copied and pasted here from STEREOMOJO -
There is no doubt that some people would love the Jaton Lyra HD-661DX for two-channel music reproduction. People love speakers like Bose and other brands found at Best Buy and even white vans. But our recommendations are not based on "regular people". Stereomojo is targeted at serious music lovers and those with at least a modicum of audio sophistication. The vast majority of audio review journals would end the review with some vaguely complimentary phrase and leave it at that. That's not us. We think our readers deserve a higher standard of honesty and integrity. Therefore, even though there may be those that would find these speakers attractive, in all honesty we cannot recommend the Jaton Lyra HD-661DX speaker for high end two channel listening. The the edginess, substandard sound stage, and lack of transparency detract from the musical experience. George from Jaton was informed of our findings and was very understanding that we have a responsibility to the reader to publish our findings. He mentioned that they have the responsibility of creating the best possible products for the customer and that they would take these findings into account with regards to the HD-661DX. George said that this model is actually designed to be more of a home theater speaker rather than a two channel audiophile model. Their other line dubbed " Real" is targeted at serious listeners instead.
Publisher's note - Normally when a reviewer comes to a conclusion that he cannot recommend a product based on his listening evaluation, we make arrangements to have the product reviewed by another reviewer in a different system and home. We know that much time, effort and money goes into the design, development, marketing and distribution of a product. Words mean things and we approach our opinions seriously and carefully. In this case, we decided to forego a second review because Bill had not only had several others listen to them, but he had also measured them and found that what everyone had heard was directly related to what the measurements indicated. But we didn't stop there. Even very objective measurements can be open to subjective interpretation. In an effort to garner a second opinion from a highly regarded and independent source, we sent the measurements to GR Research along with our comments to make sure what we said was correct. They were. In addition, nothing in the review, including the measurements, was disputed by Jaton.
I think it is also important to point out that on the front page of Stereomojo is found an advertisement for Jaton. We accept very few ads here and turn down more than we accept. Jaton did pay for a small add. It is well known in the industry that advertisements do play a role in review outcomes. Many times reviews never see the light of day if it turns out to be anything but positive. That is the stated policy of publications like Six Moons and Positive Feedback. That's fine. They have their reasons that have been stated and written publicly. It is the undeclared policy of many others.
For print magazines, manufacturers are often hit up for advertising money - often in the $20,000 range - before a product even gets accepted for review. It's never stated outright that money must change hands and it is never suggested by a reviewer, editor or publisher. It's handled by the advertising department. Very heavy handed and very careful, but the manufacturer gets the message. Of course, this is not always the case. They need to be able to point to one or two examples of things that were reviewed or otherwise "mentioned" - an important distinction - with no advertising evident. But there are ways around that, too. We find this practice unacceptable, which we think is borne out in this review. We think Jaton is a fine company. They have been around for a long time in the computer electronics field and are just recently dipping into the audio arena. We reviewed their amplifier and found it to be exceptional in quality and value. We think they have a lot of potential and working with George Cheng has been nothing but upfront and above board. He's a good guy.
There is no doubt that some people would love the Jaton Lyra HD-661DX for two-channel music reproduction. People love speakers like Bose and other brands found at Best Buy and even white vans. But our recommendations are not based on "regular people". Stereomojo is targeted at serious music lovers and those with at least a modicum of audio sophistication. The vast majority of audio review journals would end the review with some vaguely complimentary phrase and leave it at that. That's not us. We think our readers deserve a higher standard of honesty and integrity. Therefore, even though there may be those that would find these speakers attractive, in all honesty we cannot recommend the Jaton Lyra HD-661DX speaker for high end two channel listening. The the edginess, substandard sound stage, and lack of transparency detract from the musical experience. George from Jaton was informed of our findings and was very understanding that we have a responsibility to the reader to publish our findings. He mentioned that they have the responsibility of creating the best possible products for the customer and that they would take these findings into account with regards to the HD-661DX. George said that this model is actually designed to be more of a home theater speaker rather than a two channel audiophile model. Their other line dubbed " Real" is targeted at serious listeners instead.
Publisher's note - Normally when a reviewer comes to a conclusion that he cannot recommend a product based on his listening evaluation, we make arrangements to have the product reviewed by another reviewer in a different system and home. We know that much time, effort and money goes into the design, development, marketing and distribution of a product. Words mean things and we approach our opinions seriously and carefully. In this case, we decided to forego a second review because Bill had not only had several others listen to them, but he had also measured them and found that what everyone had heard was directly related to what the measurements indicated. But we didn't stop there. Even very objective measurements can be open to subjective interpretation. In an effort to garner a second opinion from a highly regarded and independent source, we sent the measurements to GR Research along with our comments to make sure what we said was correct. They were. In addition, nothing in the review, including the measurements, was disputed by Jaton.
I think it is also important to point out that on the front page of Stereomojo is found an advertisement for Jaton. We accept very few ads here and turn down more than we accept. Jaton did pay for a small add. It is well known in the industry that advertisements do play a role in review outcomes. Many times reviews never see the light of day if it turns out to be anything but positive. That is the stated policy of publications like Six Moons and Positive Feedback. That's fine. They have their reasons that have been stated and written publicly. It is the undeclared policy of many others.
For print magazines, manufacturers are often hit up for advertising money - often in the $20,000 range - before a product even gets accepted for review. It's never stated outright that money must change hands and it is never suggested by a reviewer, editor or publisher. It's handled by the advertising department. Very heavy handed and very careful, but the manufacturer gets the message. Of course, this is not always the case. They need to be able to point to one or two examples of things that were reviewed or otherwise "mentioned" - an important distinction - with no advertising evident. But there are ways around that, too. We find this practice unacceptable, which we think is borne out in this review. We think Jaton is a fine company. They have been around for a long time in the computer electronics field and are just recently dipping into the audio arena. We reviewed their amplifier and found it to be exceptional in quality and value. We think they have a lot of potential and working with George Cheng has been nothing but upfront and above board. He's a good guy.
