Your comments are noted, but I have to point out that we had an almost identical reaction from some readers when we started moving into featuring home theatre several years ago. It was regarded as being the death-knell of AVSA.
But the simple truth of the matter is that this was the way the industry by large was moving, and we could stay as we were and ultimately become a niche magazine with a circulation of 1000, or we could adapt and grow, while still providing quality content for all our readers. Also, the magazine needed to grow - it's a business after all - and we needed to attract new readers. It would have been financial suicide to ignore the industry trends. So we made the move, showed readers that all tastes were still catered for, and we grew.
Now it's happened again. We cannot stagnate, cannot ignore the fact that the industry is once again changing. And we had the choice of staying where we were or adapting to attract new readers in fields we hadn't featured before, but which were becoming increasingly part of the whole AV field. Pure business sense dictates that one must grow and adapt, or die.
And again, we have the occasional complaint that we're 'diluting' the magazine content, that things aren't as they were. I cannot disagree more - take a look at the November issue for example: 5 reviews on home theatre, 6 on stereo, 2 on AV accessories. Only 5 for New Technology (vs. 13 for 'old' AVSA-type reviews). Then Dec/Jan issue: 5 reviews on home theatre products, 8 reviews on stereo only products, 3 on AV accessories. A mere 5 on new technology (again, vs. 16 of the 'old'-type reviews). And in the above examples I also excluded the cover stories, which were loudspeakers and plasma televisions.
One can hardly say that all of a sardine we're neglecting our home theatre and stereo only readers. What used to be the type of copy from the old-look AVSA remains by far the largest part of magazine content, and we continue to feature some of the most exclusive stereo-only products in the country. But we have to move forwards, and there has to be an acknowledgement that hundreds of thousands of people out in the market place have different ways of listening to their music, of watching video, and we cannot ignore those trends - not as a magazine that prides itself in being the country's foremost audio and video magazine, and one that is always keeping an eye on where the industry is heading.
So far support for the new format has been overwhelmingly positive - from the industry itself as well - and I hope that our readers with more specialised tastes will support us, and will see that we have by no means left them behind: we remain the only magazine in SA for hi-fi enthusiasts to use to see what is going on in the industry.
