Part 1: Magical Music During The Montreal Audiofest 2025 High-End Audio Show
Starting our exploration of great sound at the Montreal show.
Montreal Audiofest 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker

1228   Galion Audio Inc, Pearl Acoustics, Thomas And Stereo
The next room was a very pleasant surprise with a small single-driver speaker driven by a tube amp. The music drew me in immediately and easily filled the room. Pearl Acoustics is a UK-registered company with production and distribution done in Belgium. Their sole speaker is the Sibelius CG with the copper cone driver, also available as an identical SG model with a silver driver. The stained French oak of the cabinet is available in different stains and almost looks like cherry wood. The French oak has a much different grain than red or white oak typically found in North America. The speaker is also available in high-density Baltic birch ply if you wish to have a painted finish. They are open to you designing it to suit yourself, but lead times are currently quite long. The fit and finish of the sample here were superb.

The design is a crossover-less one with a quarter wave horn and front port at the bottom, much like the Lowther design of yore from which it is derived. The history of the company is fascinating and speaks well of the company. The Sibelius is meant to be driven by SET tube amps in the 35 to 70 Watt range, though a good solid-state amp would likely do it justice, too. Pearl Acoustics is set to come out with a solid-state amp in June of this year ($9,400), and a tube amp in December ($14,500). The Sibelius speaker is priced at $12,900 in either French oak or Baltic plywood.

A Galion tube amp was used here, which was built in China but tweaked in Canada by Thomas Tan of Thomas and Stereo fame. The amp features tone controls and a knob for several sound signatures including a position for HT (home theater). The ToneWinner TY-1CD CD player below the amp is a mid-priced CD player from China. A Galion Odyssey solid state preamp ($4k) was on the middle shelf and a Galion TS-A20 solid state power amp was on the bottom shelf of the Solid Tech Rack of Silence.

The rig was placed against the long wall so there was just a single row of seating. I didn't stick around long enough for a seat to become available. That's what happens when the sound quality is good — nobody leaves.

1231   The Gramophone Inc, The Sound Choice, Fyne Audio, And Tri-Cell Enterprises
The consortium here was comprised of The Gramophone, a distributor, The Sound Choice, a retailer in Ottawa, and Tri-Cell Enterprises, a major distributor in Canada. The dynamic painted backdrop suggested Hugh Masekela blowing Dizzy Gillespie's horn, enhancing the music coming from the fine system here. The Fyne Audio Vintage Classic X speakers from Scotland with 94dB/W/m sensitivity easily recreated the venue of the recording, albeit a bit loud — too much so, I'd say, as the room was almost empty despite the good sound quality.

The Lab 12 gear from Greece shown here seems to be getting better results every time I hear it. Perhaps in the past, it has been shown with lesser speakers or cables. From the top down were the VPI Model One turntable, Lab 12 Phono stage, DAC, Preamp, and power amp with Russian KT150 tubes. The cabling here seems to have been from Luna Cables.

Another major factor was the Synergistic Research gear, including the PowerCell 8SX, Active Ground Block SX, a Tranquility Pod Carbon on top of the phono stage, and the new Black Box Carbon on the floor in front of the rack. I even spotted the HFT tuning cylinders attached to the speaker on the sides, front, and even on top of the Fyne super tweeter. There was even one in the front center of the top shelf on the rack. You'll have to trust me on this because the excellent resolution of my photos gets lost when they are formatted for the website. I've reviewed and currently use a lot of Synergistic gear and I've found most of it to be very effective.

Not to be overlooked here was the handsome and substantial NorStone Como equipment rack with solid stainless steel tubing and black leather covering on the shelves.

1232   Laliberte Electronique, SVS, And Eversolo
Laliberte Electronique is a mass-market retailer in Levis, across the river, just south of Quebec City. They carry a huge selection of brands, some quite distinguished, without getting into the esoteric deep end of the audio world. In the first of their two rooms, I was happy to get a listen to the top SVS floorstanding speakers driven by an Eversolo amp and streamer. The seats were all full and the guy was deep into explaining the gear so I didn't get up close. The SVS sounded surprisingly good for their reasonable price and would likely sound even better with better electronics. With the rear-firing drivers on these speakers, the music had a full sound and sense of depth, easily filling the room.

The huge subs, I was told, were not active. They had apparently done their homework with some room treatment of the front wall to accommodate the rear-firing drivers. In a larger room with more space around the speakers, I suspect they would have achieved even better sound quality. At previous shows, I have not been able to wedge my way into the room, so this was a treat and I was impressed. Even listening to my video notes with my Grado headphones at home, I can dive into the music.

Out in the hallway was a cutaway of a large ported SVS sub that revealed the massive driver and intricate plumbing. Again, impressive.

Tucked into a corner where the hallway zig-zagged Laliberte hosted a table for Audioquest products with friendly people to answer your questions.

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