2001
"..the Cobalts struggle when it comes to the thumping transients of on Missy Elliot's set, where a lack of attack makes the music sound lifeless and dynamically flat-footed..."
What were they partnering them with I wonder?
MF, Krell?
"But it's not the refined treble that grabs your attention - its the superb integration between the drive units and the impressively even midrange."
Yes to the integration bit, that alone should warrant a minimum of four stars.
As for the "refined treble," I actually consider the treble to be their minor weakness, as it's just a little too insistent, and slightly metallic.
Only three stars!
I don't own JM Lab speakers , I don't own shares in the company, and I don't sell them.
But this review is bang out of order, and is at complete odds with how they really perform in both their positive and negative attributes.
Yes, this is only my opinion, but I know one or two folks who've heard them who will certainly agree with me.
No doubt, I'll continue to buy this "comic," but there are still a lot of people out there who audition equipment on the strength of its reviews, and I question its integrity.
Rant over.
It's always a nice day for it, have a good one 
Steve
[This message was edited by Steven Toy on THURSDAY 02 August 2001 at 03:40.]
I've tried the Timothy Taylor Landlord on many occasions, and I rather like it. As for the Hopback Summer Lightening, I was less struck (excuse pun!) it just didn't seem as well balanced and "moreish" as it could be - a bit like a 102/250 combination, where the 250 screams out, "give me an 82!"
Around these parts Pedigree takes some beating when it's absolutely right - get it wrong and it tastes like something from Revelations! ("Lake of Sulphur etc.")
As I type this I'm drinking a beer called Liefmans Framboise, from Belgium. It is a beer that has real raspberries added prior to secondary fermentation - beware of imitations that use concentrated fruit juice - this is the REAL THING! - and won a CAMRA award in 1998 (Gold Medal in Bottled Beer Class.)
You can also get versions with cherry or peach added instead.
It's always a nice day for it, have a good one
Steve
[This message was edited by Steven Toy on TUESDAY 07 August 2001 at 04:55.]
It is a faux-monastic beer, yes, but hat does not mean that it is anything other than an excellent brew. They have a range of beers, in the way that Naim has a range of components. You need to move up the range to see what Leffe can really do!
As for it having body and character etc. for a keg beer, how many have an ABV of 6.6%?
It's always a nice day for it, have a good one
Steve
I heard them again today, on JM Lab's own wooden stands with a Jupiter and Nait on QS Reference. THe QS Reference has taken away that slight metallic edge of the 806s. The dynamics, i.e: transients, macro-dynamics, the general ebb and flow of the music, the bottom end kick was superb. Mr. Clough - time to get your lugholes syringed old chap, and change that Krell for a '52/500. Oh, you need lessons in system balance also- no more 800 GBP sources going into 14000 GBP amps, hey!
It's always a nice day for it, have a good one
Steve
One of the main problems here is that What HiFi (and HiFi Choice and others) is owned and operated by a media group who publish a number of "specialist" review-based magazines. Thus it is quite likely that if A. Clough (or any other staffer) was to get promoted, it might be within the corporate structure, but possibly not on the same publication. A review writer for What Hi-Fi could theoretically, if he played his cards right, end up six months later as technical editor on Caravan Monthly (for example). The main prerequisite for employment seems to be that you have to be a journalist who can "learn" the particular jargon applicable to a specialist field, rather than a genuine enthusiast.
Review-based magazines can be very profitable, because of the unavoidably suspect relationship between manufacturers (who provide stuff for review, and also buy advertising), reviewers (who write the copy people pay to read), and the advertising sales dept. who sell the advertising, and may have to maintain a workable relationship with their manufacturer customers in the face of a less-than-favourable review (fat chance 
).
Factor in the availability of free publicity if you're a manufacturer with a "new" product (news pages), and the emergence of multiple-outlet dealers who buy lots of pages with large, colour plugs for product (rave-?) reviewed in the same issue, and it is entirely unsurprising that we end up with magazines which are little more than advertising of one sort or another from cover to cover, with all the attitude and personality of Courage Tavern Keg (c.1970), and manufacturers changing a volume knob and loudly announcing a "new range".
