Hi-Fi Heretic was an American specialist audio magazine published from 1985 to 1991. HFH reviewed stereo components that offered both exceptional musicality and high value-for-money. In addition to evaluating equipment (The Means), the magazine featured a broad variety of articles on music (The End).
The final four issues (Numbers 11 through 14) are free to view and download by clicking on the links to the left. Note this copyrighted material is made available free of charge by express permission of the publisher/copyright owner.
Hi-Fi Heretic Number 1 Cover and Introduction (1985)
We are undertaking the publication of a quarterly audio magazine that we feel will be unique in the American marketplace. Rejecting both the “cost-is-no-object” approach of the underground reviews, and the homogenized approbation of the mass-market magazines, Hi-Fi Heretic will review audio components with the emphasis on sound quality and value.
Hi-Fi Heretic utterly rejects the notion that most hi-fi equipment sounds the same. That belief contradicts the findings of a great many experienced audiophiles. Moreover, it ignores the disparate emphases each manufacturer places on such diverse design criteria as sound quality, reliability, price, appearance, user ease, etc.
HFH also rejects the idea that high-quality audio components must necessarily cost a great deal of money. The “you get what you pay for” philosophy fails to recognize that design talent and innovation are not equally distributed among manufacturers; that, indeed, a clever engineer can often produce a better product for less money than his competitors.
Audio components are a means to an end, that end being the enjoyment of recorded music, rather than an end unto themselves. Hi-Fi Heretic is intended for those music lovers who enjoy hi-fi as a hobby, but never lose sight of the fact that it plays a subservient role to the music itself.
We do not represent ourselves as infallible experts, nor shall we treat our readers with condescension and arrogance. Hi-Fi Heretic merely seeks to assemble a list of products worthy of the sensible audiophile’s attention.
Indeed, the single most important point we can make is this: You will never be truly happy with your audio system unless you audition and select each of its components yourself. The ephemeral proclamations of reviewers inevitably lead to disappointment, as last week’s triumph is next week’s trash. Only when you understand why you bought something will you be genuinely satisfied.
Copyright ©1985-1991 Hi-Fi Heretic. All rights reserved.
