Stereophile Sponsors Festival Son & Image
By Stereophile Staff March 16, 2008 — The Home Entertainment Show, promoted by Stereophile, Ultimate AV, and Home Theater magazines, successfully showed off the best in high-end audio and home theater to enthusiasts from 2001 through 2007. However, following its acquisition of the magazines in August 2007, Source Interlink Media decided not to promote the Home Entertainment Show in 2008. Instead, Stereophile is partnering with the Festival Son & Image, to be held in Montreal, Canada, Thursday April 3 through Sunday, April 6. (The first day is for trade and press only.)

"The endorsement of Stereophile is a real blessing for us," commented Michel Plante, owner of the FSI. "Everyone who visits the FSI knows that we are one of the most credible shows around, but until now we have remained the best kept secret of the industry, due to the high costs of advertising outside of Canada. With Stereophile's support, we will now be known by manufacturers and the press from around the globe, and most importantly by more audiophiles and music enthusiasts."

Festival Son & Image is now the only consumer electronics show on the east coast of North America. The show is gearing up to be the largest ever this year, with over 120 brands represented. The Show's keynote speech is being given by Monster Cable founder Noel Lee at 10am on the trade day, Thursday April 3.

Stereophile will be blogging live from the Show—you can find last year's coverage here—and its team of editors and writers, including Art Dudley, Sam Tellig, Wes Phillips, Robert Deutsch, and editor John Atkinson will be hosting an "Ask The Editors" seminar on Saturday April 5 at 2pm. JA's jazz trio, featuring reviewer Bob Reina on piano, will be giving a lunchtime concert, also on Saturday, while Bob's jazz group Attention Screen will be performing for showgoers Friday evening at 8pm. (Their CD Live at Merkin Hall was released last year as a Stereophile CD.)

Festival Son et Image will take place at the Sheraton Centre, 1201 René-Lévesque Boulevard West, in Montreal. For more info, visit www.fsiexpo.com. We will be publishing a more detailed look at what can be seen and heard at the Show in the coming weeks.