Salon Son Image 2013 in Montreal

[mbovaird]

I would be very interested in opinions on the Aidas and what's driving them and how they sound. Pics too please.

[bakerman]

Originally Posted by bodiezaffa

Hi Doug,

Ill take some pics on my iPhone and upload them on Sunday.

Nice!

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by tunes

Highly recommend the high water sound (thoress/tron/miyajima), filtronique (aida/arc/moon/kronos), coup de foudre (devore/a23) rooms. Great sound and more interesting music!

did i miss you?

[tunes]

Not yet

Just sent you a pm

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by mbovaird

I would be very interested in opinions on the Aidas and what's driving them and how they sound. Pics too please.

I have no idea what they sound like at the Montreal Show but a well set up pair of Aida's driven by Momentum's sound great. They would surely be included in my list of Best Of Speakers. I like the set-up flexibility they offer with the ability to adjust those rear firing drivers. You should make a trip to a dealer who has them or Ivan's.

[JohnThomas]

Originally Posted by mbovaird

I would be very interested in opinions on the Aidas and what's driving them and how they sound. Pics too please.

Mike just by the damn thing you know you wanted them.

[Matt Lan]

Attended yesterday - my first ever hi-fi show (!)

I really did not know what to expect. Overall had a good time, but a little overwhelming to be honest.

We arrived later than planned, so only had ~3 hours. Had trouble judging what to see as priority, so covered the rooms in order. Did not leave us enough time to linger where we perhaps should have done so.

One of a few exceptions was the Filtronique room with the Aidas, running I thing with ARC gear (?) although I could be mistaken, and a Badass turntable (technical description). Very impressive.

Funny - they gave out samples of the April Stereophile with an article on the pitfalls of audio show displays - and it mirrored my experince to a "t".

In the 3 hours, pretty much every room was just spinning tunes, with very little space for discussion/questions, introductions of what we were listening to (gear or music), and unclear setup lists with prices. Maybe that's what people prefer, but here are my $0.02:

If you live in or near a big city, this is not really the way to demo gear. If you want to hear what something sounds like, you will do better at a good dealer for a demo with material you know and the ability to ask whatever questions you need asked. This was about as useful as a car show - great to see a bunch of gear in one spot, but pretty superficial.

I also enjoyed one of the first Coup de Foudre rooms (cannot remember what the speakers where, but they sounded very good). Also the sounds coming from the Tannoy display.

I found the Mc room to be pretty meh (MCD 1100 into 601's and Cabasse speakers I think). Same for the BMW room (802 Diamonds and Classe). Just mentioning since that is similar to my own rig, and this type of demo would not make me want to own it!



All in all - I'd chalk it up as "interesting". A few disappointments:

- I am looking to get into a turntable and did not find any good (obvious, straightforard) demos of the entry Rega and similar lines.

- Surpised to not see more "lines" of gear better represented. As an example, the Aidas are spectacular - but so are many of the other SF speakers. Suprised they were left at the shop - even static demos could be used for discussion/comparison/education purposes.

- No Esoteric gear. Or did I miss it?

- I stayed for the HT presentation of the Dave Grohl Sound City movie. Was really enjoying it until someone unplgged the projector and sent it into thermal shutdown mode. Hate seeing half a movie, especially one I am really enjoying!

That's it - YMMV. Again, I have never been to one before so really did not know what to expect.

Best,

Matt

[Matt Lan]

Also surprised to see no factory representation from Shunyata.

Best,

Matt

[metaphacts]

Originally Posted by Matt Lane

Also surprised to see no factory representation from Shunyata.

Best,

Matt

Grant Samuelson from Shunyata was there.

There were 3 different Sonus systems playing at the show - Venere 1.5, Futura and Aida. In a hotel show it can sometimes be difficult to find enough room for everything.

Bill

[Matt Lan]

Thanks Bill.

Yes, I found it a lot to take in as a first-timer... and I know I missed a lot.

In your opinion, how does the Montreal show compare to the other big ones that are on the calendar in the U.S.?

Just curious.

Best,

Matt