Ye Olde Editor, contemplating on a high deck in Tiberias, Sea of Galilee, Israel, 2022. (Portrait by John Robinson; image processing by Ye Olde Etc.)
Just yesterday Positive Feedback posted notice of the launch of an audiophile standards group: the Association of International Audiophile Publications. The formation of this new high-end audio association took most of a year, as the founding group came to an agreement as to its statement of ethical principles, and then proceeded with the design, testing, and launch of its new website: https://aiap-online.org.
This group arose out of an idea I had some three or four years ago. As a longtime teacher and professor, I have a deep commitment to professional standards and practices, and thought that it would be significant if a larger association of audio publications could produce a common statement of principles. No one was interested at that time, and I filed the idea away.
About a year ago, Steven Rochlin of Enjoy the Music and I were talking about publishing issues, and the deep cynicism that many audiophiles have about the honesty and integrity of many audiophile sites/journals/magazines.
I mentioned my earlier idea to Steven, and he immediately responded with real enthusiasm.
And so, I took on the task of coordinating the assessment of interest for this group. I found that there were ten publications interested in forming such an association. We spent several months debating the content of the Statement of Principles before finally coming to a consensus about our final draft document. The result will be seen HERE, at the AIAP Web site, which I commend to your attention most highly.
Note that I am only acting as the Coordinator of the AIAP. All member publications are freely associated, and we operate by seeking consensus on any issues that we might see. It's a privilege to work with such highly talented and passionate fellow publications and their contributors.
For those wishing to watch a brief video of reflections about the AIAP and its mission, you are welcome to visit our fellow Founding member Greg Weaver's YouTube video at the audio analyst:
Do note that Greg mentions eight founding members of the AIAP; there are actually ten.
The official AIAP press release follows:
AIAP Press Release regarding its formation and launch of its Web site
(Happy Valley, OR, June 4, 2022) The founding members wish to announce the launch of the Association of International Audiophile Publications (AIAP).
The AIAP is composed initially of ten audiophile publications from around the world, all dedicated to a set of ethical and professional standards. These have been organized as a Statement of Principles, which the founding member publications have all agree to adhere to as guidelines for ethical and professional operations at their publications. This statement is available as a download in three languages so far (English, Polish, and Croatian) at the AIAP Web site.
Our Web site and Statement of Principles will be found at https://www.aiap-online.org.
The ten founding publications of the AIAP include the following:
the audio analyst https://www.theaudioanalyst.com
Enjoy the Music https://www.enjoythemusic.com
Hifimedia https://www.hifimedia.hr
Hi-fi+ https://hifiplus.com
High Fidelity https://highfidelity.pl/@lang-en
Hifistatement https://www.hifistatement.net
HomeTheaterReview https://hometheaterreview.com
Part-Time Audiophile https://parttimeaudiophile.com
Positive Feedback http://leda.positive-feedback.com
Stereonet https://www.stereonet.com
All members of the AIAP are committed to providing the best in high-end audio/video journalism, and are pledged to do so according to our mutually agreed Statement of Principles.
We invite audiophiles and videophiles everywhere to go to our site and read our statement for themselves.
Note that the AIAP Web site is not a discussion site, nor do we act as audio ombudsmen or audio advisors. Readers are invited to visit the AIAP member sites and use the communication tools there to pursue questions or email any of our member publications. The “Contact Us” form will send a direct email to Dr. David W. Robinson of Positive Feedback, who acts as Coordinator for the AIAP.
We welcome all interested to visit our site, and familiarize yourselves with our Statement of Principles.
I'll underline this invitation. All audiophiles should check out our site ASAP.
