BUYER'S GUIDE 2010 - Feedback

[Andrew]

Hi all, would like as many of you as possible to get involved. As you know the Guide is out on the shelves, and what I would like is for as many of you as possible to give us feedback. What I am looking for is the following:

Please prioritise in most important to least important, what you feel the faults are of the Buyer's Guide.

Secondly, with regards the tables and categories themselves, what would be of enormous help to us, is to know what information you feel is most important/invaluable to you, and what information you believe we can either scale back on or even remove entirely.

And while doing so, please, let's keep it constructive: there are those inclined towards snide comments, which are of no use to us at all. Take a look at the At A Glance section of the publication, at the lists of importers, distributors and various makes and models shown there. Then bear in mind that not only were all of those companies contacted, but so were many more, who never bothered responding. Bear in mind the huge amount of information that had to be collected, compiled (and yes, even corrected at times, after incorrect information had been submitted by some), that it was done by an extremely small number of staff here at AVSA, and that ever-present deadlines were always looming.

Please, take the time to give us some direction on giving you a better publication.

Thanks,

Andrew

[Kevin99]

Much better than last year. 
Only thing that was missing to me, was Cambridge Audio??
The format is very good and evrything that I need or want to know is available.
Thanks

[dotVIBE]

man, it's so difficult to find the damn mag here her in CT

Unless I actually go into a CNA and browse for 10 minutes I can't get a hold of the darn thing! why can't they just hold them at petrol stations and woolworths?

[joel]

As for CA, they were given the opportunity but didn't respond in time.
dotVibe if you are struggling to find one you can get one directly from us. It'll cost you the same.

Speak to Ruzena at the office. 011 326 1653

[Viagara]

As for CA, they were given the opportunity but didn't respond in time.

Ja, Volco does not seem to be very responsive

[dotVIBE]

yep,

might as well subscribe eh? good idea, spanks.

[Family_Dog]

I'm pretty sure I must be the longest surviving subscriber ever, probably for over 20 years by now.

Joel, doesn't this count for having a copy posted to me?  I never get near our one and only CNA and if they don't have it, would not do me any good anyway. 


-F_D

[joel]

After 20 years of subscribing I'll personally send you a Buyers Guide.
It's the least I can do seeing as you've been contributing to my salary for so long.
Wonder If I qualify for a discount.
PM me with your details and I'll get a Buyers Guide for you.

[zeabre]

I'm a sucker for lists, so always look forward to the Buyer's guide. Some points though, some already mentioned:
1.   Some large manufacturers being omitted detracts somewhat to the overall list
2.   Some manufacturers only displaying a subset of their products (Sonus Faber comes to mind) where others tend to go to the other extreme, making comparisons a little tricky (especially in the cables section)?
3.   What I find very useful is the importers/distributors list.
4.   What about a comparative UK cost for each product? (Yes, said VERY MUCH tongue in cheek )
Overall a very good edition though! Thank you.

[Andrew]

I'm a sucker for lists, so always look forward to the Buyer's guide. Some points though, some already mentioned:
1.   Some large manufacturers being omitted detracts somewhat to the overall list
2.   Some manufacturers only displaying a subset of their products (Sonus Faber comes to mind) where others tend to go to the other extreme, making comparisons a little tricky (especially in the cables section)?
3.   What I find very useful is the importers/distributors list.
4.   What about a comparative UK cost for each product? (Yes, said VERY MUCH tongue in cheek )
Overall a very good edition though! Thank you.

Thank you for the feedback, zeabre. With regards Point 1 - Believe it or not, in spite of the listings being offered for free, several choose to ignore the offer, hence their absence.

[Shonver]

Believe it or not, in spite of the listings being offered for free, several choose to ignore the offer, hence their absence.

I think you must make a big issue of this in the next issue of AVSA.

[Andrew]

I think you must make a big issue of this in the next issue of AVSA.

Nah, just send the MD a copy of the magazine and say we're so sorry he missed out on the opportunity, and then let the explosions ripple downwards... ;-)

[ludo]

Got a copy from CNA yesterday, money well spent to my mind. I'm quite out of touch with the price of things.

Minor issues: For integrated amps, you list whether there is a headphone "input" on the device. You must mean headphone "output."

The list of [Sennheiser and Grado...] headphones is impressive but I see no single headphone amp. Free standing headphone amps deserve a category of their own, don't you think?

Same for DACs?

Both of those seem to generate some interest here on occasion.

But those are just little things. There is a whole other benefit to this publication.

Because the pages contain mostly listings, i e white space, I couldn't resist printing a PC Board layout on one to see how it irons off. And it works a treat. The thickness of the paper is perfect for the laser printer. So R30 gets you 160 pages, of which most have a useable side for this purpose, with little or no red ink on it.

I'm going to buy two more Andrew. One for reference, and two for printing DIY projects. You're making life easier for me.

[Andrew]

Thanks for the feedback, Ludo, will look at your suggestions. What we're also looking at is how to find out what information the readers regard as being unnecessary, so that in future we can leave it out and make putting the magazine together easier.

[ludo]

... to find out what information the readers regard as being unnecessary, so that in future we can leave it out and make putting the magazine together easier.

Well, if it's any indication to you, the first prototype board was printed on p96. That's the Mini/Micro/HTIB listing. No further reference required

But I shouldn't be dismissive. One has to approach Buyers Guides like one approaches Dictionaries. The better one is simply the thicker volume. Always.

I realise someone has to put it together and it won't happen of its own account. But still: To improve it, add, don't trim. If it was R60, I'd still buy it. I'd imagine advertisers also know the value of something that sticks around for a while before being recycled. This must be to your advantage.

You might know I'm not a subscriber. I do understand that it's no simple matter to please everyone (like me) with the monthly content so no hard feelings. But the Buyers Guide by its nature can not step on any toes. It's probably the only chance you have to leave everyone satisfied. If it can be made more profitable for AVSA to boot, then you've done very well. Personally, I think it's AVSA's most important contribution to the whole game. Pity that it will always be a less enjoyable and very large undertaking.

Shame on the non-responsive suppliers, but as the yanks would say: You've done good.