Part 4: Montreal Audiofest Chronicles 2024
Many wonderful surprises within the 2400 Hallway.
Montreal Audiofest 2024 Show Report By Rick Becker

2414  Filtronique Son-or
Room 2413 is one of the larger suites at the show. The sleeping room is upstairs while the living room is traditionally the demonstration suite for very fine rigs. This year was no exception with Filtronique Son-or, one of the oldest and most highly regarded stereo stores in Montreal, featuring a fine rig with premium products.

At the top left in the above photo was a Trans-rotor turntable. Below was a Moon preamp and further down was a Melco server. On the rack on the right was a Moon power amp above an Audioquest Niagara 7000 power conditioner with a chrome faceplate – possibly the harbinger of a new trend. Audioquest also supplied the cabling.

The speakers were the R8 Arette (~$75k USD), driven by an Audiovector amplifier, and positioned just below the flagship R11. The R8 incorporated a downward-firing isobaric bass system and a rear-firing bass/midrange driver. Also notable was the ability to connect the speaker to an earth/ground system, something that has become more prominent in high-end circles in recent years. The broad expanse of burl veneer on these speakers with a high-gloss finish was particularly attractive, though the metal baffle behind the drivers limits the design of this, and other Arette series speakers, to contemporary settings, for those who care about such things.

I hung in long enough to hear some analog with the Hana Umami Blue cartridge on the Trans-Roter turntable and I was very impressed with what I heard. This was my first time hearing the Umami Blue.

In the entrance to the suite on a Canopee rack, on silent display, was a more modest set-up with a Trans-Rotor turntable and a Moon integrated amp.

The Canopee rack with light-colored inlaid strips of wood across the front of the shelves was particularly attractive.

2419  Audio Note UK

The house sound of Audio Note UK was evident in this room and without direct comparison with their more expensive speakers it was difficult to say there was much difference. The system was all Audio Note, right down to the cables. The turntable was their TT-Three with three motors and a separate power supply, fitted with their IQ2 cartridge, all for $30k. Totaling over $94k, plus Audio Note UK cables (which are not outrageously expensive by high-end standards) the music here was very approachable and could easily seduce a hundred grand from the wallet of someone who just wanted an excellent system without years of studying the high-end to get it. If the price is too rich for you, scroll down to their other room, just across the hall.

The Meishu Phono Tonmeister ($24k) was next to the turntable, exposing the Audio Note 300B power tubes in this integrated amp with a built-in phono stage.

Below the amp was the CD4.1x ($22k), an all-in-one CD player with built-in DAC, just like in the old days. It's nice to see the sensible terminology return again.

At their insistence, I spent a delightful four minutes listening to Dr. John, accompanied by Ricki Lee Jones singing "Makin Whoopie" from In a Sentimental Mood on LP, which I just happened to have in my briefcase. Wonderful. That was followed by some heavy rock music from another visitor which was also handled very nicely by this Audio Note rig, if not with the deepest bass, but hey, that's what subwoofers are for.

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