AAJ To Provide Video Coverage Of 2019 Montreal Audio Fest

[jkelman]

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Hi folks,
Sorry for being largely MIA for the past month or so, but the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome has been particularly bad. That said, I'm starting to get back to my "new norm": Fatigued? Always. But capable of doing some writing? You bet.

So, this coming Thursday I'll be traveling to Montréal to cover the 32nd annual Montreal Audio Fest, an audio-video gear show with systems ranging from $1,000 to 1,000,000. Four floors at Hotel Bonaventure, this looks like it's gonna be a "kid in a candy shop" scenario for me, as I interview a number of manufacturers, and play a bunch of music on various systems; largely jazz, but a broad cross-section on media including CD, SACD, DVD-A and Pure Blu Ray Audio.

But it's also going to be a new experience for me. Rather than writing a review of the festival when I get back home, I'll be wandering the various show rooms with director/producer François Philippe Soutif and Cinematographer Natasha Sher, who will be creating seven main ten-minute videos that will be released as AAJ's Video of the Day, beginning on March 23 and ending on March 29, and located at AAJ's YouTube channel. There will be additional videos that will also be there, just not getting Video of the Day designation.

So, this will be a chance for a number of folks to see the face behind the hand . The video series will be produced by All About Jazz and Sur Place Media, a Montréal multimedia company.

If you live in the Montréal area and have any interest, admission is free, though you have to register at their website (a hotlink provided in the press release I'm linking to here in a moment). And if you are interested in meeting up, I'll be on the floors from noon until five every day, and would love to see/meet you!

Here's the press release: All About Jazz to Provide Video Coverage of 2019 Montreal Audio Fest

[Jerjo]

Sweet! Of course, I won't be there but I'll watch the video.

[jkelman]

Sweet! Of course, I won't be there but I'll watch the video.

Great! There will be seven videos featured, one/day, for a week and there may be some additional videos shot that we'll just upload to the AAJ YouTube channel.

[jkelman]

After some unexpected delays...Part 1 of All About Jazz's seven-part VIDEO coverage of the 2019 Montréal Audio Fest is up, featuring yours truly as video host. The first episode features an interview with festival co-director MIchel Plante, and provides a good intro to the vendor interviews to come,

Check it out and, if you like it, pls share...and remember: this is my first time in front of a camera, so please be gentle ��

[jkelman]

Hello all!

The second installment of All About Jazz's coverage of the 32nd annual Montréal Audio Fest, a spectacular event spotlighting over 300 manufacturers and distributors of high-end audio/video systems ranging from $1,000 to $1,000,000. Follow host John Kelman as he interviews representatives from several Canadian manufacturers and engages in some listening sessions with their equipment.

Episode 2: John interviews Ottawa-based Adrian Butts and Calgary resident Amadeus Meitner, President and Operations Manager, respectively, of Tetra Speakers and Emm Labs.

[jkelman]

G'Day everyone!

The third installment of All About Jazz's coverage of the 32nd annual Montréal Audio Fest, a spectacular event spotlighting over 300 manufacturers and distributors of high-end audio/video systems ranging from $1,000 to $1,000,000. Follow host John Kelman as he interviews representatives from several Canadian manufacturers and engages in some listening sessions with their equipment.

Episode 3: John interviews Christian Ouellet, President of St Hubert-based company, Solen. Amongst other internal components, Solen manufactures "the highest performance loudspeaker crossover parts available" and "the highest quality speaker driver units that you can find," used by a plethora of well-known speaker manufacturers including Totem, Yamaha, Paradigm and others, in systems across the pricing spectrum.

[jkelman]

Hello everyone! Busy Friday! First up...

The fourth installment of All About Jazz's coverage of the 32nd annual Montréal Audio Fest, a spectacular event spotlighting over 300 manufacturers and distributors of high-end audio/video systems ranging from $1,000 to $1,000,000. Follow host John Kelman as he interviews representatives from several Canadian manufacturers and engages in some listening sessions with their equipment.

Episode 4: John interviews Oracle's Jacques Riendeau and EON Art's Stéphane Hautcoeur, who have teamed together to create another dream system that, unlike many at the festival, still relies on physical media. Oracle designs and manufactures both more easily affordable and studio reference quality turntables and CD players, amongst other products, with a very specific and recognizable design aesthetic that can best be compared to the "box-in-a-box" design being used in many modern acoustic performance spaces. EON Arts specializes in tube/transistor combo amplifiers and other components, utilizing tubes in the preamp stage and transistors in the power amp stage. Together, while far from entry level, Oracle and EON Art provide systems that span a broad price range and will appeal to audiophiles still disposed towards hard media.

