This review page is supported in part by the sponsors whose ad banners are displayed below It’s been well over ten years since Toronto had an audio show although train wreck might be a more appropriate term for that dismal event. Just when I had given up hope that a new show under more capable management would ever return to Toronto, I saw a press release indicating just that late last year. The organizers of the newly minted TAVES did a terrific job. I thought the location was great even if the King Eddie is a tad dated and some of the rooms too small. It’s easily accessible by subway and there’s plenty of cheap parking if you know where to look. We parked under the Bell Trinity building for $6 flat rate all day. There are lots of great pubs and restaurants within walking distance including one of my all time favorites, C’est What? which has 35 draft beers on tap and a varied multicultural menu. I went for the hemp ale. I brought my 17-year old son Patrick this year and met up with a bunch of friends including some fellow moonies. While I knew Glen I had not met David and Frederic before so it was great getting to know them a bit better. I regret not spending more time with them but there was much to see and hear. Since it was apparent from the start that Glen was in full-on show report mode à la Srajan and that Frederic and David would also submit reports, I thought I’d try something different. Apart from offering a few comments I would cover the show from the perspective of a 17-year old, in this case Patrick, and focus on a small number of rooms that stood out for both of us. Patrick is typical of his generation in how he listens to music. It gives me a headache just thinking about it. His generation is all about multi-tasking, plug & play convenience and portability. While I might at most read when listening to music, it’s not unusual to see Patrick play a game on the Xbox, text friends, watch YouTube videos on the PC, talk to his friends via Skype and listen to music - all at once! The fact that he can actually pay attention to the lyrics and instrumentation in a song is amazing. The fact that he watches more films in our computer than TV room is equally bizarre to me but the notion of spinning silver discs is quaint to him. Why buy and store CDs and DVDs when you can download, rip and store them on a hard drive, USB stick or portable player like an iPhone? While he is concerned about sound quality, it’s not at the cost of convenience and flexibility or showing up the sonic limitations of MP3 with some of the hyper-detailed hifi gear out there. In fact he’s been at me to replace the desktop speakers in our computer room which he recognizes are limiting his enjoyment of music. He was also amazed with the improved sound quality when I showed him how to properly rip CDs and use programs such as Foobar 2000 to play back his tunes. For Patrick this show was an opportunity to audition equipment that suited the way he listens to music as well as encounter more traditional audiophile systems. Paradigm MilleniaOne monitors and matching subwoofer It was interesting to note how he was not drawn to the bigger more complex and expensive systems—neither am I for that matter—but towards those which were simple, compact, flexible, plug ‘n’ play and conducive to how kids of his generation relate to music. For Patrick two displays stood out by far: Paradigm and Naim. Others stood out by either refusing to play his music such as the Ceratec Audio Design room, not having the capability to do so or because they plain sounded too darn awful. Paradigm Shift is a new division of Canadian speaker and electronics giant Paradigm. It was on display just outside the Paradigm room that drew Patrick in like a bee to honey. No doubt aimed at his generation, the display featured a Numark DJ mixing table, three ear-bud models ranging from about $50 to $150 and a pair of cute fully active DSP-controlled speakers. The price varied depending on stand and finish but the a2 speakers retail for well under $1,000. In Patrick’s words, "the ear buds are amazing. I can’t believe they sound so good. They make my Dr. Dre Beats sound awful. And they sounded better than all the other more expensive headphones I heard at the show. The best part is that kids like me can afford them." "The a2 speakers sounded great too and don’t need a separate amplifier to drive them. They sound way better than what I’m used to." Patrick strongly hinted to me that these would be perfect for a computer gaming system as well as to just kick back listening to tunes on our PC. Patrick spent considerable time chatting with the Paradigm folks and got the skinny on some upcoming products such as gaming headphones. Paradigm Shift products can be ordered direct online once their website goes live in the near future. In the room proper Patrick was impressed with the Millenia LP wall mount speakers [above] and particularly tickled with the MilleniaOne 2.0 speakers and MilleniaSub which can be slid under a couch all for less than $2,500. While the latter was on static display, what intrigued Patrick was the clever technology involved and the eye-pleasing appearance. On a side note, ten years ago Patrick—7 at the time—won first prize in his school’s science project contest. For his project he explained how loudspeakers work. Along with help from the folks at API (Energy, Mirage, Sound Dynamics), Paradigm’s director of marketing Mark Aling was kind enough to send Patrick a driver for his assignment. TAVES was the first time they met in person. Patrick was pretty impressed that Mark remembered his project. Mark must have been impressed too because he invited Patrick for a tour of Paradigm’s mammoth facilities just outside Toronto—of course I’ll be going too—and offered a set of Paradigm Shift’s new ear buds for review. It looks like Patrick and I will be taking a personal observance day off from school and go to work together in the near future.