Salon Audio Montréal Audiofest Show Report Part 2
Rick Becker's Montreal Chronicles 2023 Show
Report By Rick Becker

Room 2405  Erikson Home And Audiolab
Erikson Home had a display with multiple pairs of Mission speakers driven by a large rack of electronics from Audiolab. They also featured a Thorens TD1500 turntable on the left and a Dual turntable on the right.

The real attention magnet was the first new Thorens TD124DD direct drive turntable in Canada, No. 00183…so you can be sure there are more to follow.

Room 2407  Erikson Home And JBL
Next door, Erikson showed some bigger guns with Revel speakers (M126Be, 6k$ and F226Be, 10,398$) driven by Mark Levinson electronics including the no. 5805 integrated amp with phono stage (12,449$) and turntable.

2414  Filtronique, Nagra, And Wilson Audio
One of the most endearing sights at shows is to see young kids in awe of the music and equipment. When I was this kid's age music was just barely tolerated in my home — and only in a distant room. So, it's wonderful to see young people getting such a head start.

And if you're going to get a head start, why not start at the top of the mountain? Or close to it. I expected to see Peter McGrath here, assuming he would have set up the speakers at least, but I was told he was off on some exotic island, probably delivering a Chronosonic XVX or Alexx V. I thought these were the Wilson Sasha DAW speaker but was informed these were the new Alexia V. Clearly, the design leans closer to the Sasha than the Alexia V speakers.

The "new and good" from Nagra was my first chance to see their new suspended turntable. It has a large footprint and is styled to match the corporate aesthetic. The price tag was not surprising at 225k$, though I was told they will be coming out with a less expensive model now that they have invested in the R&D. The music playing was one of Leonard Cohen's later albums when his voice was pretty raspy, though the emotional impact certainly came through. I want to say the sound here was superb, but the volume was set too low for my ancient ears. It probably was excellent, knowing the brands involved, but I was reluctant to ask the men in suits who were running the show to crank it up. Perhaps I'll take the risk at AXPONA 2023 show in Chiacago.

I just had to add this redundant photo because it showed off the outstanding blue finish of the Alexx V. Also, I asked about an estimated time of arrival of a new Yevette, as that is the last speaker in the line to receive the magic touch of Daryl Wilson. I was greeted with a polite groan but not a word of confirmation. My guess is Axpona…and it is purely a guess.

2415  Filtronique
Filtronique's next room featured Luxman gear including the Super Audio CD Player D-07X, integrated amplifier L-5072 driving a tall pair of Audiovector speakers with excellent results. Luxman, from Japan, is closing in on its 100^th anniversary in a couple of years.

2420  Filtronique
Naim electronics were driving a Fyne speaker very well in this room, all linked with Tellurium cables. The elegant Fyne speakers burst onto the scene before 2020, and that didn't seem to slow them down. This was a very nice combination.

2425  Audio Note UK
I lucked out at the Audio Note room and caught Vincent Belanger playing cello live along with a recording of himself. He plays a mean duet, for sure, along with the very fine-sounding Audio Note gear that runs from source (digital and analog) to speakers and all the cabling in between.

2427  Audio Note UK
There was a second room listed here for Audio Note, but possibly it was filled with a static display of their product, but I don't seem to have a record of it. It was getting late in the afternoon at this point, and I was sensing a desire for a beer.

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