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Audio Discussions
Topic: Festival “Son & Image” in Montreal

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Posted by Romy the Cat on 03-16-2008

In begin on April in Montreal will be the Son & Image show. I have no specific planes at that weekend and was wondering if it were fun to go there. In past it was nice, I was flying there $140 tickets two ways, very short fly of under one hour,  and 3-4 hours at the show was convent. Driving in Montreal was also very nice. I love the north New Hampshire and Vermont, I usually stopped and spent some time there.

Montreal show was as I remember less manufactures-centric but more dialers- centric. There were a lot of local Canadian and British brands…. I do not remember any interesting sound from there, but what would it be interning from any other show?

It looks like Lamm will bring his ML3 to Montreal and will show it off with Verity’s Lohengrin. I always like Bruno’s speakers and ML3 was made to be use with Lohengrin-type of acoustic system. So, it might be interesting to hear them. Tenor Audio is looks like pull back into the business. After years of screwing customer on service and vendors on debts, and after being a few years officially out of business they looks like come back. Regardless what they did I like those gays and their last amps was OK sounding. It is interesting what they will come back with. In order to overcome some controversial publicity they developed they need to introduce something very dramatic to put the bad stores behind. Who knows, perhaps they will.

Anyhow, it looks like the fly nowadays are $500, the Canadian dolor is equal to the damn US dolor and a load of Cohibas will cost this time a fortune. Well, if anyone from New England will drive north to Montreal for the weekend  and willing to tolerate me in the same a car for 3 hours them let me know and I might consider to go.

The Cat

Posted by Alex Yakovlev on 03-21-2008
I am going. Driving from NJ, can pick you up on my way. That is if you can tolerate audio nut with a stick shift.

Posted by mark on 03-21-2008
just thought i would wet the appetite for the show; the new N.A. distributor for Avantgarde will be determined to make their first show a good one,i believe the principals from germany might also be on hand.i know they have been steadily(trying) improving their product. who would be more impartial than romey to give the REAL story.give em hell or whatever they deserve romey, i know you probably will. montreal is the most unique city in N.A.,it is far different than any other canadian city.the woman are very hot AND FRIENDLY,you do not see this combo much anymore.some of the restaurants/clubs can be very nice too.ask around the show,i remember going to a nice live music club/restaurant last time i was there 4 years ago.have fun.

Posted by Romy the Cat on 03-21-2008

 Alex Yakovlev wrote:
I am going. Driving from NJ, can pick you up on my way. That is if you can tolerate audio nut with a stick shift.

Thank, Alex.  I have no problems with stick shift, I drive myself stick shift. As I understand you should do RT87 North and Boston is a good 2 hours away from your direction… When are you leaving and when are you planning to go back? How big the car and how many people will be in? Is it smoke ride?

 mark wrote:
just thought i would wet the appetite for the show; the new N.A. distributor for Avantgarde will be determined to make their first show a good one,i believe the principals from germany might also be on hand.i know they have been steadily(trying) improving their product. who would be more impartial than romey to give the REAL story.give em hell or whatever they deserve romey, i know you probably will. montreal is the most unique city in N.A.,it is far different than any other canadian city.the woman are very hot AND FRIENDLY,you do not see this combo much anymore.some of the restaurants/clubs can be very nice too.ask around the show,i remember going to a nice live music club/restaurant last time i was there 4 years ago.have fun.

Well, the presence of the Avantgarde principals from Germany will be actually a deterrence to get a good sound… BTW, Mark, I noticed that you capitalized the word Avantgarde – it was a fist time ever you did at this site – I think it is a sign.. :-) Anyhow, thanks for a tip about AG. Unfortunately I would not expect anything interesting from them as they last few years went to a very wrong direction… Yes, the Montreal women are very nice; unfortunately with the contemporary tendency of US dollar they became much more expensive :-)

The Cat

Posted by Alex Yakovlev on 03-21-2008
 Romy the Cat wrote:
...

