Part 5 — Lower Level, And Left (Outremont / St. Laurent Rooms) At The Montreal Audiofest 2026 Show
Major demos, new high-end audio tech, and very interesting audiophile innovation.
Montreal Audiofest Show Report By Rick Becker

O5  MOON By Simaudio
Moon had their North Series models on display at a counter in front of their room, staffed with people to answer your questions. This is huge, as it keeps those conversations out of the listening space.

Costa Koulisakis of Moon gave me the run-down on the room with the Dynaudio Contour 20 Black monitors driven by a model 371 Network Player/Amplifier from the new Compass collection—the only product in this series, so far. Photo 329  amp and turntable.

The 371 is filled with trickle-down technology from the more expensive North collection. This 100 Watt-per-channel integrated amp includes a DAC, streamer, and phono stage, all built in, so you can add a turntable or compact disc player if you have a CD collection (and there are several moderately priced transports available these days). Price for the 371 was $8800 CDN, $6500 USD.

Michael Manousselis of Dynaudio spoke of the trickle-down tweeter and crossover technology from the Confidence series. Price is $8k USD, and stands are optional at $500/pr., plus another $100 for adapter plates that allow you to bolt the speakers directly to the stands—a great idea in many homes. The Contour 20 Black is a significantly hot-rodded model over the standard Contour 20i, which is priced at $5750 USD. Overall, this is a very good-sounding system with flexibility for CD and LP playback.

O6  Audiophile Experts
Audiophile Experts were keeping strict presentations on a schedule. I had to drop back several times in an effort to get in. Finally, I got in for the last presentation of the entire show.

It reinforced my previous experience of the Dali Kore speakers ($160k) driven by something besides NAD electronics that are also distributed, along with Bluos streamers, by the Lenbrook Group of Companies. These are all good products, but they are not in the same league.

The DALI Kore, like the Epikore series below it, deserves fine amplification and sources. And that's what they got here with Accuphase amplification, a Lumin streamer, a Revox tape deck, and another Stable 33.33 turntable, all linked together with Luna Cables from the Rouge series.

Here was another example of a good room list. The Accuphase A-300 is a monoblock power amp, so you will need two of them, as shown, for a total of $60k.

After all the hassle to get into this room to take a few photos, I was treated to a song by Anne Bisson, singing along with an instrumental track played back on the system. Very sweet, and a treat I stumble upon from time to time.

O7  SonUltime
Son Ultime frequently ranks among the Best Rooms at Montreal, and they had another very fine room this year with a presentation of Acora's flagship VRC speakers supplemented with a 6-Pack of the new REL subwoofers, four of which were shown with the optional wood grills.

This was a formidable combination, but without direct comparison with and without the subs, it was difficult to estimate the contribution the 6-pack of subwoofers made. At AXPONA, I have heard such a comparison in a small room, and the effect was substantial, but here, in a larger room with full-range speakers that are impressive by themselves, I could only guess at the benefit. A more structured demonstration using the same short piece of music would have been helpful.

In the center rack, from the top, were the Audio Research preamp, HiFi Rose streamer, MSB Premier DAC, Silent Angel digital switch gear, and Shunyata Research Everest X power conditioner…all very highly rated components.

In addition to the flagship VRC speaker, Val Cora brought along his new little pride and joy, a new version of the two-way MRB-1 monitor, now called the MRB-1.2, which features new, mitered joint construction and was shown in an upgraded stone that was simply gorgeous. This little speaker outperforms its size and price by an astonishing degree, to the point that I had to ask if he was playing it or the flagship model, on certain songs. The new mitered construction will be used throughout the MR series as .2 models, giving them a cleaner, more elegant appearance.

On a very familiar Beatles song (aren't they all?), the resolution was so high it sounded like a high-quality recording from an outstanding cover band. I stepped up to the HiFi Rose streamer to discover it was the 2017 mix from the Deluxe Anniversary Edition of the album... further proof that good things can happen in this world.

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