Part 1 — 1200 & 1300 Hallways: Montreal Audiofest 2026 Show Tour And Sound Impressions
Exhibitor room and gear reviews, technical observations, and practical notes for serious listeners and music lovers.
Montreal Audiofest Show Report By Rick Becker

1212  mono/stereo
A second room disappointed me. With the name ‘mono/stereo,' I thought for sure they would present a truly monaural system in one of their two rooms. Actually, this was another very fine-sounding room. That's Danny Labrecque, whom I've watched over the years grow from a salesman to cable manufacturer (Luna Cables) to now become the owner of an elite high-end dealership here in Montreal.

That's a Kondo Overture integrated amplifier from Japan and a CS Port turntable, also from Japan. I noted the Coga footers here and elsewhere at the show, which I first spotted last year.

1215  Phonographe
The second room from Phonographe looked and sounded very familiar, which is to say excellent.

The green faceplate of the Sugden IA-4 integrated amplifier might be new. Green is a color the industry has been experimenting with for two years now, perhaps seeking to move on from the battleship grey that has been popular for a while. Note the large power button on the left. This company in England dates back to 1967, so they have developed a following for their lower-powered, pure Class A solid-state designs.

The $19k price tag on the Revival Audio speaker threw me back. Was this the same model shown last year, which seemed like an outstanding bargain for around $8k? Or was this the consequence of Trump's tariffs? It turned out this is the flagship Grande Réserve of the three-model lineup from Revival Audio, which are all three-way designs and feature an inlay around the beltline above the woofer.

Last year was the entry-level model, which in my distant memory sounded just as good as the Grande Réserve. Anybody considering a Harbeth speaker of similar size and value should have a listen to this fine French speaker. And note the large dome midrange driver.

1216  Lemay Audio
The Lemay Audio room has been among the Best Rooms the past two years, featuring their Dayton Wright Hommage speakers driven by a Tenor power amp. The electrostatic speakers are made with refurbished parts from vintage Dayton Wright speakers, embellished with modern technology and speaker design.

The black box behind the speaker is the high-voltage transformer for the electrostatic panels. The speaker also contains a Mundorf bipolar super tweeter in the center of the arc. A Grimm Mu2 is the streamer, DAC, and preamp of the system, and the Ethernet cable in this modded application is wired directly into the unit. Modulum rack and footers are used throughout the system, including on the speakers. Fidelium interconnects, and the gold colored ribbon speaker cables are an exceptional value. And Francois said the Entreq Olympus ground boxes, acting as a ground endpoint for the Grimm and the Tenor amplifier, do an exceptional job in lowering the noise floor. The power conditioner on the bottom shelf was from Inakustik with a smaller Entreq ground box.

Francois Lemay (left) and Jocelyn Jeanson, creators of the Hommage speakers. Francois was also one of the principals in the development of Tenor amplifiers.

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