Sarah Tremblay and Michel Plante are the dynamic duo responsible for the success of SSI. Like the shark, they believe in always moving forward, coming up with new ideas every year, such as the focus on sub-$5000 systems and headphones at SSI 2013.

Audio Plus/Plurison is the importer of the Pathos line of audio electronics. Like Cambridge—another Audio Plus import—these fall into the moderately priced category. The products pictured are the Convert o DAC ($1295) and the Aurium ($1495) headphone amp.

The Tannoy/Linn room had a nice-sounding setup featuring the Tannoy DC-10S speakers ($17,500/pair), Linn Akurate preamp/media streamer ($9350), and Akurate 4200 four-channel amp ($8360). The speakers were had a very attractive glossy finish, which is now offered as an alternative to the traditional Tannoy satin.

In a very different financial world than the Wilson/VTL and Magico/Constellation offerings below—and a world that, frankly, I'm much more comfortable in—were the Cambridge range of electronics and speakers. The small Minx speakers in the foreground of the picture above are $200/pair, $599 in a 2.1 setup that includes a subwoofer.

Another room that made no claim to being anywhere close to "entry level," featured the ultra-expensive Constellation electronics (Virgo preamplifier, $27,500, Centaur monoblocks, $54,000/pair, and Cygnus Media Player, $29,000). The speakers were the Magico S5s; at $29,500/pair, these are below the median of the Magico price range. The sound was admittedly lovely. Pictured (left to right) are Irv Gross of Magico and Peter Madnick of Constellation.

The train I took from Toronto to Montreal arrived at 2:30pm, right on schedule, so I was able to meet Art Dudley in the hotel lobby at 3:00 to discuss the game plan for covering the 2013 Salon Son & Image. As we pored over the map of the exhibits, Wilson Audio's Peter McGrath (right, with VTL's Luke Manley) came over to us and reminded Art that he had agreed to visit the Wilson/VTL room at 3:30. As it turned out, Art and I decided to cover the show geographically, and the Wilson/VTL room was going to be part of my beat, so I went along with Art.

Here’s Philip O’Hanlon of the California-based distribution company On a Higher Note, looking like he just stepped out of a Donovan album. His system he demonstrated for Montreal retailer Coup de Foudre, which I’ll describe in another post, comprised Luxman source components and electronics and Vivid loudspeakers, wired with Cardas cables—and it sounded great, especially considering that Philip’s gear had just arrived the night before!

Most of us know Canada’s Solen Electronique as a manufacturer of well-regarded capacitors (they call them condensateurs up here) and inductors, but they offer a wide variety of parts to manufacturers and hobbyists alike. Here we see a selection of hardware, the likes of which you won’t find at your local Home Depot.