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Montreal retailer Son Idéal featured Rogue Audio's ass-kicking M-150 monoblocks that 6moons alumni Chip Stern so colorfully reviewed at Positive Feedback recently, Rogue's Ninety-Nine preamp, Rega Apollo & Saturn CD players and B&W 805s speakers. I luuuvvved the tactile, luscious tube flavor of this room. While other rooms tried to jam ice picks through my skull, this one seduced me with a little of that valve magic. Patrick says "thanks dude" to the Son Idéal fella who played his Linkin Park LP. Of special note was a killer little affordable rig with Rogue's Chronus integrated that moon man Michael Lavorgna reviewed here, Rega Apollo and PSB's Alpha B1 monitors that retail for a ridiculously low $279. I thought this little rig rocked and would be a great system for those of modest means. Patrick certainly wanted to take it home.


Bluebird Music displayed a terrific little rig they called The Ultimate Budget System. For $5,274 you get Exposure's 2010S Integrated ($1,295), 2010S CD Player ($1,295), Neat Motive speakers ($2,195), Chord Chameleon Silver Plus IC ($299) and Chord Carnival 2 SC ($190). If you attended the show, you could have picked this rig up for a cool $3,950! I thought this was an exceptionally fine example of an affordable yet musical system. Kudos to Bluebird's Jay Rein for presentation and the detailed handouts. That's the way to do it.

Canadian distributor Dimexs featured a room full of PS Audio gear including AC conditioning equipment such as the Quintet power bar and the plug-in Noise Harvester, various Trio components plus a working prototype of their Perfect Wave Transport. Design is still in a state of flux but I hear the final version will feature a traditional drawer mechanism plus a larger front panel mounted touch screen LCD display. Also impressive was a pair of Highland Audio floorstanders and an Avid turntable. This was another room that enthusiastically played a couple of cuts of my son's Linkin Park LP.



Mutine had two lovely sounding rooms, one featuring Duevel's Bella Luna Diamante ($15,490), Audiomat Recital integrated ($15,900), Audiomat Maestro Reference DAC ($14,990), CEC TL0X transport ($18,900) and Actinote cabling. Next door Mutine showed off a sweet little rig featuring Duevel Planets ($1,490), Mimetism 27.2 CD Player ($4,990), and Mimetism 17.2 integrated ($4,990). These were two rooms that I wanted to return and spend more time in but was unable due to time constraints. I'm currently wrapping up review of the Planets, quite favorably I might add. Yes, they look odd but I can assure you these are terrific, relatively inexpensive speakers that get the basics of music reproduction right.



Blue Circle Audio and JM Reynaud distributor Amherst Audio offered a pleasant sounding system featuring Reynaud's new Duet speakers that replace the Twin Siggies I reviewed a couple of years ago. Driving the Duets was a Blue Circle FtTH hybrid integrated. When Patrick and I arrived, Bob and Noel Nolan of Skylan Stands were comparing Reynaud's Magic Stands with Noel's. Patrick had a clear preference for Noel's stand while I waffled back and forth. By the way, Noel was everywhere at FSI. His stands were all over the place. Blue Circle's Gilbert Yeung was his usual irreverent self. Check out his T-shirt and room sign.