So will it snow this time?
     The Festival Son et Image is now 21 years old, if we are counting correctly. As in the previous two years, the show is being held at the Centre Sheraton, right in downtown Montreal. And therein lies controversy.
     There seemed to be good reasons to move the show away from the Delta, also downtown, where it resided for many years. The Delta didn't have enough large halls for deep-pocketed exhibitors who wanted plenty of space, and -- need we add -- they're the ones that keep a show in business. For several years the show had overflowed into adjacent hotels, but the exiled companies didn't see much traffic. The elevators were a problem too. The Sheraton is huge, with better elevators and space aplenty. End of story.
     Or perhaps not quite.
     What the high end hi-fi exhibitors lack in financial firepower, they make up for in sheer numbers, and plenty of them have unloaded their misgivings to us. The standard Sheraton hotel room is too small, and in particular the entranceways are frighteningly narrow. The acoustices are also inferior to those of the Delta rooms, with their large non-parallel surfaces.
     That, by the way, was the reason we ourselves stopped exhibiting, preferring to spend our time covering the show wall to wall.
     The first year the show was at the Sheraton, it did attract some high-powered electronics companies. Sony was there, for instance, with video displays and high-end cameras (one of which we subsequently bought). Even Apple came, something we had predicted couldn't possibly happen. This year? If we go by the exhibitor list on the show Web site, there is no Apple, no Sony, no Sharp, no Panasonic.
     There is, however, an exhibitor you might find surprising. Check the Festival logo, and you'll see the name of...Stereophile! Of course Stereophile has run its own show for years, only there isn't one this year. The Stereophile sponsorship might, possibly, pull in visitors from the US.
     For the public the show opens Friday the 4th (11 am to 9 pm), continues Saturday (10 am to 6 pm, and ends Sunday (10 am to 5 pm). Thursday is a trade-only day, though we will of course be there.
     It is a Festival tradition that it always snows, and sometimes a lot. Even last year, when it was held in mid-April, the city got paralyzed by a freak snowstorm. The forecast is more for rain this year, but public transit is the best bet. Downtown parking is costly, but fortunately the Centre Sheraton is near the Métro, still the most sophisticated way of getting around Montreal. Well...assuming you want to go where it goes.

UHF's coverage
     As last year we have no exhibit, and so two of us (Albert and Gerard) will have lots of time to tour the show. We will be doing our daily reports, with text and photos, which you can get to by clicking the links at upper left (with each report coming out late in the evening or the following morning). And of course there will be a major report in the next issue of UHF, which is due out in June.
     Our best wishes go with this year's edition, as it has with all the previous ones. See you there, possibly.

[BACK TO UHF HOME]