RGA, the popularity malaise that you describe is exactly what Klaus at Odyssey told me when he was building my Candela and I complained to him about the website being out of date. He as only two other techs on staff and can't keep up with demand, not to mention keeping the website up to date (although he has found someone to do it now). He wishes that he had more time to grow the business side of Odyssey, but he's too busy building the gear. Outsourcing really isn't an option for him since that would increase costs and affect QC. He's actually retracted from previous outsourcing deals (The Nightingale and Circe speakers) exactly for those reasons.

To answer your other point, maybe there ought to be a magazine (or site) that doesn't claim to be a reviewing rag, but instead just showcases new gear with specs and pics. I know there are some mags that sorta do that, but I was thinking about one that would be a little more impartial and less advertising-driven. Also, if there is one thing that would make magazines like Stereophile more appealing is more photos, particularly of the back-sides of gear.

I also think that online sites are a useful source for reviews in general because it's a great place to aggregate many opinions together. Granted, this tends to favor the products with more distribution, but over time, I think the better products will eventually emerge. This site (Audio Review) is a good place, but I do wish it was more complete. It actually surprises me how few of us who contribute posts on the forums almost daily actually also write reviews. Maybe more incentives might help?