Interesting News & Products

CES 2010

Westside will have a heroic room at CES this year including 1200 W Karan monoblocks, top-of-the-line Avalon loudspeakers, Zaden front end, and Cardas cables. If you are attending please visit us at the Venetian in room 29-117

Arcam AV600 and AV 888

Arcam has now released their next generation theater receiver (600) and pre-pro (888). A simpler version of the 600 (the 500) will be available in 2010. These products required years of effort to create, and are really special.

If you are thinking about a quality home theatre (an not necessarily an big budget one), and especially if it will also used for “stereo” listening you should consider these products. The allow you to access the new hi-res audio soundtracks on blu-ray, but make no compromise when it comes to music.

Your Next “CD Player”

CD players have continued to improve, and excellent performance can now be had in the $1-$2K range. However, this still leaves you handling and storing disks, not the easiest way to access your collection. While there are a number of pre-engineered “music servers” out there but they tend to be either quite expensive or compromised in terms of audio quality.

There IS a solution that is the best of all worlds. Using a relatively inexpensive server system such as the Sonos (wireless distribution and a great hand-held touch screen) and an outboard DAC (e.g. Benchmark) you can have the convenience of a server and the sound quality of a top-notch player, all at a very reasonable price.

Southern Alberta Audio Video Society

The Southern Alberta Audio Video Society (SAAVS) is an informal group of audio and video enthusiasts who meet about every other month in a gathering hosted by one of it’s members.  Members A/V systems range from very modest to quite elaborate – you need not have a fancy system to join the society.

For more information contact Westside Music.

When scheduled the next meeting date will be posted below.