Speaking of change—and families—the show's tireless…
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Things change. Montreal's annual hi-fi show used to be called Salon Son et Image, but now it's called Salon Audio Montreal—or, for non-Quebecois, the Montreal Audio Fest. It takes place in a Hotel that used to be called the Hilton Bonaventure, but is now called the Bonaventure Hotel. It's a consumer-oriented show that used to charge admission, but is now open to the public, free of charge. You can bring the whole family for all three days of the show and still have money left over for smoked-meat sandwiches and poutine: think of it!
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau really is a swell guy, especially to audiophiles. Having heard that one of his country's own would be covering the Montreal Audio Fest this year on behalf of Stereophile, Trudeau called me personally to insist that he arrange my transport to the show's venue, the Bonaventure Hotel, by way of "Royal Escort,' an honorary custom normally reserved for dignitaries of ally countries.
Which is why, barely six hours of this writing, I was whisked by air for the show's Friday morning opening in a Ferrari-red Airbus AS365 N3+ helicopter, my backseat companion…
I love Tannoy loudspeakers—more than most other brands that have been around since the late Devonian, their contemporary products retain many of the qualities that made their forebears famous, not to mention great—but for whatever reason, every year in Montreal I tend to visit the room co-sponsored by Quebec Tannoy distributor Zidel Marketing fairly late in the show. This year they were first on my list, even before going record shopping.
I was not disappointed. As last year, the demonstration system was built around the huge Tannoy Kingdom Royal ($CAD90,000/pair), with a Krell Digital…
As I expected, the show on Saturday quickly devolved into a fisticuff free-for-all, especially in rooms exhibiting the level of pricy gear no one gets to hear in real life except at an audio show, with desperate patrons taking it upon themselves to physically remove "seat campers" out of listening chairs meant for all. Just kidding, of course. Well, mostly kidding. Indeed, as far as I know, it never came to punches or hostile seat take-overs among audiophiles; the prevailing mood on Saturday was one of joviality and eager anticipation. Rudeness was low, attendance high, coffee aplenty, and…
After all that work on the first day, a break was in order. A record-shopping break.
The evening before the show started, I was told by co-organizer Sarah Tremblay that the LP-vending area for Montreal Audio Fest 2018 was double that of last year's show—news akin to telling a retiree that the senior citizen's discount at Cracker Barrel has just been doubled. I made a beeline to the foire du vinyle in one of the Hotel's Fontaine Ballrooms and was thrilled at the sheer quantity of LPs on offer.
The selection was impressive, spanning every genre. I believe all of the vendors…
The venerable Japanese firm Luxman and the German turntable manufacturer Acoustic Signature—whose President, Gunther Frohnhofer, I had the pleasure of meeting on Friday—shared a room in which Raidho C3.2 and D2.1 loudspeakers (respectively $US37,500/pair and $US44,00/pair) were driven by Luxman M700u power amps running in mono ($US8995/pair), in turn driven by a Luxman C700u preamplifier ($US8995), fed by a Luxman EQ500 phono preamp ($US6495) and Melco N1ZH v2 music server ($US5000). LPs were played on Acoustic Signature Double X ($CAD5500) and Storm turntables ($CAD9000), both fitted with…
As I broached the Bonaventure Hotel's lobby into Montreal's Audio Fest on Sunday, my immediate thought was: "Where is everybody?", followed soon after by "Yay, free listening seats!" Why attendees flock en masse to the show on Saturday rather than spread themselves out into Sunday, a day when exhibitor rooms have been optimized over three days to sound their best, is a mystery to me that feels not unlike a secret I'm better off not sharing with anyone but my closest audio buds.
And speaking of audio buds, my fake award for overall best retail audio store representative at this year's…
On Saturday morning, the Montreal Audio Fest seemed to get crowded in the blink of an eye: One minute I was stepping out of my room in the Hotel Bonaventure, the next minute I was excusez-moi-ing my way into one SRO room after another. I confess that, for one very brief moment, I wished I was back with the howling old owl in the woods.
Homesickness was dispelled the moment I heard the system in the first of three rooms sponsored by Motet Distribution of Toronto, this one featuring Triangle Australe speakers ($CAD5500/pair), driven by a VTL S-200 stereo amp ($CAD17,500) and 5.5 preamp ($…
I began my Saturday afternoon with a visit to the Montreal Audio Fest's Audiofilles room, the name being a pun (en Francais, bien sur) on audio girls. For the occasion, a number of partnering manufacturers contributed elements of what turned out to be a fine-sounding system: an Oracle Paris MkV turntable with tonearm and Paris PH200 phono preamplifier; McIntosh MB50 streaming audio player and MA7200 integrated amplifier; Luna Cables Orange interconnects, speaker cables, and AC cords; Modulum equipment supports; and a pair of Totem Forest Signature loudspeakers, in high-gloss mahogany finish…
The loudness wars are over. The valiant but hopelessly outnumbered forces that stood against squashing the dynamics and life out of recordings, all in the name of almighty loudness, have been vanquished. Scattered across the smoking battlefield are the lifeless bodies of thousands of disappointed listeners, many so young they will never now know what it's like to hear a natural, uncompressed recording.
Moby, a wily survivor, has come to terms with the victorious barbarian hordes.
"Subjectively, I don't listen to anything that has been mastered in the last 10 years. And I don't…