Part 7: Montreal Audiofest Chronicles 2024
Time to check out the Lower Level, Outremont, and St. Laurent rooms.
Montreal Audiofest 2024 Show Report By Rick Becker

O6  Audiophile Experts

Audiophile Experts, from a small town just east of Montreal, put together a very impressive system for small groups of captive listeners at regular intervals. (I had to stop back several times to get in, but it was worth it.) And those who did get in stayed.

On the left rack was Esoteric's new Grandioso T1 turntable ($108k), though I didn't get to hear it, along with a G-05 Master Clock ($6750), an N-5) XD Network DAC / Preamp ($14,800) and the Grandioso turntable power supply on the bottom shelf. On the right rack was Accuphase gear including the C-47 phono stage ($13k) on top with a C-2900 preamp ($27k) and an A-80 65 Wpc power amp on the bottom shelf. Accuphase Laboratory has been announcing price cuts in its print advertising lately, making it more competitive.

I've heard good music powered by Accuphase a couple of times, at least, at this show, and I remember Accuphase driving a PS Audio FR20 speaker to the best I've ever heard a PS Audio speaker sound at the Toronto show. This Japanese company has been around for fifty years and retained its classic styling, achieving an aura close to McIntosh. My eye didn't spot the price list atop the rack, but I can guarantee it is expensive. I noted the Solidsteel racks with both black and wood tone finishes on the shelves.

II thought I was finally getting a chance to hear the DALI Kore speaker sound decent in this room. In previous encounters, the Kore had been driven by NAD components in less-than-optimal settings. Lenbrook Americas is the distributor of both companies, as well as Bluesound and PSB speakers. I was delighted to learn that this was the more obtainable Epikore II speaker ($80k) as I had also heard this one previously in another less-than-optimal situation driven by NAD gear. (The Kore is a much larger speaker.) That's not to disparage NAD gear, but the DALI is a much higher-class component.

The Epikore II has both a planar driver and soft dome tweeter, as well as four mid/bass drivers in this 4.5-way speaker. I included this photo to give you a hint of the gloss walnut finish. (My auto-focus apparently went for the racks.) The other finishes include gloss black and gloss mauve. The Luna Cables in this rig were a combination of the Mauve and Rouge series and totaled around $50k.

O7  SonUltime

Son Ultime, open by appointment only, presented a McIntosh rig supplemented with a HiFi Rose streamer and MSB DAC stack.

I'm not sure what the little suitcases beneath the monoblocks are for, but they look to be the right size for LPs. Those were premium black racks.

The line array with parallel tweeters and small midrange drivers mounted in front of the woofers has long been a McIntosh tradition. The thin broomstick to the right of the speaker was a tall LED light fixture.

St. Laurent Rooms
To keep the rooms in numerical order, I walked back to the other end of the hall to cover the large St. Laurent rooms.

St. Laurent S1  Seminars

The first room was set up for seminars given on Friday and Saturday. Presenters included (clockwise from the upper right) Kevin Fielding of PMA Magazine, Norman Varney of AV Room Service, Claude Lemaire of PMA Magazine, and David Solomon of Qobuz. Unfortunately, I never have enough time to take in seminars at shows.

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