Intro To Rick's Montreal Audiofest 2025 Show Report
More than 300 photos spanning many pages over the coming weeks.
Montreal Audiofest 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker

Early Friday evening, Rochester, New York
As I pulled into the gas station right behind a new Porsche 911 GT3 with temporary plates taped to the rear window, I noticed the engine was still running. Thinking the new owner was inside buying lottery tickets, I fantasized about jumping into it for a joy ride up to Montreal. But alas, a Porsche is merely a toy that would hardly make it through the snow and ice in the Adirondacks on the way up. My AWD Shooting Brake is designed to carry my toys on the roof, or in the case of speakers and amplifiers, inside.

The snow and ice didn't materialize until I pulled into my secret camping spot just below the Canadian border in Champlain, NY. As I pulled in I was surprised to find two USA Border Patrol SUVs parked with lights out. After settling in for the night, 20 yards behind one of them, the first one started up and pulled out of my hideout. A half-hour later, the other had silently pulled away.

Saturday Morning
In the morning the car was covered with crusty snow and ice. After breakfast at McDonalds, I crossed into Canada without incident. An hour later, as I gathered my cameras deep in the bowels below the Hotel Bonaventure, the slurry of salt, sand, and ice slid off the car, a testament to the tough sledding I had endured.

That I had to wait in line to get an elevator to get up to the hotel on the 10th floor at 10 a.m. was taken as a good sign. I had heard the show in Dallas, a mere week earlier, was not so enthusiastically attended. It soon became evident that the atmosphere at the show was upbeat and enthusiastic. The crowd was also polite and patient.

Not everyone there was attending the Audiofest as the hot tub was more popular than the rooftop pool on this wintery morning. So here is the plan:

Saturday Morning, The Main Floor

Part 1: The 1200 hallway of sleeping rooms

Part 2: The 1300 hallway 

Part 3: The 2300 hallway

Part 4: The 2400 hallway and Bonaventure Room

Part 5: The Industry Banquet and Lifetime Achievement Awards

Sunday Morning, the Lower Level

Part 6: The large Montreal Rooms and smaller Westmount rooms

Part 7: The somewhat larger Outremont room and the large St. Laurent rooms

Part 8: The Best Rooms recognition, the final wrap-up

Part 1 should be up in a few days. The Montreal 2025 consumer electronics show report will likely overlap reporting from other high-end audiophile events, so keep stopping back often for updates as it was a high-energy show.

---> Part 1: Magical Music At The Montreal Audiofest 2025 High-End Audio Show.

---> Back to the Montreal Audiofest 2025 show report homepage.