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Until recently, my favorite shirt was one I'd found on a clearance table at Macy's: a red paisley thing with long sleeves and a button-down collar, not unlike the ones seen in photographs of Peter Holsapple or the young Syd Barrett. When I first found it, this shirt was dusty, and appeared to have been marked down at least a half-dozen times before bottoming out at a price that wouldn't buy a six-pack of Mountain Dew at the local stop-and-rob. Maybe it was on the verge of being discarded, but I suspect that the people at Macy's had simply forgotten it was there.

Last night at top floor of the Trump Soho Hotel (New York, NY), the design-oriented firm B&O announced the release of the BeoPlay A9 as part of their new B&O PLAY lineup of products. The BeoPlay A9 is a single active speaker system designed for seamless integration into home environments. The A9 streams music wirelessly from the customers iPhone, iPad or Android device using AirPlay or your DLNA network.

During their presentation to the press, B&O suggested that this product was not necessarily made for the audiophile but instead those interested in design and feeling enriched by one’s surroundings. Apparently, this message did not sink through to the other geeky writers. During the Q&A, reporters continued to prod whether the BeoPlay A9 could be used in stereo mode with two BeoPlays, to which B&O representatives affirmed that it could, but it was not designed for that intent. While the BeoPlay A9 was designed to sound good, more importantly it was designed to look good.

In this video, Stereophile columnist and Analog Planet Editor Michael Fremer and Gary Dell'Abate (aka Baba Booey), producer of the Howard Stern Show, compare the virtues of analog playback to MP3, discuss the release of Nirvana's Nevermind on the spinning black circle, and Mikey coins the phrase 'the viral spread of vinyl.'

Last year's TAVES involved a partnership of Suave Kajko and Simon Au, both from the Toronto area, as well as Michel Plante and Sarah Tremblay, organizers of the well-established Montreal Salon Son & Image (SSI). Michel and Sarah also brought with them most of their staff from SSI. Suave and Simon were new to "show" business, so when it was announced that Michel and Sarah were not going to be involved in this year's show, there was some concern. Would these Torontonians have the élan, the savoir faire, the je ne sais quoi needed to run a show like TAVES.

Mais oui! It was a great show!

The most expensive audio system at TAVES 2012 was in the main ballroom. With components from Burmester's Reference line, the total cost of the system was $500,000. That's according to the advance write-up in Canada HiFi magazine. At the show, I heard $600,000 mentioned as the price. But I guess that when you're at that level, what's an extra $100,000? The system was playing during the show and served as PA system for the concert by Cindy Gomez. How did it sound? On its own, not at the concert, it sounded very good indeed, especially considering the size of the room (huge) and the lack of acoustical treatment. At the concert, it sounded like it could have been any PA system.

The Audio Zone Eliminator speakers ($8900/pair) have a distinctly DIY look, aimed at providing maximum performance with no concession to decor. Bass and midrange are both horn-loaded, the bass using a reproduction of the Electro-Voice DX-15 driver, the midrange a Selenium D330 compression driver, and a Fostex supertweeter. Claimed sensitivity is an astonishing 120dB. The Audio Zone Eliminator is built to order. Audio Zone also offers a variety of amps and preamps (active and passive), at what seem like very reasonable prices (eg, 50W Op-Amp Integrated, $1595), all made in Canada.

I'm a great admirer of Quad electrostatics. . .

Location, location, location. Although there are more factors that go into a successful audio/video show, unless the location and the venue are right, it's really an uphill battle. The organizers of the Toronto Audio Video Entertainment Show recognized that unless the show is in location that's convenient and has a venue that's attractive, only the most devoted audio/videophiles will attend.

They got it right by selecting the King Edward Hotel, a luxury hotel in downtown Toronto, with many restaurants nearby, and also close to theaters. All right, so parking is expensive, but the King Edward is steps from the subway, so it's easily accessible by public transit.