LATEST ADDITIONS

Seeing as it's smack dab in the middle of the New York Marathon route, finding a way into The Park Lane Hotel presented its share of challenges, even on Saturday: though the race wouldn't begin until Sunday, gangs of scantily clad runners of all shapes and sizes dominated the sidewalks of Central Park South, forcing pedestrians to hit the concrete and scream, Ratso Rizzo style, "Hey! I'm walkin' here!"

Whether large in scope and scale or just a few small rooms at the end of a hotel hallway, I get a kick out of hi-fi shows…

My Friday-morning train from upstate New York arrived in Manhattan ahead of schedule—how often does that happen?—giving me the luxury of walking, rather than taking a subway or a cab, to the Park Lane Hotel, located on West 59th Street: this year's venue for the New York Audio Show. By the time I reached the Park Lane Hotel's posh-minus entrance, I felt as though I'd entered a whole different world—but this time I wasn't sneering. Indeed, I was wondering: what would it take for all these people of means to take interest in our little world of handmade electronics and rare phono cartridges and loudspeakers that were surely meant to be enjoyed in the largest and grandest of rooms? For people who are used to the best of everything, is high-end audio really that big a leap?

That scraping noise you hear is coming from the bottom of the barrel.

Saturday November 5, 1–7pm, Toronto's Wynn Audio , who demonstrated a Goldmund-Tidal-Thales system costing $1,135,196 at last weekend's TAVES show, are opening their new showroom at Unit 31-20 Wertheim Court, Richmond Hill, Ontario L4B 3A8.