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

1232  Laliberté Électronique
Laliberté Électronique has had a major presence in this hall for a couple of years now. Their website is in French, and the address is for a small house in Levis, across the river from Quebec City, further downstream from Montreal. They sell everything from TVs to home theater, to car stereo, in addition to the well-known high-end lines presented at the show.

Using stand-mounted Focal Sopra 1 speakers ($15,740) as a starting point, they added a pair of the new REL S/850 subs ($5220 each) with 850 Watts driving a 12" driver and 12" passive radiator. The rock music was tight from top to bottom, but didn't show off the true capabilities of the subs. Nonetheless, it is great to see REL subs gaining exposure in the past few years—probably in response to the promotional efforts of their competition. I've recently been reinvestigating the use of subwoofers at home, and they really can make a substantial contribution.

A Naim NSC 222 streamer ($12k) was the source. Naim NAP 350 monoblocks ($11k) were driving the Focal monitors.

With the hallway taking a zig-zag right between their two rooms, Laliberté took advantage of the space to set up a table selling AudioQuest cables in one corner…

...and a display of REL subwoofers at the opposite corner. Both displays drew lots of attention.

1235  Laliberté Électronique
Across the hall from their other room was a less expensive rig with Focal Aria EVO X No.3 speakers ($6878) in a green finish. I've always thought the Aria series was an exceptionally good value from its first introduction, when they passed around the lightweight flax cones for people to examine. They were very handsome in green, which worked well with the exposed drivers.

The electronics included a Marantz SACD 30n source ($4k) with a Marantz Model 30 integrated amp ($4300). On the right rack (and on the floor in front of the left rack) were a progressive series of AudioQuest power conditioners with the outlets facing the attentive crowd. The presentation was in French, but I was able to figure out that they were running a comparison of the sound quality provided by the various power conditioners. Over the years, I've learned of the importance of quality AC, and I've often praised companies for fostering such demonstrations of the improvements to be gained, whether from power conditioners, cables, footers, or the many tweaks Synergistic Research demonstrates at U.S. shows.

1240  Passion Audio
The Passion Audio room was also full, but I squeezed in to take a photo and record a delicious sound bite coming from the Dutch & Dutch 8c active monitors with streamer and DAC. Once again, I was reminded of why this speaker has been so widely acclaimed. It was outstanding in this small room, and it was obvious it could play just as well in a much larger room. The cable lifters and the platforms beneath the speakers were made from plywood.

A Matrix Audio network transport and switch were the source, on pedestals with round wood footers at their feet on the floor. Their placement made the rig seem bigger than it actually was.

On silent display, off to the side, was a LampizatOr Atlantic 3 TRP DAC.

The price list highlighted the opportunity to preorder the new Dutch & Dutch 6c active monitors with streamer and DAC.

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