by Michael

FSI: Festival Son & Image: Montreal 2008 (updated)

Checking out the reports….

Cruising AudioXSell, it looks like Lamm brought their $139K ML3 amplifiers to the show. Looks like the Lohengren or Sarastro speakers. I guess this means we can show the Marten Coltrane Supremes one of these years without shocking the Canadians.

It also looks like Tenor is showing with Avalon Eidolon or Eidolon-ish speakers. So Kharma doesn’t appear to be there.

Audio Note isn’t there either – because none of us really got it together for this show on time. Officially, Audio Federation does not handle Canada – but we thought about doing the show anyway. The Montreal Show is a lot of fun 🙂

EnjoyTheMusic has their report. Positive Feedback, SonicFlare all look like they will not cover the show. Nothing in the discussions (kind of a blessing) on Audio Asylum or Audiogon. Nothing on Audio Circle. No wonder people like our show reports.

6moons has posted A Report. For some reason they covered many of which are traditionally the worst sounding rooms. Go figure.

Thanks to everybody (especially Robert Gaboury) for pointing me to the following reports:

Stereophile Montreal FSI Show Report [Why I didn’t think of this since this is ‘their’ show, I just couldn’t tell you. Neli, however, can go on at extreme length about my periodic lapses of common sense – and does. Frequently :-)]

UHF Magazine Montreal FSI Show Report. UHF is a Canadian print magazine so it makes sense that they should have great coverage.

Magazine Audio’s FSI page but I did not find any actual coverage there yet.

We will add more links to show reports as we (and you) find them.

in High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo / Show Reports 0 comments
 by Michael

FSI Montreal Opens Today

[The following is their press release. I was of the opinion that RMAF was the ‘largest consumer electronics show open to public in North America’, but FSI is certainly up there. Maybe the U.S. has succeeded from North America and nobody told any of us. Wouldn’t surprise me these days.

And it looks like Stereophile finally found their show away from their show to sponsor.

It sucks that we are missing it. Why are we missing this again, Neli?]

Subject: Opening of Festival Son & Image 2008 Thursday April 3

The Festival Son & Image (FSI), the largest consumer electronics show open to public in North America, will be launched tomorrow, Thursday April 3, 2008, at the Sheraton Centre Montréal, located at 1201 René‑Lévesque Boulevard West. This first day is exclusively for industry professionals and the press, who, of course, are all welcome throughout the weekend.

The FSI, which has a new partner in the prestigious audio magazine Stereophile, will go on for the following three days, that is Friday, Saturday, and Sunday April 4, 5, and 6. Visitors from the general public will have the opportunity to discover all the newest in high-end audio and home theater on the 11 floors of the show, where some 120 brands are represented.

This is an event not to be missed for quality audio-video and new technologies enthusiasts and specialists alike.

in High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo / Show Reports 0 comments
 by Michael

News of the Week

A lot of unrated bits and pieces.

Apparently Hi-Fi+

was in dire straits when it was purchased.

Besides that nugget, 98% of what goes on Audio Asylum is bickering. So, yeah, nothing new there.

Mike (me) is miffed

that 1/2 of the hallway A on the 29th floor of the large photos section of the CES report was missing the photos and commentary and no one (NO ONE) told him (me). 😉

I have been listening

to a hip-hop radio station and it is great. Well, except for the repeating of about 10 songs over and over (not kidding) and the SHOUTING at me between songs to buy stuff, or, as often as not, telling me HOW GREAT they are that they are not running a commercial that particular moment.

But they play the Hip Hop’s that is a blend of techno (electronics), disco (it has a beat), rap (one can understand the words and they use a lot of slang) and soul (it is not angry like rap, instead it is more like love songs and good times). Anyway, sometimes it is nice for a pick-me-up, and then switching to the classical station at the first commercial to balance out the hormones and minimize the speeding ticket income of the local police.

Let’s see.

The Kegon Balanced

amps kick butt. They control the Kharmas like nothing else I have heard. I just sit there and listen to them and it is so fun, switching between the glory of the harmonic structure and the beauty of the music and the impressiveness of he control.

Solid state amps on the Kharmas, and probably on everything, can be likened to SHOUTING [I know, twice in one post with the all caps shouting. What is with that?] when they get loud. The drive the speaker by punishing it. By throwing watts at it. But a great tube amp drives it by controlling it with an iron fist.

I am not saying that solidstate amps don;t have their place. Sometimes we want to punish the senses, to push them aggressively. After work, sometimes we might want to let off some steam, or to get a little rowdy.

Kind of like a couple of shots of tequila versus a glass of fine wine. I’ve enjoyed both [and now enjoy neither] and it is great that music, and our systems, can be tailored to suit our every mood and desire… 😉

Danny Kaey reviews

the Audi car stereo over on sonicflare. This is probably a step above the one in my Audi S8, even though I had it replaced about 6 months ago [a pushbutton on the dash had fallen off, so they replaced the whole unit. Ah, German engineering. You have to love it. You have to wonder why.]. As I get older [yes, it happens here at Audio Federation too, darn it] I wouldn’t mind taking a look at that A8 V12. But just a look, mind you. A good… long…. look.

Oh, the stereo is decent. It is well-balanced, top to bottom for what it has to work with. A little tipped up [or more like pumped up, the port frequency of the door?] in the bass to counter the bass of the wheels on the road. I don’t listen to XM or Sirius – which needs like a tube radio or something to be moire than just bearable, it is so bright and neutral sounding [aka DIGITAL]. The stereo, for me, is better than the ones in the less expensive Audis and was way better than the Levinson in the Lexus, the Levinson being worse than the cheaper Bose in the Lexus. So, the Audi Bose system is nice, but no great shakes… it is not audiophile, IMHO.

in Audio Note / CES 2008 / High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo / Music / News 0 comments