Salon Audio Montreal / Audio Fest 2019 Show Report
Part 3
Salon Audio Montreal / Audio Fest 2019 Show Report By Rick Becker

  Further down the hall in the very large St. Laurent 1 room was a very nice treat for me. EMM Labs equipment was spaced out and beautifully displayed on thick platforms of solid wood and translucent polyester supported by large pod-like feet. The power amps were highlighted by blue led lighting on the bottom of their chassis.

The speakers were the Tetra Phoenix 707 from Adrian Butts, shown here with one of his main men who gravitated to speaker building after an injury forced him out of his kick-boxing career. I've raved about Adrian's Tetra speaker many years ago, claiming they were far underpriced. Keith Richards (yes) even picked up a custom pair for the system he takes on tour. Adrian has returned to the show circuit more recently and unfortunately, his speakers are no longer underpriced at $78k/pr as shown. That said, Stevie Ray Vaughn playing "Tin Pan Alley" doesn't get any better than what I heard. These speakers performed way beyond what you would expect from a speaker this size in such a large room driven by the EMM Labs amps. Their simplistic styling belies the interior complexity of the design, I'm told. This was easily one of the Best Rooms at the show. Next time Adrian promised me he would have some spotlights on the speakers so I can photograph the fine finish more clearly.

As I headed for the elevator I noticed a series of display cases that housed products sold by Wynn Audio, one of the sponsors of the show. The Kiso Acoustic speakers from Japan are artisan built mini monitors said to be capable of filling medium to large size rooms. Their cabinets are constructed like musical instruments. I wish I could have heard these. The Metronome Kalista CD player was on active display a year or so ago—a gorgeous player. The Thales articulating tonearm keeps the cartridge squarely aligned in the groove as it moves across the record. I'm not sure what the Goldmund piece is, but they are a world-renowned Swiss manufacturer.

On the opposite wall was a terrific display of headphones sponsored by Audioville, another fine dealer who shows consistently at Montreal. It looks like that might have been a Chord DAVE DAC on the counter to plug into. Not too shabby!

Back on the main floor I doubled back to the Audio Note room 2427 where they had the smaller K series monitor pulled out from the corner and sounding very inviting. Here I met up with M. Jacques Gerin-Lajoie of LYS audio fame. The LYS system I heard at Montreal years ago has been undergoing modification and Jacques said he may be ready for another presentation at Toronto in the fall. I will certainly be most interested in hearing it again, as it is a break-through concept. More currently, Jacque has bought up vintage analog recording equipment and is now creating master tapes. He played a few here, recorded at 15 ips and they sounded very good through this modest system. The K speaker is rated at 6 Ohms and can be powered by 7 Watts to reasonable levels, making it a good candidate for lovers of 300B SET amps in small to medium rooms. That could be luscious.

I also doubled back to the Lemay Audio room (2405) to have another listen to the KEF Blade 2 speakers ($30k) driven by the Tenor Audio 175S stereo amp ($65k CDN) with a Baetis Audio Reference X server ($13k) and T+A 8 DSD DAC ($6k) front end. Cabling and AC filtration was by Inakustik. Here on Sunday, it was sounding even more deserving of the Best Room award. That's what I love about Sundays at the show.

Heading past the rooftop wilderness with its wild ducks I encountered Angie Lisi of American Sound of Canada, one of the Grand Dames of High-End audio. She stood up and we shared a big hug before sitting down to talk about the state of the industry. Most interesting, she spoke about the increasing frequency of wives of audiophiles coming to her for help in liquidating their late husbands' systems. Wealthy audiophiles who originally bought the very high-end lines she carries are aging out and either passing away or downsizing to senior or assisted living communities where they can no longer enjoy their large systems. It has practically become a side business for her, sad as that may be, and being a woman with sympathetic rapport with these elderly clients, I'm sure her assistance is greatly appreciated.

Louis Desjardines of Kronos Audio spotted me in the halls on Saturday and invited me to his home on the north side of Montreal. We've been friends since he started in this industry and it was a pleasure to meet his wife and daughter who is pictured with him on the contact page of his website. Sweet young lady. We kicked back and listened to music on his very high-end rig featuring his Kronos turntable, of course. I was very impressed with his tall Lawrence speakers with ceramic drivers that were far better sounding than the two smaller Lawrence speakers I have heard previously at shows. The music just floated in the room in spite of how tightly packed the room was and the glass top coffee table in front of the sofa. It goes to show you can break the rules if you know what you're doing. And Louis certainly does. He skipped showing at Montreal this year because of time constraints in preparation for the Axpona and Munich shows, a problem shared by all the major manufacturers.  With show dates bouncing around on the calendar, vying for participation from retailers, distributors and manufacturers alike, it presents difficult decisions.

While traffic seemed light for Louis on our return trip to the Hotel Bonaventure, Montreal on a Sunday night seemed like a thriving metropolis. Construction on the main highways leading to the Pont Champlain across the St. Lawrence made it difficult to reach Route 15 south to New York. A bridge that was out on Route 9N going into the Adirondacks meant that I didn't reach the trailhead parking in Keene Valley until the moon was high. The next day I would have lunch atop Cascade Mountain, looking out at higher peaks in the Adirondacks I might climb in the summer.

See you at AXPONA 2019 show!

---> Onward to Special Montreal Show Awards.

---> Back to main Salon Audio Montreal Audio Fest 2019 Show Report Page.