My wife bought a copy of "What Car" last week, and flicking through it, I was astonished at the familiarity of the format -- you could pretty much predict the content of the reviews from the content of all the "paid-for" pages. The really sad thing is that this stuff should ideally educate, inform and generally provide raw material from which a reader can form his/her own opinions. Instead, they are so terrified of alienating "core readership" that they end up pandering to the prejudices those people are percieved to have, rather than challenging them with common sense. If a car looks angry and aggressive, its design is "mainstream" and is reviewed as "sharp" and "sexy". The Renault Kangoo, on the other hand is "quirky" and "a bit odd" because it doesn't look like this, but without pointing out that it too works well in its intended market. How many times have we seen that tired old paragraph, viz "But... [yack yack] ... DIN plugs ... [blah blah] ... Naim interconnect ... [industry standards, yawn] ... Naim speaker cable, etc, etc. in reviews of Naim stuff, when anybody with half a brain cell knows that this is only a problem if you're hoping to sell £150+ worth of cabling "extras" with every item?
All this leads to Hi-Fi magazines tending towards the "flavour of the month" attitude so despised by the late JV. Even by subscribing to this, some titles from which you could expect a degree of independence (eg Hi Fi World; they've got Noel Keywood, for heaven's sake) appear to stagger from one issue to the next, perpetually giving the impression that the printer hasn't been paid for months, and the proof reader was laid off last year...
The only magazine that has really worked in my view, since the demise of "The Flat Response", is "Listener". It's very refreshing. Hi Fi Plus tries hard, but IMO ultimately appears too deeply embedded in the industry to be able to stand back and actually say "complete crap" when given the opportunity. Great pics, though, and good stuff from Phil Ward recently.
end rant...
Best;
Mark
(an imperfect
forum environment is
better than none)
quote:
But what do you know about whisk(e)y?
Pretty much sod all (see previous post in this thread), other than the fact that "a lot of Teachers' makes you throw up a lot". I discovered this a long time ago, and my internal "unconsious assumption generator" has, over the years, extrapolated from this that "a lot of any whisky makes you throw up a lot". It then made the logical jump to "a little whisky makes you throw up a little" and finally arrived at "no whisky stops you throwing up at all", which apart from being arrant nonsense, is at least an amusing piece of word-play for which I take no credit, you understand, as it is all unconcious...
I really must try this whisky thing again though. I am sure that with commitment, the problem can be solved.
Best;
Mark
(an imperfect
forum environment is
better than none)
A pint of Pedigree at the Coach and Horses in Abbots Bromley - only 11 miles from the brewery - and a large Oban on the side, with just one ice cube - gives you that little bit of water thing, as well as chilling it.
well, that's how I like it, anyway!
It's always a nice day for it, have a good one
Steve
If I want to try out different guest ales these days, my only option is the Wetherspoons in Stafford - the only Wetherspoons I've been to where the condition of the beer is always, in my experience, truly excellent. Come to think of it, the last time I was in there, I was talking to Paul Darwin...
I have tried a lot of different ales in my adult life, but my all time favourite still has to be Fullers ESB from Chiswick. A large JD with coke and ice on the side is also nice.
Yes, I said coke. JD is not a Malt, and its taste is not exactly subtle, but works well with the coke.
Truth be known, I think Pepsi works even better with JD.
It's always a nice day for it, have a good one
Steve
Do you think - or is it to your opinion, that Fred is a thief ?????
Arye 
Consequently, I've tended toward the non-peaty varieties.Although I haven't experimented very many, the only one that I've really enjoyed is Glenfarclas, which is apparently aged in sherry casks. I'm a sherry lover, so this might explain its appeal. However, it seems that Oban is also aged in sherry casks, and it's supposed to be peaty. I guess nothing can be that simple.
In light of my comments above, can you suggest a couple of good, non-peaty offerings? BTW, I'm in Canada, which might make it more difficult to find some of these.
-=> Mike Hanson <=-
I suppose it's like with racks, it all boils down (literally in the case of distillation!
) to taste, i.e: having any! It's always a nice day for it, have a good one
Steve