See those intense faces in the picture above? Those are music lovers, sitting in rapt attention, totally focused on the magic of the music they are hearing. The faces that are sharp (and there are several, you'll note) belong to those who did not move as much as a cheek muscle during the 45 seconds of the exposure.
     But more about them later. This was the 13th Festival du Son de Montréal, and the 12th consecutive one, and it was also the busiest one. For the first time it spilled out from the 10 floors of the downtown Delta hotel to a second hotel, the Four Points, where it took up another five floors. Despite that extra real estate, the crowds were as dense as ever, and indeed sometimes too dense.
     Not everyone we saw in our room at the Delta was from Montreal or even from Quebec. There were many visitors from Toronto and more distant parts of Ontario, but also from the northeastern part of the United States. One reason for the distant visitors: the cancellation of Stereophile's Hi-Fi 2000, which was to take place in New York in June. And perhaps we played a role as well, with a banner on our Web site the month before the show.
     We brought elements of our two reference systems (as usual), but we nearly always borrow speakers we have recently tested or are about to test. In this case we had brought the pair of Oskar Kitharas that are reviewed in this issue. It was a good thing we had negotiated a slightly bigger room than usual at this show, because the Kitharas are not exactly bookshelf speakers! Fortunately they sound good even without critical placement. They were a hit, with everyone wanting to know how much they cost. The answer when we told them: that's all?
     Our room looked extra slick, thanks to large but classy equipment furniture from Audiostand, which lent us a set of their stands for the show.
     I did manage to see a bit of the show, despite the crowds in our room, and I even managed to run across to the Four Points. There I got a listen to some speakers from Osborn, an Australian brand I hadn't run across in years. The company is known for huge speakers (indeed, the whole country is), but there were some smaller models. I requested one for a review (it has since arrived).
     Oh yes...I didn't tell you about the picture at the very start of this article. I really must award the prize for showmanship to Pierre Gabriel. Outside the room was a life-sized 3-D color photo of the company's Presence II speaker. Inside, you couldn't tell you were in a hotel room. The room was lined with black curtains and lit with theatre spots. At one end were bleachers (yes, bleachers) for visitors, and at the other end a stage on which were playing the Presence II's (of course) driven by Krell equipment (see the photo below). Dramatic? I'd say so.
     The sound matched the drama, what's more. That's why our 45 second photo exposure (to capture the very dim light reflected from the speakers). That says a lot about the mesmerizing effect of the music...and the equipment reproducing it.
     The verdict on this 13th edition of the Festival du Son et de l'Image? A success, of course. Even exhibitors at the Four Points across the way were delighted. My bet is that the next Festival will be another two-hotel extravaganza.