rlauferblog

At last year’s Montreal Audiofest I was fortunate to attend an amazing pre-show media event. This year I attended two of them!

First up, the Harman event for a preview of the latest and greatest from Denon, Bowers & Wilkins, and Marantz.

We started with an introduction to the latest iterations of the Denon Home wireless speakers, the 200, 400, and 600, all powered by HEOS. The speakers vary in the number, size, and direction (e.g. forward or top firing) of drivers.

Here is a sound sample of the 600.

Next, the Nautilus! I have been wanting to hear these for a long time!

We heard 3 or 4 tracks. Of course, my favourite was the punchiest.

BTW note how the Nautilus were finished in McLaren Volcano Yellow

We also had the opportunity to try B&W headphones and check out the rest of their expansive lineup

All to a nice backdrop of Beatles paraphernalia including Hollywood stars made by the actual artist!

I didn’t stay for this preview as I attended the Abbey Road unveiling a few months ago.

More from Marantz and Denon

On to the Gentec event for the latest from Klipsch, Onkyo, Teac, Pro-ject, Musical Fidelity, and Wiim.

I arrived just in time for the intro to the Klipsch Fives II, Sevens II, and Nines II powered bookshelf speakers, which is perfect as those are what I was most anxious to see!

I would definitely go with the Nines so was happy they demo’d those…awesome song too!

I was also happy to audition the Heresy. They played the same song as the Nautilus demo and it was great to hear how much bang for the buck you get with the Klipsch in comparison.

I heard the Klipschorn last year but this time it was paired with different electronics (Onkyo I believe).

Home theatre system (also heard this last year).

Musical fidelity

Awesome tape decks from Teac!

All done with the media events it was time for the show! Can you guess where I went first? If you have read my past reviews,  you would know it was Acora! Especially since I saw on social media that they were bringing back the VRC!!!

Some static displays outside the room.

Now if the VRCs weren’t insane enough, imagine being paired with six REL subwoofers!!!!

And incredible Audio Research!

Listening through my headphones there is no way I did this system justice as the bass was ASTONISHING in person! (no distortion)

And you knew I had to clear the room hahaha

Val you are the best!!!

Next, I stopped in to see my good friends at Bliss Acoustics!

In addition to their usual awesome lineup of J. Sikora, Nagra, Gryphon, and Kroma, I was looking forward to checking out Aries Cerat.

Great to see Dragan and Rene!

I meant to go back for a sound demo/vid but it was a short visit to the show (more on that later).

Joseph Crowe had one of, if not the best, room at Toronto Audiofest (indeed a lot of people agreed on that). This time they had a much bigger room to really let the system breath.

French song for Montreal

Next, I went to Monitor to see if they brought back the Hyphn. No luck on that front but I have to say the Platinum 200 sounded AMAZING! I am telling you, all Monitor products are great.

Ok now for my biggest surprise of the show, JBL Summit series! I was NOT expecting that!

MACO had one of the nicest rooms at Toronto Audiofest…once again they look great!

Based on online reviews, I was really looking forward to auditioning the Dutch & Dutch 8c. I wish I had more time to go back with requests as the sample playing did not give me the full flavour.

Now for some EARVANA ! I tried the Forte Ears Macbeth at Toronto Audiofest and I loved everything about them including the look, feel, and definitely the sound!

The Noble Audio Shogun is equally stunning! And very in line with my other hobbies.

love the tsuka-ito design on the wire

Of course, I had to give them a listen!

They sounded great! In retrospect, I wish I did a side-by-side comparison vs. the Forte as they use different approaches. As it stands, I would be happy with either.

While in the EARVANA/market section, I came across these artists who make household items/art out of old records!

I picked up a Deep Purple bowl

Ok back to audio rooms with Altitudo Audio. I loved that gigantic Burmester Reference 909 Mk5 amp!

You know I love Michell turntables

SVS home theatre

Bryston

Wynn Audio

Eversolo Motet

Grimm Audio

Lemay Audio

Rega

Solen

I started Toronto Audiofest with my best experience, Vincent Belanger playing alongside Audionote and I will end the same way here! This time I got a better seat and recorded all three songs in their entirety.

Spectacular!

I picked up Vincent’s newest CD. Thanks for the autograph!

And that’s a wrap on my coverage! Don’t misinterpret the brevity as an indication of anything about the show. I am once again doing three shows in three different cities back-to-back so can’t be quite as comprehensive as if I was covering this show only. As such, apologies to the rooms I could not cover.

To recap my highlights (this time in no particular order)

• Acora room
• Bliss Acoustics room
• B&W Nautilus
• Klipsch Nines II
• Monitor Platinum 200
• JBL Summit
• Forte Ears Macbeth
• Noble Audio Shogun
• Vincent Belanger/Audionote

RL