News

It's been almost exactly a year since I reported on the opening of a new store dedicated to high-performance audio and video in Unionville, Ontario. To mark the first anniversary of the store's opening, they had a party to celebrate the occasion.

New York dealer Accent on Music (175 E Main Street, Mount Kisco, NY 10549) is hosting a "Vinyl Adikt" event on Saturday April 25, starting at 11am. "Come along and celebrate the LP as we uncover the history behind the longest surviving music format and listen to great tracks on an iconic Sondek LP12 turntable," states the invitation and visitors are encouraged to bring along some of their favorite vinyl.

In the consumer audio show arena, the newly rebranded Audio Con (after Comic Con) from AXPONA Chicago seems on course to claim the crown as one of the three top high-end shows in North America. Taking place April 24–26 in the Westin O'Hare in Rosemont, the show is prepared to welcome a significantly larger number of visitors (pre-registration is up 30% 11 days before show opening) to 105 active exhibits (two-channel and multi-channel), plus an entire ballroom's full Ear Gear Expo (participation is up 50% from last year) and a sizeable marketplace area (displays up at least 30%).

Bay Area high-end audio retailer Audio High (165 Moffett Boulevard, Mountain View, California) has been chosen as the first Meridian partner to introduce its revolutionary MQA audio coding system on Thursday April 16, from 6pm–9pm.

A few days ago I received an email from Adrian Low, owner of Audio Excellence, a Toronto-area Wilson dealer, inviting me to a demo of the Sabrina by Wilson Audio Specialties' Peter McGrath (above)

Yet another Bay Area audio retailer has defied industry trends by moving from home-based business to a storefront and simultaneously revamping its product line. Audio Video Integration (aka AVI Marin) celebrated the Grand Opening of its new San Rafael 6000ft² retail store and 3000ft² warehouse on April 2, 2015 via a ribbon-cutting ceremony officiated by San Rafael Vice Mayor Andrew McCullough. Even before the ceremony got underway, and for several hours thereafter, a host of loyal customers, friends, and well-wishers began to ogle the store's capacious layout and multiple audio and AV installations, enjoy food and drink, and discover anew the glories of high-end sound.

High-end audio retailer Listen-Up is holding two evenings of music seminars and audio demonstrations at its Denver location (685 South Pearl Street) Tuesday April 7 and Wednesday April 8, from 5pm to 9pm. As well as Stereophile editor John Atkinson (above left) and Shawn Britton of Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs (above right), who will be talking about how recordings are made and how to make them sound the best in your home, presenters will include Sandy Gross (GoldenEar), Wendell Diller (Magnepan), Paul Barton (PSB Loudspeakers), Owen Kwon (Astell&Kern) Doug Henderson (Bowers & Wilkins), Dave Nauber (Classé), Costa Koulisakis (Simaudio Moon), Steve Silberman (AudioQuest), Matt Reilly (Devialet), and John Hunter (REL Acoustics).