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Missing Oscar[TM] Statues Turn Up in Montreal!
by He Jung Kim

Forget Oscar[TM] night. Slip on a SoundStage! name badge and ready yourself for some high-end, red-carpet treatment at Festival du son et l'image in Montreal. That's me shown right with a Cabasse Adriatis speaker ($22,000 per pair), which looks like a Webcam, no?

It was Oscar[TM] weekend, and where did I opt to go instead of reserving the most comfortable seat on the couch in front of my TV? I packed comfortable shoes and headed to my hometown to join the SoundStage! team for a labor-intensive weekend of show coverage at the Festival. When my friends heard I was going to be in town, their collective response was, "We don’t get it. You left the Belle Province for Ottawa, and now you’re an audiophile?" As I'm not an audiophile by any stretch of the imagination, I began to worry. What place does a movie critic have at a high-end-audio show? When I expressed my concerns to SoundStage! editor-in-chief, Marc Mickelson, he proposed that I take in the sights and sounds and give my impressions of an audio show through the eyes of a non-audiophile, a woman, and a movie critic. With a sudden sense of purpose and belonging, I teamed up with Marc, Doug Schneider and Jeff Fritz and entered the Delta Hotel for registration.

We arrived at the show just an hour and a half prior to the doors opening for the public. From my days of working at film festivals in Montreal, I expected to see a mad rush of guys running around with equipment, cell phones ringing endlessly, pressure rising. To my surprise, everyone I met inside several partially setup showrooms were not only calm, but looked as though they were actually having a lot of fun. In fact, the general atmosphere inside the show was that of a class reunion, except in this particular class the classmates remained in touch regularly enough to still have lots in common and can still laugh at jokes from days past. Rather than feeling excluded, as a newcomer I was impressed with this unique camaraderie among competitors in the industry. Audiophiles may often speak of isolation in the outside world, but at a show, they are happy to bond (even with the competition) knowing that they’re amongst those who "understand." But did I understand?

Luckily for me, I was paired with three of the most patient audiophiles at SoundStage!. Marc and Jeff personally guided me through the show the first two days. While they endlessly took notes and engaged in audio-speak with manufacturers, I was always offered the best listening seat in the room. Though I often worried that I may be interfering with their show coverage, I have to admit that I enjoyed the privileges that come with a SoundStage! name badge. I returned the third day not only eager to visit the rooms one last time, but to do so alone. If you really want to stick out at an audio show, you have to be a woman touring alone and wearing a SoundStage! name badge.

Since the real audiophiles are responsible for product reports, here’s my take on Le Festival Son et Image that took place on Oscar[TM] weekend.

Best Picture: If I can get my hands on a Fujitsu Plasma screen for DVD viewing at home, I just may stop going to movie theaters. (right: Fujitsu 4211 plasma display, $15,000 CDN)
Best Actor in a Leading Role: This is a tie between Mark Aling of Paradigm and Lionel Goodfield of Simaudio. These two guys never rest; they’re always around working the crowd and having fun. (right: Lionel Goodfield of Simaudio)
Best Documentary: Nordost Corporation has in Lars Christiansen a magician. Suddenly cables are chic, especially if you see Lars demonstrate his Flatlines. (right: Lars with He Jung)
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Ask Ofra Gershman of Gershman Acoustics if women have a place in high-end audio. Single-handedly answering all the technical questions while welcoming visitors to her room, she just may be the matriarch of the high end. (right: Gershman Acoustics room)
Original Score and Best Costume: Even without his trademark hat, Gilbert Yeung of Blue Circle Audio showed me he can boogie with the best of them as he took requests for "Macho Man" on vinyl. (right: sorry, no picture of Gilbert or the vinyl, but we do have this picture of the company's new 200Wpc BC26 power amplifier)
Best Art Direction: Black velvet curtains, stage lighting and stadium seats transformed Pierre Gabriel’s room into a lush, theatrical experience. (besides a great-looking room, the company has great "hologram" business cards of their speakers, which is shown right)
Best Sound: Maybe it’s because I immediately liked the look of these speakers, but my choice for best-sounding speakers has to be these ultra-cool, party speakers from Jamo. (right: Jamo X3M 8 and 10 loudspeakers)

So have I been converted? Though I still can’t claim to be an audiophile, I was depressed to return home to my now embarrassingly insignificant Panasonic portable CD player. The only fix would be to attend another audio and video show. (OK, so I am hooked!)