The Gramophone used to be the source of review for classical music, highly authoritative with, in most cases, really well written reviews. Their equipment reviews, usually no more than 2 or 3 a month, were undertaken by technically knowledgable music lovers with test equipment, most of whom were very sceptical of some of the 'emperor's new clothes' hype that gained credence in the late seventies and early eighties.
I remember reading a review of the Beovox 2702 in the early seventies that prompted me to go and listen to a pair that I eventally bought. Much later, in the early nineties, they wrote fairly nice things about the BS2500 that intrigued me - at the time the design was pretty radical. I stll have that system in the office!
Lost it's way a bit over recent years, as has the classical recod industry, but the archiv is a real treasure trove.
Cleve