Part 3: Sensational Sound During The Montreal Audiofest 2025 High-End Audio Show
Exploring the 2300 Hallway here at Montreal Audiofest high-end audio event.
Montreal Audiofest 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker

  At this point, having covered the 1200 and 1300 hallways, I was halfway around the upper level of the Bonaventure and it was time to take a break and inventory the ducks in the rooftop wildlife preserve. I can assure you I was not alone in doing so.

To continue on the upper level, you take a short flight of stairs to ascend to the 2300 hallway. In doing so, it is natural to continue straight ahead into the Artist Cloner room in 2327. If you did this, you probably missed 2326, a few steps down the hallway to the right at the top of the stairs. I get tripped up myself, so don't feel bad.

2326  The Watershed Group, Jorma, Marten, Clearaudio And Bassocontinuo
The Watershed Group was new to me. I learned it was previously known as the Rep Company (which I had never heard of) and has warehouse and showroom facilities in Brantford, Ontario. In 2011 they re-branded themselves as The Watershed Group, to reflect their business as importers and distributors of high-end audio and cinema products, as well as design-install experts. Most of their brands you will recognize. Jorma is a Swedish cable manufacturer whose cables are used in Marten speakers. And Bassocontinuo makes audio racks in Italy.

Marten was one of the first major speaker manufacturers to replace spike footers with vibration-absorbing footers, a trend that seems to be growing. They are also one of several brands featuring Accuton ceramic drivers. Their presence seems to be growing in the US in recent years and their elegance is top-tier. The Quintet 2 model shown here was $95k, though you could spend less and more for other models. Note the elaborate adjustable footers and the wood top on this model.

The Bassocontinuo rack contained a Clearaudio Innovation turntable with a Clearaudio Jubilee mc cartridge. A Clearaudio Balance V2 phono stage was just below it. Further down, a Merason DAC1 Mk2 was sitting atop an Audia Flight FL CD Three S CD player from Italy.

I really wanted to hear this rig, but a long lecture/discussion evolved and I moved on. Sometimes it just takes too long to select a piece of music. I was hoping to get back for a better listen, but it appears I'll have to wait for the Toronto Audiofest in October.

The price list fills out the rig here and shows a considerable amount was spent on cables.

2327  ArtistCloner By Sylvio Comtois
Last year's "Blow 'em away" performance of the Medieval-looking Mechanika speaker ($42,600) was going to be a tough act to follow and that was not the first time Sylvio Comtois came away with a Best Rooms Award at Montreal with his ArtistCloner sound system. What I saw when I entered his room appeared to be a whole new system, both speakers and electronics, yet the sound was at once familiar — I've been paying attention to his work for years since he first showed up in Montreal.

This year he took the same tall & deep form factor and added a woofer top and bottom to retain the D'Appolito configuration, but then gave it a styling makeover with aluminum and slate to bring it aesthetically in line with his smaller Ether 2.5 floorstander. The new Depth Wave X speaker ($137k) sounded almost the same, but not quite as addictive as last year's Mekanika speaker which, without the two woofers had a claimed frequency response of 27Hz to 27,000Hz, in room.

Perhaps it was the music being played, although Stevie Ray Vaughn's Tin Pan Alley sounded very good, bringing me back to my seat as I was about to leave. It may have been the speaker placement was off by some inches, or possibly that the speaker lacked sufficient break-in time, being finished right before the show. Nonetheless, this was still very much a contender for a Best Rooms Award and his room should never be missed when you attend the Montreal show.

The ceramic-coated and CNC machined "wave" of the exposed aluminum on the baffle carries around to the side panels. The matching baseplate flares out from the column and tapers as it recedes to the back of the speaker, just as it does on the matching components. I suspect the speaker breaks down into two or three parts for ease of delivery for on-site assembly.

The new ArtistCloner Depth Wave X preamplifier (above, $46k) and matching stereo power amplifier ($44k) have an all-new chassis to match the speaker with the concentric waves. Even finer grooves are seen more clearly in the original photograph of the preamplifier, though they may not survive the reduction in resolution necessary for publication. Note the tapering and the engraved brand name on the base as well as the dark ribs on the sides of the matching amplifier sitting beside it. It is an exquisite design and with its ceramic finish, it reminds me of the Parthenon. It is unlike any other preamplifier I can recall — so unique that I forgot to ask about the electronics inside. It lacks the protruding tubes of the Luceo tubed preamplifier ($8k).

Always on the lookout for small tweaks, I spotted the interesting ArtistCloner "To Heaven" cable risers made with custom stainless steel posts, and available in four different wood types at $150 per riser, available in sets of six or ten.

Sylvio also demonstrated the effectiveness of his Puratube AC Filter ($375 each) that removes considerable amounts of EMI from your AC line. In a before and after test, the 198mV reading here was considerably better than "without" which was up about 1000mV in a neighboring room. It does not affect RFI, but it is worth checking out on his website.

Other items in the system included his Pteros V2 power distributor ($4,800), the ArtistCloner music server, DAC and archives ($3,600), and reasonably priced cables for a system of this quality. I'm looking forward to hearing this room again next year, if not sooner.

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