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Like Home Again

Almost there. And vodka tonics make lifting easier.

At some point during the course of the day, John Atkinson comes into my office to remind me that women only want one thing: “Women only want one thing,” he says. “You know what that is?”

I wait for it.

“They want to move your furniture.”

All this time I thought he was joking around, but it appears he’s been telling the hard truth. Check this out: I had mentioned my problem to Eloise. Eloise is a student at the New York School of Interior Design. She’s also a music lover. She’s also incredibly cool…

Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton

“Children by the million sing for Alex Chilton when he comes 'round They sing "I'm in love. What's that song? I'm in love with that song." (from “Alex Chilton” by The Replacements) My five month old cell phone fried itself dead. Traffic in downtown Austin crawled inch by inch. A friend, who called himself a “capitalist,” called long distance to tell me Obama’s health plan was going to bankrupt the country. But all of that paled in comparison to the strange news that on the first night of South By Southwest 2010, the great Alex Chilton had died just before leaving New Orleans to come to…

The Room, Today

And here's how the room looks today. As I said, it looks, feels, and sounds like home.

It sounds better than ever, in fact.

Over the last couple of nights, I've had several of those spine-tingling moments of wonder and awe over the excellent sound in my room. There is greater overall clarity, more precisely focused images within a wider and deeper soundstage, more drama, more musical flow, a more relaxed presentation. What can be responsible for this improvement in the sound?

Is it the return of the little bookshelf? The wall of beautiful vinyl? The…

(Don’t F With) Dre Day

You might’ve noticed my big smiling mug on the stereophile.com home page today, calling attention to my review of Monster’s Beats by Dr. Dre headphones. When I posed for that picture&#151a few months ago and with a hellish hangover from a night of fun spent at John DeVore’s Monkeyhaus&#151I had no idea that I’d be today’s top model. The photo was the work of our sneaky web monkey, Jon Iverson. I came into the office, went to our site, and spit coffee all over my monitor. Hilarious.

My mom saw the picture this morning and commented, “You should’ve shaved, Stevie.”…

Show Report Coming Soon!

Stereophile's John Atkinson, Stephen Mejias, Robert Deutsch, and Art Dudley will be reporting live from the 2010 Salon Son & Image show in Montreal.

On Our Way to Montreal

The Salon Son & Image hi-fi show opens on Friday, March 26, in Montreal, one of the world’s friendliest and most colorful cities. Tomorrow morning, John Atkinson will arrive at my front door, and we’ll drive the 376 miles from Jersey City to Montreal’s Hilton Bonaventure, where its rooftop garden and two floors of music await us.

It should take about six hours to get there, and we plan to stop for nothing.

We’ll be blogging from the show, so be sure to check in often.

Press Day

Today is Press Day at the 2010 Salon Son & Image, located at the extraordinary Hilton Bonadventure, a penthouse hotel perched above the Place Bonadventure exhibition center, built for the 1967 World’s Fair. At the moment, exhibitors and members of the press are just getting acquainted with the unusual hotel, which has an extremely tempting heated outdoor pool and garden views at every turn. Lines are just beginning to form at the registration desk, where I couldn’t help but say hello to the charming staff.

Now that I have my show guide, press badge, and blue wig, I can…

Chance Encounters

You’ve heard this before from us, but only because it’s true and remains an important point: A great part of the fun (and, therefore, value) in attending hi-fi shows comes from the chance encounters that inevitably take place in the show halls. We’re all trying to get somewhere fast, and these encounters invariably slow us down, but almost always for the better. We get to see the people who work so hard to bring great music into our homes. Here, for instance, I had the pleasure of bumping into Ayre Acoustics’ Steve Silberman (left) and Magico’s Irv Gross (far right).

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A Welcoming Environment

Simple "Enter" signs posted on exhibitors' doors, and made to match the color of the show hall, work to create a welcoming environment at SSI 2010.

A Party Atmosphere

From the perspective of an attendee, Salon Son & Image 2010 may be the ideal hi-fi show. While the Hilton Bonadventure is a massive, sprawling location, the exhibitor rooms on the main floor are clearly marked and easily identifiable by a specific color referred to in the official show guide: There are green, purple, red, and blue halls, all with pleasant lighting made to match. In the green hall, just around the corner from my own room, we find Audio D’Occasion, Cardas Audio, Hathor Acoustik, Joseph Audio, Sensational Musicale, and Verity Audio.

One hall leads seamlessly to…