Thank, Alex.  I have no problems with stick shift, I drive myself stick shift. As I understand you should do RT87 North and Boston is a good 2 hours away from your direction… When are you leaving and when are you planning to go back? How big the car and how many people will be in? Is it smoke ride?

I was thinking about driving there on Thursday and back on Sunday to have two full days in Montreal (I love that city!) It is just me, I don't smoke, and my car is a midsize sedan (Mazda 6).

Posted by el`Ol on 03-21-2008
Good that I am on this side of the pond. Finally a chance to compare Martion and Cessaro in Munich in a month. Avantgarde are usually present in several rooms, but fortunately nobody is forced to enter.

Posted by Romy the Cat on 03-23-2008

 Alex Yakovlev wrote:
I was thinking about driving there on Thursday and back on Sunday to have two full days in Montreal (I love that city!)

Thanks, Alex, I will look for Saturday- Sunday trip. The show need no more then 2-3 hours…

 el`Ol wrote:
Good that I am on this side of the pond. Finally a chance to compare Martion and Cessaro in Munich in a month. Avantgarde are usually present in several rooms, but fortunately nobody is forced to enter.

Interesting that I never heard the Cessaro but I am very confident that I know how Cessaro sounds. In fact I am so confident that do not really need to listen them as speakers but only as the installation….

The Cat

Posted by coops on 03-23-2008
Cessaro won't be in Canada will they, Romy how do you imagine they sound?

Posted by Romy the Cat on 03-23-2008

 coops wrote:
Cessaro won't be in Canada will they, Romy how do you imagine they sound?

Coops,

I do not “imagine” how Cessaro sound, I know how Cessaro sound. I won’t describe/explain it to you. If you look at the history of your posts and your thinking about Cessaro systems then you might realize why I do not feel your inters in Cessaro is an interesting collaborator. No, I do not think Cessaro will be in Canada this week.

The Cat

Posted by Alex Yakovlev on 03-24-2008
 Romy the Cat wrote:
...

Thanks, Alex, I will look for Saturday- Sunday trip. The show need no more then 2-3 hours…

The Cat

I don't mind. I can do two days.

Posted by Alex Yakovlev on 04-04-2008
Give me a ring if you make it - I'll buy you coffee. I am in 3430.

Posted by Romy the Cat on 04-04-2008
Sorry, Alex, I thought I have sent you email telling I was not coming. Have a good time up there.

Posted by Romy the Cat on 04-05-2008

Alex,

if I were at the show I would be interested to hear the Coincident new Pure Reference speaker. They are the Coincident’s new move into the miserable world of ceramic drivers.  The Pure Reference is the typical Israel Blume’s design but with 92 dB sensitively this time.  I do not think it should be interning but it should be worth to listen. Arthur Salvatore pushes hard the Coincident’ products, he always did it regardless of the Coincident’s actual Sound, not to mention that Arthur has own “issues” with his “recommendations”, particularly the late years.

http://www.high-endaudio.com/RC-Pure%20Reference.html

Anyhow, the Blume’s speakers are not “end of the world” but they do sound slightly better than they should. You migh give to the Pure Reference some attention to listen them.
The Cat

Posted by miab on 04-06-2008
I too was interested to hear these new Coincident speakers but alas they were not there. There were a couple other ceramic driver speakers there to get an idea of the breed. A couple very uninteresting and a couple quite interesting.

In Arthur's defence he has not really pushed his speaker's until most recently in the Victory II's and the (especially) Pure reference. There was one recommendation in his speakers section (among countless other brands)of a Coincident speaker posted a few years ago. So 'pushing' is a little harsh in my ignorant opinion.

You were right. The show only really needed 2 or 3 hours.

Posted by Romy the Cat on 04-07-2008

 miab wrote:
In Arthur's defence he has not really pushed his speaker's until most recently in the Victory II's and the (especially) Pure reference. There was one recommendation in his speakers section (among countless other brands)of a Coincident speaker posted a few years ago. So 'pushing' is a little harsh in my ignorant opinion.

