The times that Stereophile writers have available when the Montreal show itself is running is too limited to allow a visit to the Museum, but one of these days I'll just have to make the time. Here's Museum Board Member Pierre Valiquette with…
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SSI had a display of vintage gramophones and radios, courtesy of Montreal's Emile Berliner Museum. They've had this for several shows now, and it's always wonderful to see these artifacts that tell the history of our hobby. The Museum is member-supported, and publishes a pamphlet, His Master's Voice, four times a year, in English and French.
"Oui, Monsieur! You get a copy of Stereophile magazine with every admission to the show! It's an unbelievable deal, n'est ce pas?"
The Pierre Gabriel speakers usually demonstrated at the Montreal show are normally humongous affairs, and, with partnering equipment by Jadis, the system price may leave you with little change from a $500k bill. I was surprised, then, to see a relatively modest-looking—but still very-good-sounding—speakers playing in the Pierre Gabriel/Jadis room.
The speaker was the 15th Anniversary "Presents" (if my notes are correct), priced at CN$7500/pair. Alas, if you want the accompanying Jadis electronics and digital front end, you have to be prepared to shell out $25,000 for the preamp, $…
Which do you prefer: tube sound or transistor sound?
Now, don't give me that "audio equipment should have no sound at all, it should be merely faithful to the source." And none of your "it depends on how well the design principles are implemented." Assume it's a forced choice: you have to choose one or the other, and no arguments or requests for clarification.
If you don't like having to make such a choice, or if your answer is "it depends on the mood I'm in. . .sometimes I like a tube sound, and at other times I like more of a solid-state sound" then you have some kindred…
Based in Calgary, Alberta, Grant Fidelity is the North American distributor of a range of Chinese-made audio electronics, under various brand names.
Their motto is "Hi-End, not High Priced!" and while one could quibble with their spelling choices—if you're going to use the modern phonetic spelling of "high" then at least be consistent with it—the products are certainly very attractive and seem to represent excellent value. The products bearing the Grant Fidelity brand name involve design input from Canada.
A good example is the A-534 tube integrated amp, pictured here. It…
I am only familiar with the name "Solen" from the company's audiophile-quality capacitors and other passive components, so I wasn't sure what to expect when I entered the room labeled "Solen." The beautifully finished speakers, demmed with an Ayre C7-xe CD player, Accuphase preamp, and Rotel power amp, were one-off designs to show off what coud be achieved by the audiophile interested in "rolling his own." (Selections from AudioXpress magazine's library of speaker design books were also on show.) The large speaker with the outboard crossover sounded pretty good, I thought. It combined…
Is it just my perception, or do people who are looking through bins of LPs have a kind of happy excitement about them? The vinyl-buying folks at SSI sure seemed to be a really happy lot. Selecting CDs seems to be a much more matter-or-fact endeavor. And I can't imagine anyone getting too excited about the act of buying a new hard drive for their music server.
No, it's not the fact that the Sheraton Centre bar is not absolutely teeming with people. They're in the exhibitors' rooms, listening to music.
The answer this question, you have to think outsize the box—or, in this case, outside the building.
Give up? There's something wrong with the picture in that this is the time of the Montreal show, and it's not snowing! A first! It's raining, however, and if the temperature happens to take an unexpected dip...
What a cool piece of gear: Handmade in Plymouth, Minnesota, the Audio Research VSi60 vacuum tube integrated amplifier ($4000) is a fairly compact unit (14" x 8" x 16") that delivers 50Wpc. Its milled top plate has an inset AR logo, while its striking front panel has super-cool function and volume LEDs on the left and totally caressable, soft-touch buttons on the right.
Son-Or-Filtronique's Dany Poulin stands with the Verity Audio Finn. Paired with the Audio Research VSi60 integrated amplifier and CD 8 disc player, the Finns, which are rated at 91dB efficiency and use a rear-firing woofer, were making some gorgeous sounds.