For the sixth consecutive 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 five 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.); and Accessories (everything else). In previous years, we have given an award for Home Theater Component of the Year. Now that Stereophile Guide to Home Theater is well-established, and will be published 10 times per year from its January 1997 issue, we feel that this category properly belongs in that magazine’s area. However, to be fair to their manufacturers, we decided that subwoofers and two-channel loudspeakers that were reviewed in SGHT in the same time period were eligible to be nominated.

The two most important categories, however, are the “Component of the Year” itself—the Best of the Best—and the “Budget Component of the Year”—the best sound for the buck. There’s also an “Editors’ Choice” award, which John Atkinson previously reserved to himself to single out the superb-sounding product that had impressed him the most. In previous years, to be eligible for “Editor’s Choice,” a component must have been continuously available for at least a decade. Last year we abandoned that standard, and this year Wes Phillips, arguing that some products deserve to be honored for qualities not always recognized in the voting process, inveigled JA into establishing a jointly chosen “Editors’ Choice.”

The formal voting procedure consists 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 1996 and October 1997 issues, either in a full Equipment Report, in a Follow-Up review, or in Sam Tellig’s or Michael Fremer’s regular columns. Most important, only those components could be nominated for which a writer had put his opinion in print for public scrutiny. 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. The prices listed are those that were current at the end of August 1997.

Twenty-four 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: Loudspeaker of 1997 »

ARTICLE CONTENTS

Page 1
Loudspeaker of 1997
Joint Amplification Components of 1997
Digital Source of 1997
Joint Analog Sources of 1997
Accessory of 1997
Budget Component of 1997
1997 Component of the Year
Editors’ Choice

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