Salon Audio Montreal / Audio Fest 2022 Show Report
Montreal Audiofest 2022 show report part 1.
Montreal Audio Fest 2022 Coverage By Rick Becker

In one of the Lenbrook rooms (1314, 1316) a pair of PSB speakers were nicely driven by an all-in-one system from NAD. The PSB Synchrony T600 floor stander, at $8k US, has been very well received.

In the other Lenbrook room were a pair of Dali speakers from Denmark, also driven by an all-in-one component making for a fine-sounding real-world system.

Neat Acoustics driven by Exposure electronics were found in Nation Imports rooms (1306, 1308). Innuos streamers were at the front end and the sound was very good here. I've consistently found Neat speakers out-performing their cost over the years and Exposure has been gaining a stronger foothold in North America in recent years, also for the good value of their gear.

Cyrus, from Great Britain, has moved away from showing their half-width gear in their stylish, dedicated rack in recent years and it is one of the few high-end companies dedicated to producing equipment with a modest footprint. They do it well. The Acoustic Energy AE520 speaker (CAD 6999) shown here is larger than any other in memory from that brand. An Innuos ZEN Mk3 1 TB server ($3749) was at the front end, along with a Cyrus CDt CD transport (CAD 4k), one of only a handful of true transports available today. The Cyrus Pre XR preamp (CAD 6k) has a built-in DAC and is from their new XR series. All of their chassis are die-cast aluminum. (1306, 1308)

First Floor, 1200 Wing

I'm not sure which room this speaker was in as I had just turned the corner onto the 1200 Wing. Of particular curiosity was the exposed crossover on the left side of the mid-tweeter module. I'm not sure if this was intentional or just a work in progress, but it was an interesting design.

Also in this mystery room was this vintage California Audio Labs Delta HD-CD Transport and Alpha tube DAC. I have no idea. But I did find this interesting quote from Michael Lavorgna's Twittering Machines November 5, 2020 post:

I enjoyed my time with the CAL Alpha DAC well beyond its blast from the past appeal. To answer the question, How did the Alpha age?, like a fine cheese or my knees?, I'll simply say you can easily get much worse digital sound from any number of contemporary DACs.

Hmmm, maybe I should dust off my vintage Muse Model Two DAC? Hang in here. There was more to come in the next room.

Yep, it was Back to the Future in 1232 with both models of the re-born and updated KLH speakers. And at 3750 CAD (Model Five, large) and 2700 CAD (Model Three, small), these guys have been put into fast-forward to bring them up to date. It was easy to hear why the Model Five is out of stock at Crutchfield for $2500 US. These guys are the real deal. Quality looked excellent and I felt fifty years younger just looking at them on their tilted metal stands. Of course, the line is much more extensive than just these two models to address the mid-fi crowd.

It should not be a surprise that they also had a vintage Advent Model 300 receiver and an Acurus Aries on display. But what's with that Zidoo Media Player on top of the Advent? Does Henry Klaus live?

Perhaps we will find out in Part 2 of this report... 

---> Onward to part 2 of Rick Becker's Montreal show report.

---> Back to main Salon Audio Montreal / Audio Fest 2022 Show Report.