All prices are in US dollars unless otherwise noted.

How's the weather where you are? In Montreal, it's very nice. In fact, it's great! But rest assured, it's not always this nice here during this time of year. In Canada during spring, the weather is very unpredictable, and when attending the Festival, you have to be prepared to trudge through snow and slush. But not this year -- temperatures are above 10 degrees Celsius (more than 50 degrees Fahrenheit). The photo above is taken from the ninth floor of the Delta Hotel, which is the top floor of the exhibits for the Festival. Unlike last year's show, which only took place at the Delta, this year's Festival moved into five floors of the Sheraton Four Points Hotel located across the street from the Delta.

Besides the obvious expansion to two locations, it didn't take long to figure out that there's a lot to see at this show. Today we found a mix of home-theater and two-channel audio as well as mini systems, LCD and plasma monitors, and accessories for all types of home entertainment, such as some interesting A/V furniture.  The rooms in general are very informal, and exhibitors play visitors' music willingly (and this is not typical at a show). Enthusiasm levels were also high, although the traffic level was low enough to access most rooms easily.

Day one of an audio show usually doesn't offer up the best sound, but we heard a few impressive demos. Simaudio and Dynaudio set up a system based around the $85,000-per-pair Evidence and a slew of Simaudio electronics. So far, this exhibit takes the award for playing the best music -- Pink Floyd, Michael Hedges and Government Mule among it. Speaking of real-world music, a hatless Gilbert Yeung of Blue Circle Audio turned his room into a disco inferno by playing one of his all-time faves: "Macho Man" by the Village People (on vinyl no less).

Finally, the "mix" of exhibitors makes this show quite unique. At the CES, manufacturers are the mainstay. For the Montreal show, a mixture of manufacturers, both from within Canada and also abroad, make the journey to display; there are also a number of distributors, most from Canada, who represent products from different countries. Finally, there are numerous retailers who usually have stores right in Montreal. Below retailer François Thibault of Hi-Fi Sensation Musicale stands next to a ProAc Future One speaker ($15,000 per pair CDN), a pair of which were driven by Pathos InPower monoblocks ($9000 each CDN). A Pathos InControl preamp ($8000 CDN) and Simaudio Moon Eclipse CD player ($7000 CDN) round out the electronics. Also included are MIT cables totaling some $6000 CDN.

Look for lots more to follow.