The rumor is that show attendance was down from about 11,000 to 8,000 and the number of rooms down 20% year over year.

Considering that the Canada economy is doing well (oil, the Olympics, their dollar vis-a-vis what is left of ours) one can only think that it is those of us from the lower 50 states that decided to stay home this year.

It also augers perhaps a lean year at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest this fall.

As almost everyone now knows, the Kharmas did not get put out of action by a static electricity discharge as Stereophile reported, but were instead rendered inoperable by user piloting error [hmmmm.. so sound? Turn up the volume all the way. Still no sound? Oh, forgot to press play. Blam! Oh, hmmm… no sound]. No, I’m not saying who it was – but it wasn’t us, thankfully.

Other than that, nothing much to report from afar.

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.

[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.