A good example of a horrible CR review.
A dishwasher manufacture made several models of a dishwasher.
The only difference in them were the esthetics - was it white, black, stainless steel or a cabinet model & how quite it was.
So the same tub, the same pumps, the same everything else.
Yet each model was rated differently in its ability to clean and a few other categories.
Another CR running joke was that Kenmore was consistently rated number 1 and the exact same model from the manufacture that made the Kenmore (keep in mind GE, Whirlpool, LG, etc. build Kenmore, not Sears. As far as I know there is no actual Kenmore factory.) would be rated lower, sometimes much lower.

Same with the Auto reviews by CR. Straight garbage when you actually want to compare models in a segment.

They do some things sort of right. One they avoid the fluff and buff model by purchasing test vehicles off the lot. This eliminates the dog and pony show that most rags get for test vehicles.

Downside is they do dumb isht like buy a vehicle with a white interior and then permanently ding it severely for having an easy to soil interior? WTF? If the vehicle comes in alternatives colors. Like a family of 3 toddlers is going to purchase a car with cream seats?

They have some cool ideas when it comes to things like storage but that is it.

What about CR frequency of repair data? Consumer generated, is it not?

Way back when I used to pay attention to CR (90's), I noticed that the crappiest/cheapest TV's were the ones with the best repair ratings...

The only thing I could figure is that people just chucked their cheap TV's when they broke. People fixed their high end Sonys et al because they cost so much in the fist place.

But this post is about weather anyone will go with Ira's new company, not a CEPro/CR bash fest. As I said before, I will not be doing business with Ira.

In the late-'70s and well into the '80s, CR was like the Bible for low to mid-Fi people and we were a dealer that serviced hue numbers of the brands and models they loved, like Sansui R-series and Harmon Kardon 330 A/B/C receivers, that POS Sharp 7733 and Teac 103 cassette decks, crap speakers, crap turntables, crap, crap, crap. They weren't providing service stats at the time and we saw things come in for problems that should NEVER happen.

The one thing it did is make us better at selling what we carried without calling other brands and models a piece of shyte we were a lot more subtle.

What is this new band that is rising from the ashes of Bay Audio?

Sucker Audio

The Perfect Third...

[Link: theperfectthird.com]