While the walk from the Sheraton to the Hilton was short, it felt much like an arctic expedition with wind chills at minus ten degrees celcius. In 2009 it was rain, but at least it wasn’t this cold. The walk was a stark contrast to all the warm musical goodness that awaited us at the new Salon venue. Even in the first rooms, we could tell this years show would indeed sound superior. These new rooms gave exhibitors a real chance to showcase their wares. So lets get to the details!

Best Sound


A good place to start is at the top. This brings us to the MBL room, where they were showcasing their newish 121Compact monitor speakers. They gave this speaker a great chance of successes with a front end, amps and cables totaling over $150K. I think if one has heard the MBL speakers, one knows what I mean when I say they just disappear as a sound source.

The melon shaped compression drivers radiate in a 360degree pattern and do not sound anything like speakers cones. The easy of sound, the cohesiveness, and the transparency is out of this world. This was the only room where a choir opened up the end of the room. Brilliance at $12,500/ pair! Um Yah.

Favorite Sound

I’ve heard talk of the midrange purity of the carbon fiber drivers in a lot of the Reference 3A speakers. I’ve also heard these same drivers playing some of my favorite songs. I think ‘they’ is very correct. The Reference 3A Grand Veena was my favorite sound of the whole show. The way they played Song Of The Stars from Dead Can Dance’s Spirit Chaser CD was magical. I have never heard it sound so coherent, clear, rhythmic and musical. The warmth, or was it naturalness in the voice was quite marvelous.

Tied for the coveted favorite sound must be the Gershman Black Swans speakers, powered by Roksan gear. These speakers sound so solid, detailed and sweet. Did they sound better then the Grand Veena’s? To my ears, no they didn’t but then again, I am no sure if the Roksan gear was up to the standards that the Black Swan sets.

Cheapest Sound

Ok let’s get this going with the crazy gear from Grant Fidelity! What you can’t see in the picture is the red lettering on the price cards. They were slashing prices for the audio show and you could take home any of the gear on display for pocket change. Ok, $500 for an integrated amp isn’t exactly pocket change, but come on, it’s a Hybrid Tube integrated amp with great build and lovely appearance. How about $800 each for the tube based CD Player and Integrated in the right? Yah the price is sweet, but I wouldn’t expect more then high end looks and average high end sound. Think NAD/ROTEL in a fancy box!

Then there is this other beast that is Cambridge Audio. This set up was one of my favorite sounding with Cambridge 800 series components up front and super primo ELAC speakers on the back end. Seriously and surprisingly good sound which might be in some peoples price range. I would guess around $20,000 for the whole setup? That is at least 10 times less money then the best systems. You don’t really need that new Honda Fit do you??

Sound In The Round

Yah, I have to mention all the turntables. It seemed that less rooms where actually playing vinyl compared to last year, but there where a lot of turntables on display just about everywhere. I thought it was great seeing all these new designs and pricing that seemed at least partly doable for someone that just had to dip their feet into the vinyl pool. I also like the fact that there will be a lot more choice in the used market, when the vinyl revolution starts to fade. Yay me!

Worst Sound

Oh I know you’ve seen the ads in Stereophile and you have always wondered if there was another way to build a speaker. Perhaps, with sheer size, power and will? Perhaps with the adage that ‘more is more’? Maybe with as many drivers as you can cram into a somewhat wood like box?

I really don’t know where to start with these monstrosities from Legacy Audio. The Whisper HD’s where hooked up to relatively inexpensive Ayon electronics, perhaps as a nod to the idea that the speaker is king. Actually, if your speakers are really good, they might let you hear what the upstream components are doing to your music. As they say, ‘garbage in, garbage out’.

So how did they sound? Well, those drivers are huge, but they didn’t seem to be doing anything. I am not saying I want my bottom end over ripe, but if you plan on using 4 15” drivers, please let me hear them at least shake the room a little. The best thing I could say about the $16,500 Whisper HD’s is that they were polite. They tended towards a ‘nice’ sound which is better then boomy and spitty. Still, I would expect much more for this kind of money.

Sound Off

This was a really good sounding show for the most part. The new hotel has already been booked for the next 2 years, so hopefully some of the exhibitors will have learned how to get the best out of the rooms. It was a great weekend of music, friends, and yummy Montreal cuisine. Next year we are going for an extra day to take in the city sites, and to do some record shopping.

If you are into this kind of audio thing, then the Salon du Son & Image is highly recommended.