Toronto Audiofest 2019

With its abundance of high rises and freeways, Toronto has the feel of a big, bustling metropolis. It is Canada's most populated city, North America's fourth after Mexico City, New York, and Los Angeles. It is also the country's business epicenter and the only Canadian city to have an MLB team and an NBA one, the latter the Toronto Raptors, the league's 2019 championship winners.

Among Toronto's abiding successes, an audio show hasn't been one of them. While the city hosted the annual TAVES, established in 2011 as primarily an audio show, the event's attempt to transform itself over the ensuing years into CES North, wherein audio content was being superseded with exhibits of robotics, smart devices, wearables, and video gaming, made many in the audio industry feel increasingly abandoned. In June 2018, the beleaguered TAVES called it quits.

Not to worry: That same year, Sarah Tremblay and Michel Plante, long-time organizers of the Montreal Audio Fest, had the foresight to found and hold their own Toronto audio show, the annual Toronto Audiofest. Consensus among exhibitors and attendees was that the inaugural show was a hit.

Which brings us to this year's event, being held at Toronto's Westin Airport Hotel as of right now until October 20. Having covered the successful Montreal audio show earlier this year, right off the bat I noted a few similarities between the two events: Both announced the same number of exhibitors and brands—over 100 and 300, respectively—and perhaps not surprisingly in a country where consuming marijuana in public is legal, they shared the same Woodstock 50th anniversary theme.

It should be fun. Expect to see regular postings of some tasty-looking gear from the big city. Stay tuned.