SoundStage! Global | SoundStageGlobal.com - Salon Son & Image 2012

March 22-25, 2012

All prices in Canadian dollars unless indicated otherwise

Details: Written by Administrator Administrator; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 25 March 2012 25 March 2012

Product Coverage Gallery 2

Companies featured in gallery below: Axiom Audio, Magico, T+A, Totem Acoustic, Lyra, BitPerfect Sound, Pro-Ject, Zellaton, JRiver, Bryston, Genesis Advanced Technologies, Trigon

Details: Written by Administrator Administrator; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 25 March 2012 25 March 2012

SoundStage! Network-Sponsored Digital-Experts Pane

On March 25, the SoundStage! Network sponsored a one-hour seminar and question-and-answer session featuring six digital-audio experts: James Tanner (Bryston), Jacques Riendeau (Oracle Audio), Dominique Poupart (Simaudio Moon), Jim Hillegas (JRiver), Steve Silberman (AudioQuest), and Joe Harley (AudioQuest). This gallery features images taken throughout the duration of this eye-opening, informative event.

Details: Written by Administrator Administrator; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 24 March 2012 24 March 2012

SoundStage! Network-Sponsored Speaker-Designers Panel

On March 24, the SoundStage! Network sponsored a one-hour seminar and question-and-answer session featuring six top speaker designers: Vince Bruzzese (Totem Acoustic), Paul Barton (PSB Speakers), Andrew Welker (Axiom Audio), Manfred Diestertich (Audio Physic), Jeff Joseph (Joseph Audio), and John DeVore (DeVore Fidelity). This gallery features images taken during this extremely informative and entertaining event.

Details: Written by Administrator Administrator; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 23 March 2012 23 March 2012

Canada Pavilion: Part 2

Canada has a sterling reputation for being home to some of the world's most respected audio companies. To celebrate these companies' successes at home and abroad, the Salon Son & Image organizers created the Canada Pavilion (Pavillon du Canada) to showcase the companies and their products.

Details: Written by Administrator Administrator; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 23 March 2012 23 March 2012

Canada Pavilion: Part 1

Details: Written by Administrator Administrator; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 23 March 2012 23 March 2012

Product Coverage Gallery 1

Companies featured in gallery below: Atoll Electronique, Audio Note, Bryston, GutWire, KingRex, Mass Fidelity, Monitor Audio, Ardán, Naim, Quad, Rega

Details: Written by Administrator Administrator; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 22 March 2012 22 March 2012

Salon Son & Image Cocktail Party: Part 2

Thursday, March 22, the first day of the Salon Son & Image, is reserved for members of the audio-video industry. At day's end, before the start of the three-day public opening, the SSI organizers hosted a cocktail party and awards ceremony to honor the exhibitors and their accomplishments.

Details: Written by Administrator Administrator; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 22 March 2012 22 March 2012

Salon Son & Image Cocktail Party: Part 1

Details: Written by Hans Wetzel Hans Wetzel; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 24 March 2012 24 March 2012

MBL 126 Loudspeaker: The Inimitable Radialstrahler

There's no ignoring the obvious: a fine line divides the unique from the obtrusive, and the styling department of Germany's MBL has no qualms skirting it. The company's room was littered with gear from their Reference line of equipment, and its all-white finish was hard to miss, as were the logos adorning the monoblock 9011 amps, which were large enough for the legally blind to see.

Details: Written by Hans Wetzel Hans Wetzel; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 24 March 2012 24 March 2012

Gradient SW-S -- And Now for Something Completely Different

Confident claims in audiophile literature are commonplace. More rarely seen, however, is confidence that's entirely devoid of embellishment, from someone looking you unerringly in the eye. Tim Ryan of SimpliFi Audio displayed this borderline-unsettling conviction as he explained the theory behind the Gradient SW-S ($6990 USD per pair), a triangular, non-ported dipole bass module with two 12" drivers, maneuvered by the included external crossover.

Details: Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 24 March 2012 24 March 2012

Zellaton: From Munich to Montreal, By Way of Manhattan

Raise your hand if you've heard of Zellaton speakers. I don't see many hands out there. That's OK -- I hadn't heard of them either, but I should have. The genesis of Zellaton speakers lies way back in 1930, when Emil Podzus patented a speaker cone made from foam solidified on a substrate and coated with a very thin film layer. Podzus also pioneered the use of differing speaker diameters for reproducing specific frequency ranges.

Details: Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 24 March 2012 24 March 2012

A DeVore Diversion

The breakneck pace of show coverage is anathema to the goals of high-end audio. We assemble a stereo system to -- presumably -- create an environment where we can relax and enjoy a musical performance in the comfort of our own homes.

Details: Written by Hans Wetzel Hans Wetzel; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 24 March 2012 24 March 2012

exaSound: Eight for the Price of Two . . . and Bring Some Headphones

I think I'm in the majority when I say that if I don't like the way an audio product works, I'm far more likely to bitch about it than to go and try to build something better.

Details: Written by Hans Wetzel Hans Wetzel; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 24 March 2012 24 March 2012

Dynaudio Xeo -- Liberated Fidelity

No one actually wants big amplifiers and preamplifiers on tall equipment racks. Nor, perhaps especially, conspicuous cables. They're just necessary. But do they have to be?

Details: Written by Hans Wetzel Hans Wetzel; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 24 March 2012 24 March 2012

Inebriated, Bipolar and Axiom-atic DSP Love

Ideas born in a bar rarely bear fruit that doesn't involve butchered pick-up lines, petty violence, or obnoxious yelling (that's probably redundant). Yet speaker designer Andrew Welker . . .

Details: Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 23 March 2012 23 March 2012

Ayre QA-9: Spin'n'Rip

You can't play your LPs in your car, nor on your iPod. LPs are perhaps the least portable media format that's ever existed. At least you've got a fighting chance of playing back reel-to-reel tapes in the car . . .

Details: Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 23 March 2012 23 March 2012

Computer Audio: Let's Get It Together

The state of the union in computer audio is a complete farce. As it stands right now, you've got the choice of using a computer with a digital output to stream music to a DAC, some sort of DLNA server shooting bits out to a UPnP client, or some variant of the two. With the exception of Sonos, which is elegant but quaint and antiquated, that's about it.

Details: Written by Jason Thorpe Jason Thorpe; Parent Category: Salon Son & Image 2012 Salon Son & Image 2012; Created: 23 March 2012 23 March 2012