Al Griffin

Regional hi-fi shows are sprouting up all over North America. We now have the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver, T.H.E. Show in Newport Beach, AXPONA in Jacksonville, and NYC’s New York Audio and A/V show. And each year Montreal gets its own event, Salon Son & Image. Wouldn’t it be great if they also held one in Toronto?

There are two ways to go about setting up a home theater. The first option is to rope off a room in your house, seal the windows, and then make any and all necessary modifications to turn it into a dedicated movie palace. The second, more common option is to take a space your family actually lives, works, and plays in and adapt it so that it can easily go from sitting to screening room.

Q I’m still using my first system that I bought in the late 1960s. Time for an upgrade! I’ve seen speakers with four drivers and speakers that use only one driver. Can you explain the advantages of one design over the other? For example, is it possible for a tower speaker with a single driver to sound better than one with three or more drivers? —Michael Oleson, Fort Worth, TX

Samsung is about to make good on a promise to make Smart TVs even smarter.