any professional reviews of the new 340s yet?

[curtis]

I like secrets for the most part (especially for DVD players), but their exotic cable stuff, etc drives me nuts. I also thought their recent auto/eq article was shoddy at best.

Agreed...for me....Secrets is inconsistent.

[davef]

I find the situation with Audioholics a bit strange regarding the removal of that thread. Truth is, Audioholics contacted me regarding reviewing our products. I told them I would be glad to send them our 340 SE but we will have to delay for 6-8 weeks due to low inventory status. Unfortuntately, we are getting low again but we are only 5-6 weeks out of our next shipment of parts.

The removal of that thread concerns me a bit.

[BradJudy]

Dave,

I would just flat-out ask them about it. If you need to, assure them that you won't post their reasoning to the web, but it sounds like you need to hear more from them to feel comfortable with the situation.

I second that I like the Soundstage reviews. Sensible Sound did one in the past too. I don't normally read them, but it might be a good place to review the 340SE's.

[Jonnyozero3]

I find the situation with Audioholics a bit strange regarding the removal of that thread. Truth is, Audioholics contacted me regarding reviewing our products. I told them I would be glad to send them our 340 SE but we will have to delay for 6-8 weeks due to low inventory status. Unfortuntately, we are getting low again but we are only 5-6 weeks out of our next shipment of parts.

The removal of that thread concerns me a bit.

I get a bad feeling reading this. Why would they pull the thread if they wanted to do a review? If they were mad about being painted as biased, they could have EASILY wiped aside those suspicions with a post that said, "hey, what are you guys talking about? We've already contacted ascend to do a review, and they're sending speakers soon. and no they don't advertise here, so stop the insinuations."

Perception is everything in this little online realm and this looks odd.

[curtis]

Yeah Dave....since you have direct access to someone over at Audioholics, you should ask.

That said, and judging by their reviews and advertisers, I would be uneasy about them doing a review.

[curtis]

I get a bad feeling reading this. Why would they pull the thread if they wanted to do a review? If they were mad about being painted as biased, they could have EASILY wiped aside those suspicions with a post that said, "hey, what are you guys talking about? We've already contacted ascend to do a review, and they're sending speakers soon. and no they don't advertise here, so stop the insinuations."

Perception is everything in this little online realm and this looks odd.

I'm in 100% agreement...but for me, it is more than a red flag in a breeze.

With what I see, they are in a "no-win" situation. Ascend does not advertise there, Ascend gets a good review, and their advertisers are unhappy....because the "this vs that" questions will come up.

If Ascend gets a so-so review, and they are not an adivertiser......well, you get the picture.

[Jonnyozero3]

Lol, I try not to read into things too much on the 'net, so I temper my comments. But this is hard to ignore.

With what I see, they are in a "no-win" situation. Ascend does not advertise there, Ascend gets a good review, and their advertisers are unhappy....because the "this vs that" questions will come up.

If Ascend gets a so-so review, and they are not an adivertiser......well, you get the picture.

You are saying exactly what I am hesitant to say, because I hate to jump to conclusions. However, this is how it looks to me as well.

[curtis]

I'd rather just see an review in Soundstage.

[mark]

anything we say now is based on speculation. we wont know unless we go straight to the source. I actually enjoyed some of the reviews posted by audioholics. It could be that they view it as a protential heated dicussion and it could be something else

[Jonnyozero3]

I'd rather just see an review in Soundstage.

hahahaha.

I'll second that motion!