Day Two at the Salon
     That would be Saturday, by far the busiest day of the Salon. Too busy in fact. It's always been that way of course. We remember the unmanageable influx of crowds in the UHF room when we were exhibiting ourselves. And with the show being...shall we say, more compact than usual, that meant even more people per room.
     Good think there were a couple of concerts in the afternoon, to bleed off a little of the pressure.
     The singer shown here is Anne Bisson, who had come with her new recording of her own songs, titled Blue Mind. A couple of visitors following Albert sat in for some of the songs, but then commented that they preferred hearing her on LP in one of the rooms, a little later on. Well, d'oh!
     Watch for Anne's LP to pop up at The Audiophile Store in the next few days.
     There was another concert later on, featuring bassist Michel Donato, and a debate featuring staff of Stereophile, including editor John Atkinson. Stereophile is, for the second year, co-sponsor of the Salon.
     Some of the talk in the hallways was of the usual exhibitors not present this year, and the list was a long one. Where was Audiomat? What about Gershman? Anyone seen Linn? How come Thiel isn't back?
     But in fact Thiel was there, if you knew where to look for it, with its flagship speaker, the CS3.7, shown at left. We've mentioned it before, of course, and it had its own room last year. Those dramatically-styled cones are aluminum, and so is the domed top. The Thiel was in a dealer room, not that of its Canadian distributor, SF Marketing. SF was there too, but with only a pair of booths featuring Shure headphones and Universal Remote Controls.
     Linn was there too, not under the name of its longtime distributor, Aldburn Electronics, but under that of Brosseau Electronique, one of its dealers, backed by a multilingual rep from the Linn factory. On show was the Akurate DS, which was streaming music from a computer over Ethernet -- perhaps you saw our review of the more expensive Klimax DS (digital streaming) in UHF No. 84. The Akurate DS was driving a pair of active -- sorry, Aktiv -- Akurate loudspeakers. One of Linn's excellent CD players was standing by in case anyone wandered in with a CD or insisted on a had-to-head comparison. No one asked to hear anything other than the sumptuous streamed music.
     Incidentally, out main complaint about the DS products was that the control software was, to put it charitably, primitive. But time has marched on, and it's gotten better. You can now call up music from a Mac, or -- better yet -- an iPhone or iPod Touch.
     Of course you've heard of Herald loudspeakers and electronics. No? That's one of its speakers at right...and it's not a B&W as some visitors assumed. Herald is from China, and has been in the business for nearly a quarter of a century, but it now has a marketing office in Toronto. The speaker is over $7000, but is self-powered...biamplified in fact. The accompanying components were relatively low-priced. The CD player, for instance, is just US$1299, though its styling suggests otherwise.
     A Montreal show wouldn't be a Montreal show without at least a glimpse of the legendary Oracle Delphi turntable, and here it is. As glamorous as ever, the Delphi MkV is around $8000, complete with its SME-designed tone arm. Nor was that the only Oracle we saw. Tubemagic Canada, which makes (perhaps you've guessed) tube electronics in Canada, was actually using the original Delphi.
     What we hear, by the way, is that Oracle is currently leaderless, and Oracle founder Jacques Riendeau has stepped back in until a new CEO can be selected. Ever have a hankering to make turntables and other high end components? Apply inside
     We spent a little more time in the largest Coup de Foudre room, which was spinning good vinyl from its Clearaudio table, through its Pathos electronics (including a battery-powered phono preamp), to its large Wilson MAXX 3 speakers. Between the speakers was what must be one of the world's largest subwoofers, also from Wilson. Comments we heard were enthusiastic about the sound, less so for the sub's perceived WAF,,,the dreaded Wife Acceptance Factor. But do those large Wilson speakers actually need a sub?
     A home-grown speaker company Gemme Audio (the name is pronounced "gem," though we heard every pronunciation but that) was showing its unique mini-monitor/subwoofer combo, shown at left. Well, it's unique unless you remember the JBL Paragon of the 1960's, which Gemme frankly claims as an inspiration. The sound is full of surprises, but we were left a little cool. Gemme promised to bring in a turntable, which might make a goodly difference. We just hope they don't put it with the other components, atop the subwoofer!
     We shoud also mention the 15th anniversary of another locally-built speaker, the Presence II, from Pierre Gabriel (that's it at right). It was in the Jadis room, since Pierre Gabriel is that French brand's North American distributor. The speaker was originally offered in a number of exotic finishes, which you could custom order, going as wild as your wallet would allow. Pierre Gabriel says the tweeter is the same one it has always used, but we have never heard it sound so smooth and natural. A change in the crossover is responsible, we are told.
     Frankly, the large crowds limited what we were able to see, and even more what we were able to hear. Both Albert and Gerard planned to return bright and early Sunday, before the key rooms were invaded once more. All four of us (Steve Bourke and Toby Earp were touring as well) compared notes, and we homed in on what we needed to listen to before the show ends Sunday afternoon.
     One of them, but by no means the only one, is Crystal Cable's Arabesque, a solid glass loudspeakers that drew the predictable jokes about "transparent sound." So far we have heard it play some pretty dreadful music, but if the crowd is thinner we hope to get our choice.
     Before the show ends we also hope to get the word from Salon CEO Michel Plante on what the impact of the tough economic times has been on this year's edition. We need not be told that a lot of high-profile exhibitors stayed away. On the other hand some smaller, less-known companis booked space. Were they enough to tip the books into black-ink range? It won't hurt to ask.
     And perhaps we'll even get a glimpse of our original publisher, Michel Prin, who was visiting. He lives in France now, and we haven't run across him for several years.
     In any case we'll be back late tomorrow with the final wrapup on this 2009 Salon.

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