Stereophile’s Products of 1996
This is the fifth year Stereophile has named a select few components as “Products of the Year.” By doing so, we intend to give recognition to those components that have proved capable of giving musical pleasure beyond the formal review period.
There are six individual categories: Loudspeakers (including subwoofers); Amplification Components (preamplifiers, power amplifiers, etc.); Digital Sources (CD players, transports, processors); Analog Sources (phono cartridges, turntables, tonearms, FM tuners, etc.); Home Theater Components (other than video); and Accessories (everything else).
The two most important categories, however, are the “Component of the Year”—the Best of the Best—and the “Budget Component of the Year”—the Best Sound for the Buck. There’s also an “Editor’s Choice” award, which JA reserves to himself to single out the single superb-sounding product that has impressed him the most. Usually, to be eligible for “Editor’s Choice,” a component must have been continuously available for at least a decade, but this year as last year, the performance of the chosen component allows such rules to be bent.
The formal voting procedure consisted of two steps: First, Stereophile‘s hardware reviewers were asked to nominate up to six components in each of the eight categories. To be a contender, a product had to have been reported on in Stereophile between the November 1995 and October 1996 issues, either in a full Equipment Report or in a Follow-Up. Most important, only those components for which a writer had put his opinion on the line for public scrutiny could be nominated. We then put together a ballot form that included all components that had been nominated by three or more writers and/or editors. This process ensured that most of the nominees in most of the categories would have been auditioned by most of the reviewers.
Twenty-one of the magazine’s editors and reviewers gave three votes for their first choice in each category, two votes for their second choice, and one vote for their third choice (if they had a third choice). JA tallied the votes; address your compliments and complaints to him.
NEXT: Joint Loudspeakers of 1996 »
ARTICLE CONTENTS
Page 1
Joint Loudspeakers of 1996
Amplification Component of 1996
Digital Source of 1996
Analog Source of 1996
Joint Accessories of 1996
Home Theater Component of 1996
Joint Budget Components of 1996
1996 Component of the Year
Editor’s Choice of 1996
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