Looking Back on Toronto Audiofest 2019

So: What did I think of the Toronto show? I thought it was great, comparable to the Montreal show in spirit and crowd buzz, though traffic did seem thin on Sunday compared to the previous two days. But that’s not unusual for an audio show.

I’ll say this, unequivocally: The Toronto Westin Airport Hotel is a fantastic venue for an audio event, better than the Montreal show’s near-fabled Bonaventure Hotel, where it counts most: in the exhibitors’ rooms. For whatever reason, and this was the consensus among those I spoke with, the rooms at the Westin seem to have acoustic properties that made most systems being demoed sound better than expected by anyone who’s ever been at an audio show. It’s worth the trip to Toronto just to hear what that’s like.

My takeaway is the Toronto Audiofest is on sure footing. For that, another big thank you is owed to the fest’s organizers, Sarah Tremblay and Michel Plante—and not just to them but to their whole crack team of industrious helpers, who work tirelessly in setting things up, keeping things going, and then tearing it all down, to make sure that for three days everything goes well and that everyone’s happy. To all of them, I would just like to say: On vous aime.

Would I go attend next year’s Toronto Audiofest if Stereophile editor Jim Austin—in the middle in the photo above, with Bob Deutsch on the left and yours truly on the right—asks me to? In a heartbeat.

Peace and love.

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