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Montréal Audio Fest 2019: Speakers, Part 1

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Montreal Audio Fest 2019; Created: 23 March 2019

Loudspeakers are the easiest for me to cover for three reasons: they’re typically the most obvious things when you enter a room, I keep abreast of the market and usually know right off the bat what’s new and what’s not, and I’m really into speaker design and always keen to learn what might be new. As a result, the moment I got to the Hotel Bonaventure, the home of Montréal Audio Fest 2019, I started looking at loudspeakers and little else. Below are the first speakers I found, with all prices in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

Montréal Audio Fest 2019: Turntables and Related

Details: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Montreal Audio Fest 2019; Created: 23 March 2019

The Montréal Audio Fest was jumping this year. Over the last two years I’ve felt a buzz ramping up at this show, but 2019 feels like it’s on another level. It’s like adding more mass to an already massive sun -- eventually it reaches a critical mass and begins to contract under its own weight. So goes it with the MAF. There were more exhibitors this year, and the Friday of the show, which is usually quite sedate, was just packed with showgoers. All good omens for the future of the show.

Montréal Audio Fest 2019: Electronics, Part 1

Details: Written by: Gordon Brockhouse; Category: Montreal Audio Fest 2019; Created: 23 March 2019

When I arrived at Hotel Bonaventure just before noon on day one of the Montréal Audio Fest 2019, there had to be at least 100 people in the registration lineup. So, not surprisingly, exhibit rooms were busy throughout the day.

Montréal Audio Fest 2019: Kirmuss-Cleaning “Showdown!”

Details: Written by: Jason Thorpe; Category: Montreal Audio Fest 2019; Created: 22 March 2019

First order of business at the Montréal Audio Fest 2019 is to scour as many of the used record bins as possible before the crowds dig up all the uncut diamonds.

Montréal Audio Fest 2019: PMC's North American Fenestria Loudspeaker Launch

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Montreal Audio Fest 2019; Created: 22 March 2019

It was purely a coincidence. Late in the day on March 21, I had little to do as I walked around the hallways of Hotel Bonaventure, in downtown Montreal, as companies were setting up for Montréal Audio Fest 2019, to be held March 22 to 24. The show was still a day away, so you can imagine that few were ready to showcase anything. I looked in room after room and saw little. Ready to give up and go get something to eat, I opened one last door -- to the room of Motet Distribution, distributor in Canada for at least a half-dozen brands, including the UK’s PMC. When I looked in the room, I saw a crowd of people and someone said, “Come in, you’re just in time.” Little did I know I had just walked into the North American launch of PMC’s Fenestria loudspeaker, a bold statement piece priced in Canada at $90,000 per pair ($65,000 per pair in the US).

Linn Lounge Presents -- Joni Mitchell at Accent on Music

Details: Written by: Howard Kneller; Category: Howard Kneller; Created: 19 March 2019

For whatever reason, it’s been only recently that I developed a profound appreciation of Joni Mitchell’s music. I was therefore looking forward to the “Linn Lounge Presents -- Joni Mitchell” event, held on March 2 at Accent on Music, which is located in Mount Kisco, New York, about an hour north of New York City.

A Day at VPI Industries: Don't Call It a Comeback

Details: Written by: Howard Kneller; Category: Howard Kneller; Created: 06 March 2019

As I wrote before on Soundstage! Global, my past visits to New Jersey’s VPI Industries, a maker of turntables, phono stages, and record-cleaning machines, have been to the company’s showroom, VPI House. During this latest visit, I also toured the company’s factory, located less than five minutes from that location.

Sonus Faber's Livio Cucuzza Talks About Palladio at ISE 2019

Details: Written by: Dean Hartley; Category: Dean Hartley; Created: 22 February 2019

Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) is an annual event that is focused primarily on custom-installation (CI) audio/video systems (i.e., in-wall, on-wall, and in-ceiling speakers, as well as home-automation electronics and video displays, etc.), with this year’s show held from February 5 to 8 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was there on the second day of ISE 2019 that I met and interviewed Livio Cucuzza, who holds the title of chief design officer at Sonus Faber, the Italy-based manufacturer well known for creating speakers that look every bit as good as they sound. We talked about the launch of the new Palladio custom-installation speakers -- Sonus Faber’s first major foray into this market.

A Day at Rogue Audio

Details: Written by: S. Andrea Sundaram; Category: S. Andrea Sundaram; Created: 18 February 2019

Located in Eastern Pennsylvania, Rogue Audio has designed and manufactured quality vacuum-tube-based electronics for 20 years. In January 2018, Rogue moved from its home of 17 years to a brand new facility it had constructed from the ground up. Shortly before Christmas, I visited the new premises, bringing along my brother, Sathyan Sundaram, who also writes for the SoundStage! Network. He also took the photos for this piece. Befitting the season, we stayed nearby in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where there was, as it happened, room at the inn -- the Holiday Inn, that is.

Florida Audio Expo 2019: New and/or Interesting Products, Part 4

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2019; Created: 10 February 2019

I expected to pack all my coverage of the 2019 Florida Audio Expo into three articles, but I found enough to fill a fourth! For a brand new show, that’s impressive. What’s more, these final components proved to be some of the most interesting. Here’s the final batch, with all prices in US dollars.

