Salon Audio Montreal / Audio Fest 2022 Show Report
Montreal Audiofest 2022 show report part 3.
Montreal Audio Fest 2022 Coverage By Rick Becker

Back in the Kevro International room in Westmount 3, I had the opportunity to hear the Monitor Platinum 300 II speakers ($16k US) where the mural of London played up their British origin. This $16k USD speaker has been very favorably reviewed and it was easy to hear why. Kevro also owns Rotel, and hence Rotel's upscale Michi line. The Monitor speakers here were driven by a Michi S5 stereo amplifier delivering 500w of class A/B power into 8 Ohms. This was the best I've heard Monitor or Michi gear sound and it came close to being one of the best rooms at the show. Monitor has been on the upswing in recent years with speakers that play above their price points.

In the hall outside the Kevro room was a stack of Roksan gear including CD transport ($1199 CAD), streaming amplifier ($3499) and turntable with a built-in phono stage. Touraj Moghaddam, the founder of the company along with a friend, sold Roksan to Monitor Audio in 2019 and went on to found a new turntable company, Vertere, which has been highly acclaimed. The new owners took the internal circuitry, updated the functionality and installed them in a more contemporary chassis design, renaming the line Attessa.

The CD player has upgradeable custom firmware and can be controlled via BluOS app. It also supports lossy compressed MQA playback, which seems to be gaining in popularity. The streaming amp has a lossless Hi-Res 24-bit/192 kHz DAC, BluOS multi-room capability as well as Bluetooth & AirPlay 2. So we're positively talking New School here, aiming at a more tech-savvy, younger audience. This may be just the injection of new blood that the Roksan line needed to carry them into the future.

Next door in Westmount 2, a room about twice the size of Westmount 3, was another of the Motel Distribution rooms. This one featured an all-Accuphase system supplemented with a Lumin streamer and XLO cables driving one of PMC's top speakers. The broad ensemble was mounted on Modulum racks set at an angle in the far right corner of the room. The music was from Sonny Rollins' Way Out West album and it was deliciously transparent and present in the room — another of the Best Rooms Of Montreal 2022s at the show.

I usually think of Accuphase gear as being exceptionally smooth but somewhat laid back and reserved. That stereotype was broken in this room whether by choice of components or masterful set-up, I don't know, but I had a definite emotional connection with this music.

I was told this was the first time in North America for the Accuphase DC 1000 DAC ($25k CDN) and it had an analog appeal that removed any bias against digital sources. The PMC MB2 Se speaker appeared to be a finely veneered version of their MB2S studio monitor with dome tweeter and midrange and a woofer with a forward-facing spider, giving it a very unique, masculine look. The price was $45K CDN and on the matching stands it looked very sophisticated. It grabbed my attention immediately and quietly suggested it was expensive, though you could certainly pay a lot more for a speaker that sounded this good.

The Accuphase A-250 monoblocks driving the PMC speakers were $25k CDN each, which tells you this was a very expensive room. A lot of people looked permanently camped out in the few available seats. This was one of the rooms I returned to several times over the weekend and my opinion of it grew fonder every time. It had a lot of class.

In the other corner of Westmount 2 was a more modest system comprised of a Lumin streamer, Accuphase integrated amp and stand-mounted PMC monitors that bore a strong family resemblance to the big rig in the other corner. As you see on the banner, this room was co-hosted by Audio Presence, a retailer in Montreal.

Across the hall was a small room displaying a Dolby Atmos surround sound system with an Eagles Hotel California concert playing. It was rather unfortunate sounding and it wasn't until I left and went into the very large Montreal 4 room that I realized this small room was just a cordoned-off section of Montreal 4 with thin walls and a makeshift ceiling. Given the room construction, the music here never had a chance, so I won't say anything further.

The main attraction in Montreal 4 was a loosely cordoned-off section encompassing about a quarter of the room featuring periodic demonstrations of the new Focal Stella Utopia EM Evo, a more affordable trickle-down version of their Grande Utopia EM Evo flagship speaker. With the demo already in progress, I couldn't get any closer than where I took the photo.

Nonetheless, the music was exceptional and even in this compromised large room, it was easily one of the Best Rooms Of Montreal 2022 at the show. The black units between the speakers are Naim's Statement NAC S1 preamp with a Statement NAP S1 monoblock amplifier on either side of it. It is nice to see that such an expensive amplifier combo is still in production and being supported. Naim and Focal have now been kind of married companies for about 10 years, I believe, and this combination illustrates why.

Also on silent display in Montreal 4 was a stack of SPL half-width components anodized red that seemed to include (from the bottom) an Elector preamp, Director preamp with DAC and a Crossover that included adjustments for both bass and mid-hi ranges. This appears to be a very flexible and useful component for anyone requiring an external crossover for their speakers.

Nearby, and perhaps in active duty as the presentations in this room rotated about, was another stack of SPL gear including a stereo power amp with a selectable red plate on its faceplate, a Phonitor X headphone amp and preamp (in the middle), and a Phonos phono preamplifier on top. SPL is well known for their Mastering and Studio gear and the pieces here cross over nicely into home audio, particularly where space is at a premium.

Situated next to it was a Clearaudio Statement turntable for when highest quality is more important than the space it takes up. This fine German table was quite likely the source for the Focal Stella Utopia EM Evo speaker presentation on the other side of the wall behind it.

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