Announcing A New Audio WEB Site
                            "The Audio Asylum"
                        http://www.imperium.net/~glg
        My new Audio WEB Site is now officially open.  The "Audio
Asylum" features CD recommendations for the serious audiophile
who cares not only about content, but Audio QUALITY as well.
        Part of the reason I created the CD recommendation sections
was to deal with the shortcomings of magazine music reviews (and even
many Internet reviews).  There are several problems I have with most
typical music reviews.  These include:
1> Magazine reviews rarely tell you what system(s) they evaluate any
given album with.  The reader has no idea how to gauge the writer's
comments on sound quality.  For all the reader knows, the writer may
have auditioned the album completely on a cheap portable CD player
with earbud headphones while reading a newspaper in a park.
2> Sound Quality scales in magazines are often non-standardized.  When
a writer says the sound quality for one album is "zippy" and
"shredded" for another, I feel like I'm reading about cereal not
audio!  A simple A-F scale is badly needed.
3> Magazines that have several reviewers that contribute one or two
reviews each month make it difficult to get to know an individual
reviewer and whether your tastes match that reviewer at all.  To do so
requires comparing many magazines all at once or having a very good
memory for matching names (or worse yet initials) with several month
old reviews.
4> Magazines, for some inexplicable reason, feel the need to review
albums that they don't like.  Why waste the reader's time with albums
that are no good?  Who really wants to read a put-down review
(especially if one really disagrees with writer in question)?
Pot-shot reviewing is worthless, in my opinion.  It would be better to
ignore the disc or let someone who enjoys that album review it, so
they can point out why one might want to buy it.  There's just too
many albums out there to have a list of bad albums, IMO.
        The Audio Asylum's recommended CD lists attempt to deal with
these shortcomings.  The current HiFi system used to audition compact
discs is listed in the HiFi Hardware page along with short reviews of
the hardware.  A standardized sound quality scale based on a simple
A-F scale (described) is used throughout based on the current best
sounding discs.  I will adjust the scale to include large improvements
in CD sound by adding higher ratings (such as A+++ should I find a CD
with a vast improvement over current discs) or by adjusting current
ratings.  Unless noted otherwise in the future, I am the sole reviewer
for the pages and all reviews are available at once for inspection
across two lists (the number of lists may change over time).
        Currently, one list features classical, orchestral,
soundtracks, and other non-rock category CDs and the other list
features Pop and Rock CDs.  All CDs recommended are subjectively
approved and short to medium length reviews are provided.  I will not
recommend albums I don't like, irrespective of sound quality.  A super
high quality CD with uninteresting music is merely a demo CD to show
off to one's friends.  I only recommend discs I enjoy.  I make no
guarantees you will enjoy them, however.
        The Audio Asylum exists also to introduce the High End Audio
Community to Japanese Anime CD Soundtracks.  Many of these soundtracks
are of exceptional audio quality and contain a vast variety of musical
styles.  I found it surprising that some of the best sounding discs
are not well known.  Included is a page that lists a number of places
to purchase these discs from and description of what ANIME is.
        For those interested, there is also a photography section (a
hobby of mine), which features a variety of 24-bit scans of some of my
pictures.  Everything from photos from the Cleveland Rock&Roll Hall of
Fame to photos of Comet Hyakutake are featured.  There is also a LINKS
page featuring various HiFi Sites (such as the Audio FAQ), and other
topics of interest.
        The Audio Asylum will continue to be updated as I find more
discs that I recommend, hardware is updated and reviewed, LINKS are
added, etc.
        This is a non-profit, private site, provided completely on my
own time as a service to the High End Audio Community.  I hope this
site encourages other sites featuring similar standardized methods to
be developed, so we can all make better buying decisions and discover
new and different styles of music, not neccessarily receiving much, if
any, airplay on the radio.  I can only review discs I buy and approve
(unless record companies decide to start sending me free samples :),
so the range of discs I can review is limited to what I own or buy in
the future.  Thus the creation of more sites would benefit the HiFi
community even more (myself included).
        This site uses standarized HTML code with some optimizations
for Netscape extensions (but NO FRAMES!).  It is best viewed with a
graphical browser, but is still HIGHLY LYNX (text browser) friendly
(It was created on a C= Amiga with a graphics browser and the Amiga
version of LYNX to accomodate as many users as possible while still
providing a few frills for graphics viewers.) Where tables are used,
they have been modified to be readable even with older non-table
supporting browsers.  LINKS from other audio, anime, or photography
web pages are encouraged.
--
          -           Gordon Gilbert | glg@imperium.net        -
          -          The Audio Asylum on the Internet          -
          -            http://www.imperium.net/~glg            -
 * AmyBW v2.14 *
... "There is no dark side of the moon really.  Matter of fact, it's all 
rk"
--- FLAME v1.1
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