Mistral, a registered trademark in the UK and China, is a Chinese company, based near Canton, that began marketing its audio products overseas in 2002. According to their PR, they are recognized "all over the world for creativity, reliability and credibility." Judging from the rest of their written copy, they must believe that their credibility is so strong that they can dispense with the services of a bilingual writer with a firm command of English grammar.

Since the first Show in which I was involved in the organization (the 1981 <I>Hi-Fi News</I> Show at London's Heathrow Airport), I have arranged a program of seminars where Showgoers can be entertained and also learn more about the theoretical aspects of audio. Axpona was no exception, and for the very first seminar after the Show opened on Friday afternoon, my guests were Mark Waldrep of AIX and iTrax.com (left) and legendary mastering engineer Bob Katz, of Chesky fame and many others (right). We spent 75 minutes talking about the advent of the computer as a high-end audio source, the sonic advantages of high-resolution audio, and the sonic limitations of lossy compression. My thanks to Mark and Bob for taking part, and also to Michael Fremer, Jason Serinus, Jim Smith, John MacDonald, Dick Diamond, and Bill Dudleston for giving up some of their time at Axpona to talk to Showgoers at these seminars.

My loudspeaker seminar on Saturday featured Dick Diamond of YG Acoustics (to the left in Jason's photo), John MacDonald of Audience (far right) and Bill Dudleston of Legacy (immediate right with hand raised). The first half of the session featured each panelist discussing what his goals were as a loudspeaker manufacturer, what technical parameters he felt most correlates with good sound, how he balanced all the various aspects of performance to get a good balance at a specific price, and where he felt there was the greatest room for continued improvement in speaker performance. The second half of the seminar consisted of a Q&A session and there was a lively discussion, including mention of the fact that all three companies featured on the panel continue to manufacture their speakers in the US.

Jim Smith, author of <A HREF=" http://www.stereophile.com/reference/book_review_iget_better_soundi/">G… Better Sound</A>, spent a full hour discussing a host of topics from his book. Among the subjects he was prepared to cover were optimal use of subwoofers, loudspeaker set-up, multi-channel system requirements, room acoustics and treatments, system enhancements, bi-amping, and analog <I>vs</I> digital. In the brief time I spent in the room, questions were lively and plentiful. One in particular, on compression in modern pop recordings, harked back to John Atkinson's recent "<A HREF=" http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/as_we_see_it_the_spaces_between_th… We See It</A>" and his <A HREF=" http://blog.stereophile.com/rmaf2009/squeezing_the_music/">Rocky Mountain Audio Fest presentations</A> on the subject.

<I>Stereophile</I> senior editor Michael Fremer hosted two turntable set-up seminars at Axpona, explaining how to optimally install and set-up a phono cartridge and tonearm for lowest distortion and best sound. He did a great job of demystifying an arcane subject; for those who couldn't attend Axpona, you can see an expanded version of the seminar on his DVD <I>21st Century Vinyl</I>, available from <A HREF="http://ssl.blueearth.net/primedia/home.php?cat=3">this website</A>.

In addition to his enormously impressive hi-rez surround-sound dem mentioned earlier in this report, Mark Waldrep of AIX Records and iTrax.com gave a well-attended seminar on all three Show days explaining how a computer can be used as a valid source in a high-end audio system and demystifying HD music.

Remember our old intern, <a href="http://blog.stereophile.com/stephenmejias/the_system_is_down/">Ariel Bitran</a>? He left us to become a rock and roll star. (But only after we managed to <a href="http://www.stereophile.com/asweseeit/1108awsi/">infect him</a> with a taste for high-quality sound and an even deeper appreciation for music.) His band, Heroes of the Open End, will be performing tomorrow night at Arlene’s Grocery (95 Stanton Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan). This is one of those extremely important shows in the life of any aspiring band: You know, if you don’t draw at least 15 or so people, the club’s manager holds your head down in the toilet bowl while the bouncer pulls out your toenails. It’s bad.