A few years ago? It was exactly when I read the Arthur's site last time and I remember he was leaned heavily on whatever Coincident had current at that time. There is nothing wrong with Coincident. They are the OK speakers, nothing earth shattering. In Arthur's offense I would insist on the word 'pushing'.  I never understood why people have needs to provide recommendation of audio equipment. If you found something that you like then use it. Share you experience if you feel so. However, to RECOMMEND to others to buy or to use something I feel is the most ridicules thing to do. Nowadays Arthur piled up tone of “recommended components” from himself, from his uncles, from his visitor, from his house cleaning lady…. The Arthur’s thoughts about his “recommendations” were interesting to read 10-7 years ago. Nowadays his recommendations are “McDonalds with attitude”. I am not particularly “blame” him, I just found his site too boring to read late years.

Rgs, Romy the caT

Posted by Alex Yakovlev on 04-07-2008
Coincident was not there, unfortunately. I, too heard good things about them but never had a chance to listen to them. Maybe I should try David Lewis - as much as I don't like going there, he has some good stuff once in a while.
I liked the show. It was very worth visiting - I tend to prefer atmosphere at Canadian show to ones in States. It is more relaxed, much less public and you can actually talk to some manufacturers.
Avantgarde had their new "Duo" which in my opinion sounded quite well. LAMM brought ML3s that were very impressive, though Verity sound is not my cup of tee.
Pierre Gabrielle did bring his monster speakers that I loved so much last year, but never fired them up, only playing through his old smaller systems that were not bad at all.

Posted by Romy the Cat on 04-07-2008

 Alex Yakovlev wrote:
Coincident was not there, unfortunately. I, too heard good things about them but never had a chance to listen to them. Maybe I should try David Lewis - as much as I don't like going there, he has some good stuff once in a while.

Yep, David Lewis is a “mystery” place but I never was successful with any dealers who do not know me personally as I have too much attitude. I was there a few years ago before he did remodeling. It looks like David knows what he is doing in Phila…

 Alex Yakovlev wrote:
I liked the show. It was very worth visiting - I tend to prefer atmosphere at Canadian show to ones in States. It is more relaxed, much less public and you can actually talk to some manufacturers.

Yes, it is more relaxed and I genially like Canadians better than Americans. For whatever reasons they treat themselves with less seriousness then our Yankees but despite of it Canadians deliver more “yield”.  However, the Montreal show is kind of freaky show in a way as during my former visits I experienced more dealer at the show then manufactures….

 Alex Yakovlev wrote:
I Avantgarde had their new "Duo" which in my opinion sounded quite well.

I do not think that it “sounded quite well”, most like they position it not as idiotic as the usually did the Duo’s  shortage of uppers bass was not so annoying…

 Alex Yakovlev wrote:
LAMM brought ML3s that were very impressive, though Verity sound is not my cup of tee.

So, what was “impressive” if it was not “your cup of tea”?


 Alex Yakovlev wrote:
Pierre Gabrielle did bring his monster speakers that I loved so much last year, but never fired them up, only playing through his old smaller systems that were not bad at all.

Were the his new monster speakers had the same hard-cone drivers with rubber suspension?

The Cat

Posted by Alex Yakovlev on 04-07-2008
I know Dave for quite some time by now. He does not seem to get any better, but I have got used to him and pretty much disregard his behavior and only pay attention to why I came there. Smile
Avantgarde speakers sound good to my taste in general. I don't love them, but considering how bad most speakers are - these are quite good I think.
I don't like Verity speakers that LAMMs were paired with, but even that did not ruin my impression. I tink ML3s would be much better off with something better though.
And - yes, I meant those Pierre Gabrielle's that use Seas Excel drivers. There is something quite magical for me in their sound - I could not leave that room last year. Besides, those Jadis amplifiers probably match them well.

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