Come on, guys! (Forum).

I have just finished reading the reference issue (94) and have some comments and recommendations I wish to give you.

1. Of your 18 contributors, only 10, or slightly more than half, provided recommendations. Of the 10 who did, 3 provided advice and 7 provided recommendations, So, we have recommendations from 7 of 18. I appreciate that some may have not been able to meet the deadline, some might have been too new to your publication to feel comfortable doing so, and a few, including the 3 who provided advice, may not have experience with enough equipment to provide a diversified set of recommendations. I believe, and know from past issues, that they and you can do better. I urge you to prevail upon them to do so, even in a future issue. I have no fundamental objection to advice, and to be fair, much of it was not only good, but $ensible. However, I suggest that your contributors use their regular column, or a supplemental column to the giving of advice. I note that this has been done in the past, and I have always felt it to be noteworthy.

2. I want to commend Howard Ferstler for his wide-ranging experience and recommendations in Issue 94. I also want to mention that he alone, in my recollection, tested and recommended Hsu subwoofers. I had heard about them, my brother had visited with Poh Hsu and was sufficiently satisfied that he bought, and I bought. Howard, in his reviews, validated our decision and influenced my choices.

3. I must admonish Roy Nakano, however, even though he includes a recommendation for Vandersteen speakers. Here also, my brother and I auditioned Vandersteens in the mid-to-late `80s, twice. I purchased my 2Cis in 1989 and my son-in-law purchased the 1Cs in the mid `80s. We still have them and still believe they are fine speakers. To say that Vandersteen is a "young loudspeaker ...