Part 7: The Lower Level, Outremont, And St. Laurent Rooms
A symphony of spectacular high-fidelity sound!
Montreal Audiofest 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker

Outremont Rooms
Just to reorient the folks who attended the show, this part (Part 7) covers the rooms to the right as you hit the lower level.

The coffee bar just to the right was a welcome addition to the show. They had an assortment of snacks, too, for those who experienced a sudden power failure. I typically make do with a couple of Clif Bars and a bottle of Mt. Dew — legacy nourishment from my days of bicycling high mountain passes.

Turning left as I hit the long corridor, I proceeded to Outremont 1 on the left, opposite the large EARVANA and Marketplace room. I'll cover the Outremont rooms first, then double back to EARVANA and Marketplace on the St. Laurent side of the hall.

O1   Martin Logan
Martin Logan has not had a big footprint at the Montreal show, as best I can recall. Here, they seemed to have teamed up with LaLiberte, a retailer in Levis, Quebec, just across the river from Quebec City. Enjoy the Music.com saw a couple of their rooms in Part 1 of the Montreal Audiofest 2025 audiophile show report. The room took a minute to sort out with the gridwork and ceiling-mounted speakers above the seating area. There were three Martin Logan speakers covered with speaker socks aligned behind the Martin Logan hybrid speakers (ESL 9) we were listening to. Apparently, they alternated between a conventional two-channel rig and a surround sound presentation.

What I heard here was very good music, so I was surprised to see that they were using Anthem electronics, which have not fared well in combination with top-line speakers from Paradigm at previous shows. I would audition that combination very carefully. The setup can have a lot to do with success, and I noticed the Martin Logan speakers were positioned far out from the front wall here. The Martin Logan loudspeakers with dynamic drivers were positioned just slightly behind the electrostatic speakers with built-in powered subwoofers.

On the middle rack was an Anthem STR stereo power amp ($7800) on the left and an Anthem MCA 525 Gen 2 ($4200). On the top right was an Anthem AVM 90 preamplifier / processor ($9k) for home theater that served both speaker setups. Beneath the laptop on the left was an Anthem STR preamp with DAC, onboard Anthem Room Correction (ARC), customizable bass manager for mono or stereo sub outs, MM and MC phono inputs. With all that control, properly implemented, it is no wonder this room sounded so good. On the bottom left was a DR Acoustics Antigone power conditioner. On the lower right was likely a multi-channel power amp for the surround setup. The Anthem line is designed and built in Canada.

The subwoofer was labeled Grotto 15 with a price of $3200 each, suggesting a 15" driver and a premium price that would place it below their Balanced Force models and above their diminutive Abyss models, and standard-size Dynamo models. It seemed so large that I set my briefcase down next to it to give it a sense of scale. This was off to the side of the room and not connected with cables.

O2   Bryston
Bryston was showcasing their Canadian flag proudly, and I / Enjoy the Music.com salute their patriotism in these troubled times. I sat down with James Tanner, who was in his predictable chair. The rig was sounding good, which is also predictable. I shared with him my delight at hearing his amplifiers driving another brand of speaker upstairs at the show. Their speakers are a good value, but hearing another speaker with a different sonic signature revealed how good their amplifiers really are.

Their wide range of speakers, from stand-mounted monitors to line-array towers and bass towers, is all available in active or passive designs, with active DSP crossovers available for the subwoofers. Speakers can be single, bi-, or tri-wired or amplified. There is a lot more detail on their website.

Bryston bought out the Magnum Dynalab company when the owners retired, and both the solid-state and tube models are selling well. James said the antenna shown here is also doing very well.

Continuing down the row of Outremont rooms, on the corner of the short hallway where the escalator lands, a table had been set up with an odd assortment of older audio gear along with an acrylic drop-box for some kind of drawing. This story would all shake out later.

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