[Jerjo]

John, did you talk to anyone from Simaudio or hear their equipment? They got a little bit of buzz after a system appeared in HBO's Sharp Objects.

https://www.vulture.com/article/shar...eo-system.html

[bigjohnwayne]

I have certainly missed you around here, John!

Your reviews are wonderful and I'm always glad to read your thoughts, even if I don't know the artist.

[jkelman]

John, did you talk to anyone from Simaudio or hear their equipment? They got a little bit of buzz after a system appeared in HBO's Sharp Objects.

https://www.vulture.com/article/shar...eo-system.html

Well waddaya know? Moon by Simaudio is, in fact, Episode 5, comin' at ya tomorrow. I'll post, as usual. I liked their stuff but, to be honest, nothing I heard made me feel like I need to replace anything in my current rig (maybe someday I'll go to mono blocks and a preamp, but my Leema integrated amp is a killer, so I'm certainly in no rush).

Funny you should mention them though. Next year I'll cover different folks, but the only company that didn't make my shirt list this year was Totem, because I wanted to cover the festival's Audiofilles room, but next year....

[jkelman]

I have certainly missed you around here, John!

Your reviews are wonderful and I'm always glad to read your thoughts, even if I don't know the artist.

Thanks, man. I'd be here more but have been going through a particularly bad CFS patch, and am struggling to write,let alone participate in forums, I'm sorry to say.

But it's kind of you to say. I miss being here ....

[jkelman]

The fifth installment of All About Jazz's coverage of the 32nd annual Montréal Audio Fest, a spectacular event spotlighting over 300 manufacturers and distributors of high-end audio/video systems ranging from $1,000 to $1,000,000. Follow host John Kelman as he interviews representatives from several Canadian manufacturers and engages in some listening sessions with their equipment.

Episode 5: John interviews Costa Koulisakis, Vice President Customer Experience at SimAudio, who manufacture a full range of audiophile quality electronic audio gear in its Moon by SimAudio line, starting with an entry level "All in One" system priced at $4,000 (CAD) and going up from there. Moon by SimAudio's "All in One" system requires only a set of speakers, enabling those who already have a good pair of speakers but lesser electronics to upgrade their sonics at a very reasonable price for the performance. Moon by SimAudio also includes network players/DACs, CD players, integrated amplifiers, preamplifiers, power amplifiers, headphone amplifiers, phono preamps and more, with Koulisakis providing insights into the design and aesthetic properties that drive this exciting audio line.

[jkelman]

Hey ho!

The sixth installment of All About Jazz's coverage of the 32nd annual Montréal Audio Fest, a spectacular event spotlighting over 300 manufacturers and distributors of high-end audio/video systems ranging from $1,000 to $1,000,000. Follow host John Kelman as he interviews representatives from several Canadian manufacturers and engages in some listening sessions with their equipment.

Episode 6: John interviews James Tanner, Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Bryston, who has been designing and manufacturing state of the art specialty electronics to both the consumer and professional audio marketplaces for over 35 years. In the consumer market, Bryston manufactures state of the art audio electronics, including active speaker systems, amplifiers, crossovers, CD players and more, all intended to provide their customers with the most musically accurate and reliable performance available. In the professional market, Bryston offers amplifiers for recording studios, radio and television broadcast facilities, and sound reinforcement applications such as stadiums, arenas and other large-scale venues. James illuminates the company's history (surprising, considering where it began) and discusses the benefits of stacked and active speaker configurations.

[jkelman]

Hiiiiideee Ho!

The seventh (and final) Installment of All About Jazz's coverage of the 32nd annual Montréal Audio Fest, a spectacular event spotlighting over 300 manufacturers and distributors of high-end audio/video systems ranging from $1,000 to $1,000,000. Follow host John Kelman as he interviews representatives from several Canadian manufacturers and engages in some listening sessions with their equipment.

Episode 7: John pays a visit to the Audiofilles room. Yes, a play on the word Audiophile, Audiofilles ("Audio Girls") is an initiative begun by the Montréal Audio Fest in 2018. Its purpose: to bring attention to women in a largely male-dominated market. A team of ten women (including interviewees Karine Rose and Amelie Therrien), whose musical interests run far and wide, are presented with a number of products from a variety of manufacturers, and put together a different system each year. What makes its room so different is that Audiofilles create a living room environment with couches, carpets, plants, wall hangings and more, to create a more informal, comfortable setting to sample their system...and their music.

An important success for the 2019 Montréal Audio Fest? Attendance was up over 20% from 2018, with over 6,000 people registering for the event (registration is free). The demographics are also important: 20% of registrants were women, and only 30% were above the age of 55. This means that the festival is succeeding, not just at bringing more people to its event, but more women and a younger, 25-55 age group.