Florida Audio Expo 2019: New and/or Interesting Products, Part 3

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2019; Created: 09 February 2019

After the first day at the Florida Audio Expo, I had been through all of the rooms and was fully acquainted with the show’s layout. For the second day, I revisited all of the rooms, but spent more time asking questions and hunting for products I might’ve missed, which was a good thing to do -- I came up with a few surprises. Here’s what I found, with all prices in US dollars.

Florida Audio Expo 2019: New and/or Interesting Products, Part 2

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2019; Created: 09 February 2019

As I continued on my trek for new and/or interesting products at the Florida Audio Expo, I became increasingly convinced that the show has a good future, for a few reasons. One is the time of year -- Florida in February creates a nice winter break for us in the colder climates. As well, since CES for high-end hi-fi is pretty much dead, we need a beginning-of-the-year show to get things rolling. February isn’t quite the beginning, but it’s close enough. I also thought the venue, the . . .

Florida Audio Expo 2019: New and/or Interesting Products, Part 1

Details: Written by: Doug Schneider; Category: Florida Audio Expo 2019; Created: 08 February 2019

Florida Audio Expo, held February 8 to 10 at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Tampa Airport Westshore hotel, is a brand new show. It takes time for any new show to build and find its place in the hi-fi world, so when I arrived for this inaugural event, I wasn’t sure how to approach the coverage, because I didn’t know what I’d see when I got there. Thus, I spent the first two hours on February 8 combing through the seven exhibit floors to determine my best course of action. By the time I got to the final floor, I knew that if I focused only on new products, which is what we usually do, there wouldn’t be enough to write about. But I did see some products that, while not necessarily new, were interesting to me and likely to our readers. As a result, I decided to focus on new and/or interesting products, with the first part of that coverage reflected below. All prices are in US dollars.

Q Acoustics' Concept 300 Speakers at Flux Studios

Details: Written by: Howard Kneller; Category: Howard Kneller; Created: 06 February 2019

January 31, 2019 -- it was on the coldest of winter mornings that I arrived at Flux Studios on New York City’s trendy Lower East Side to audition Q Acoustics’ Concept 300 speaker ($4499.99 USD per pair with stands). This British audio company made a bit of a splash with its entry-level 3000i-series speakers, which had the reputation for providing great sound and high value. The prospect of seeing what the company could do further up the price chain was intriguing enough to get me out of bed early.

A Visit to Devialet's New York City Flagship Store

Details: Written by: Howard Kneller; Category: Howard Kneller; Created: 30 January 2019

Tony West of Adirondack Audio and Video joined me on my latest audio excursion, this time to visit Devialet’s flagship store in New York City’s SoHo neighborhood. Our goal was to audition the company’s main product lines -- the Phantom Reactor and Phantom Premier series of wireless speakers, as well as the Expert Pro all-in-one amplifiers. Now one of four Devialet stores in the city, the flagship is only steps from the company’s New York office space, but a long distance from its headquarters, located in Paris, France.

CES 2019: Headphones, Part 3

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2019; Created: 11 January 2019

Here’s the last batch of the most interesting headphones and headphone-related products I saw at CES 2019. Also check out my first and second headphone reports from CES, and watch SoundStage! Solo over the next few months for reviews of some of CES’s most promising new models. All prices in USD.

CES 2019: PSB Revamps 20-Year-Old Alpha Series

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2019; Created: 11 January 2019

Manufacturers knew well in advance that CES 2019 wouldn’t be a big show for audio, so most seem to have saved their big product launches for other venues. However, one company, PSB Speakers, used CES for one of its most important launches in years: the first revamp of the company’s budget Alpha speaker line since 1999. In its suite at the Venetian hotel, PSB founder and chief engineer Paul Barton showed four new Alpha-series models. They retain the general look and form factor of the previous models, but according to Barton, they’re all “clean sheet” designs, with completely new cabinet designs, drivers, and crossovers. All models are available now, in either black ash or walnut woodgrain finish.

CES 2019: Hi-Fi, Part 2

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2019; Created: 11 January 2019

The CES 2019 show in Las Vegas was just wrapping up as I wrote this report. It wasn’t a big show for new audio products -- especially high-end audio products -- but I did find a few that are well worthy of attention. We’ve already posted the first batch of them. Here are the rest, with all prices in USD.

CES 2019: Headphones, Part 2

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2019; Created: 11 January 2019

With high-end audio scaled back at CES 2019 to just a couple of dozen companies, headphones dominated the audio scene at the show. Here’s the second part of my headphone coverage from CES 2019. In addition to the models I’ve featured here and in my previous report, there were many other new headphones launched at CES 2019 -- including a couple that are under embargo for another month or so, but for which I’ve already received review samples for SoundStage! Solo. These are just the ones I found most interesting. All prices in USD.

CES 2019: Hi-Fi, Part 1

Details: Written by: Brent Butterworth; Category: CES 2019; Created: 11 January 2019

If you read practically any high-end audio publication, you probably know by now that the high-end audio industry has largely abandoned the Las Vegas CES show -- or did the show abandon high-end audio? I’m not sure, but either way, there were only a couple of dozen audio companies at the Venetian hotel, a venue that only three years ago hosted a couple hundred audio companies. But between the exhibits at the Venetian and a smattering of audio companies over at the Las Vegas Convention Center, I did find a few interesting new audio products worth checking out. Here’s the first bunch, with all prices in USD.

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