SSI 2010

Grant Fidelity purchasing manager, Rachel Zhang, explained that her company wants to bring “a self-servicing, consumer electronics distribution model to high-end audio.” All of Grant Fidelity’s products are available factory-direct; and, instead of the traditional dealer network, Grant Fidelity utilizes private, home-based demonstrators. The goal is to make available more affordable products for a younger and more varied audience, Zhang said.

Shows like SSI are about the cutting edge in audio, with the latest and (purportedly) greatest on display and demonstration. Given this, I always get a kick out of spotting a piece of equipment that just does not seem to belong in such august company. This Sanyo JCX 2600K stereo receiver is from another era—circa 1978–1981 according to the ever-helpful Google search. Looks like it's in great shape. I spotted it on a shelf in an area of the show where they were setting up racks of LPs for sale. What was it doing there? I have no idea. Wonder how it compares sonically with the latest-and-greatest?

In home theater, the latest thing is 3D TV, and while Stereophile doesn’t normally cover Home Theater, I just had to check out the Sony and Samsung 3D demos. With the high-end "shuttered” glasses, the 3D effect was quite startling. However, I thought I’d have a go at producing a 3D-like effect with a 2D image. So here's a photo of Stereophile's assistant editor and blogger Stephen Mejias coming right at you from Montreal—and no shuttered glasses needed! Sony/Samsung, eat your heart out. (For the photographically inclined: this was shot with a Panasonic GF1, 7-14mm Panasonic lens set at 7mm. I love this lens!)

Today is Press Day at the 2010">http://www.stereophile.com/news/montreal_audio_show_starts_friday/">2010 Salon Son & Image, located at the extraordinary Hilton Bonadventure, a penthouse hotel perched above the Place Bonadventure exhibition center, built for the 1967 World’s Fair. At the moment, exhibitors and members of the press are just getting acquainted with the unusual hotel, which has an extremely tempting heated outdoor pool and garden views at every turn. Lines are just beginning to form at the registration desk, where I couldn’t help but say hello to the charming staff.

You’ve heard this before from us, but only because it’s true and remains an important point: A great part of the fun (and, therefore, value) in attending hi-fi shows comes from the chance encounters that inevitably take place in the show halls. We’re all trying to get somewhere fast, and these encounters invariably slow us down, but almost always for the better. We get to see the people who work so hard to bring great music into our homes. Here, for instance, I had the pleasure of bumping into Ayre Acoustics’ Steve Silberman (left) and Magico’s Irv Gross (far right).

Stereophile's John Atkinson, Stephen Mejias, Robert Deutsch, and Art Dudley will be reporting live from the 2010 Salon Son & Image show in Montreal.

Simaudio's products were featured in several rooms at SSI and on Saturday afternoon, the Montreal-based manufacturer celebrated its 30th anniversary by sponsoring a concert by Anne Bisson, a local and apparently very popular singer/pianist, to judge by the packed house.