Part of me thinks that this is exactly what I want. I want to be able to sit back, relax, and enjoy the music.
Then, I think again: The Exposure gear does this for me. It allows me to sit back, relax, and…
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I can do this. It'll be alright. I can use these same words all over again and still love myself. I can use yesterday's forum post as today's blog entry, and people won't hate me. By doing this, by re-posting, I may even reach a few readers who haven't already seen it in the forum. And, hey, I'll even edit it a little bit, so that it's not exactly the same. Here it is:
It's not what you might think. The Montreal Sheraton Center is not that type of hotel. And just so you don't get the wrong idea about "Ten Stories of Pure Passion," the program for the 2007 Festival Son & Image (FSI) makes it clear that it's the "ultimate experience for those who have the passion for electronics, music, home theater and gaming.
What would FSI be without snow? The organizers probably thought that scheduling the show for the middle of April would be pretty safe, but Mother Nature had other ideas, and on the first day, open to the trade and press only, there was enough snow falling to make you think that this was the middle of February. Never mind. The temperature is supposed to rise tomorrow, but, in any case, those who have the "passion" are not about to be deterred by a bit of inclement weather.
If attendees were asked to rank order their interests in "electronics, music, home theater, and gaming," I have a feeling that music would be ranked first. (And gaming almost certainly last.) Although, unlike the Primedia Home Entertainment shows, FSI does not have daily live music as one of the attractions, it had an exhibit by a store selling musical instruments, the well-established Archambault. (They also had, in addition to instruments and sheet music, CDs and DVD, including a good selection of HD-DVDs at very attractive prices.)
KEF is one of the show's sponsors, and had several systems on demo, including a particularly impressive-sounding one featuring the $11k (unless otherwise specified, prices are US$, speaker prices are per pair) 205 Reference, with Chord Electronics digital source (Blu/Dac, $21k) and electronics (CPA 5000 preamp, $24k; SPM 6000 monoblock amps, $53k/pair).
In the same room as the large KEF system, there was a nifty mini-system for iPod users. The heart of the system is the new Fatman iTube iPod tube hybrid integrated amp ($649, including special stand for an iPod, and a second set of inputs for a CD player). Although rated at only 13Wpc, it had no trouble driving a pair of KEF IQ1s ($350). It's pictured here with Jay Rein of Bluebird Music, the North American importer.
Eli and Ofra Gershman of Gershman Acoustics have been exhibitors at just about every audio/home theater show that I've been to in the last few years. They always manage to have good sound, but it's been a while since they've had a new product. They had one this time: the Sonogram ($2500, shown in photo) has a conventional box shape that's unlike their exotic-looking Black Swan, Gap 828, and Avant Garde models. However, I'm told that while the outside appears conventional, appearances can be deceiving, in that the internal structure resembles the pyramid shape that characterizes their…
The advent of digital cameras has re-kindled my interest in photography, and I enjoy discuss photography in person and on some Internet forums. Doug Schneider of SoundStage.com (left) is another "photo guy," and one I know likes to use flash in his photography. I avoid using flash whenever I can, but I do use it sometimes; lately, I've been having more success with flash using the Gary Fong Lightsphere II, a light diffuser that bears a resemblance to something made by Tupperware. I had the Lightsphere II with me at the Show, so when I ran into Doug at FSI, I was excited about showing…
Dan Wright's career in audio started as a modifier of D/A converters and CD players. Although his company, ModWright instruments, still does digital source component modifications (he says he finds SACD players to be the best candidates for modification), he has also developed his own preamplifiers and phono stage. The latest of Dan's preamps is the LS 36.5 balanced tube line stage ($4995), which uses his own custom-designed MWI capacitors, 6H30 Russian Super Tubes, and a 5AR4 tube-rectified power supply. He also introduced the new SWP 9.0 SE phono stage at FSI.
This is in the "Better Late Than Never" department: At the end of the 2007 CES, John Atkinson auditioned Sonus Faber's new Elipsa loudspeakers, but he ran out of space on his camera's memory card, so he was not able to take a picture. After the show, JA emailed the other writers that had attended CES, asking if anyone happened to take a picture of the Elipsa. None of us had. So, John, this is for you: a picture of a pair of Elipsas, which were making sweet music, driven by Ayre electronics.