Salon Audio Montréal Audiofest Show Report Part 5
The Lower Level continued, plus Best Rooms and a post-show adventure!
Report By Rick Becker

St. Laurent 7  JVCKENWOOD Canada
JVC and Kenwood typically pair up with video projectors and surround sound presentations. They had several set up in this large room. As a former filmmaker, video projection has always intrigued me, but I've never taken that road.

St. Laurent 6  absolu par CHF
This was a surprisingly good room with a trio of very good, but not over-the-top speakers including Totem Wind Design (an upgraded version of the Wind, in high-gloss red), the Triangle Acoustique Cello in piano gloss black, and the KEF Reference 5 Meta in high-gloss white with a champagne Meta driver ($22k USD).

Primary components included the T+A DAC 200 with volume control, the headphone amp and the cool meters, plus the T+A A200 power amp. The 200 Series components are about 3/4 the size of typical components.

On the bottom shelf was a T+A MP2000 R multi-source CD player. Who said they were dead? The R-Series is comprised of slim, full-width components and includes a turntable.

St. Laurent 5  Marantz, Definitive Technology
Deep inside St. Laurent 5 was a surround sound rig featuring the new Marantz AV 10 15.4 channel surround sound preamp (9k$) and the new AMP 10 16-channel, 200w power amp (9k$) driving a handful of Definitive Technology Dymension DM 80 floor standing speakers, all linked together with Audioquest cables. The DM 80 speaker is a bipolar array of Mid-tweeter-mids on top and two 12" woofers firing in opposite directions on the sides, powered by a GaN FET Class D amplifier.

At this hour, late on Sunday afternoon the crowds were beginning to thin out.

On silent display, upon first entering St. Laurent 5 was a stereo rig comprised of a pair of mid-sized Dymension DM60 bipolar speakers with an integrated 8" powered sub (4k$). The electronics were a Marantz CD60 CD player (2,499$) and the Marantz 40n integrated amp with built-in streaming (3,499$). Basically, a 10k$ rig, plus cables.

St. Laurent 4  Denon And Polk Audio
Dennon and Polk teamed up to present the same unique speaker I saw last year with identical tweeter and midrange drivers on divergent baffles that gave a fuller soundstage and more convincing stereo imaging to listeners on the left and right sides of the room. In essence, a broader sweet spot.

The Denon components were an Anniversary Edition PMA-A110 integrated amplifier with a built-in phono stage and DAC (3999$) and a matching SACD player DCDA110GS S (3,499$ USD) with a remote than will also control the A110 amp.

St. Laurent 3  Bowers & Wilkins And Classé
The rig here looked to be pretty much a duplicate of what I saw in Montreal 1 with DR Acoustics. Classé Delta preamp and monoblocks driving the B&W 801 D4 flagships (48k$). Or maybe these were the slightly smaller 802 D4 (36k$)? There was a real lack of literature throughout most of the show. In any case, these were in the light oak wood finish combined with silver trim.

The Classé Delta series, which also includes a 250 Wpc stereo amp, features a very unique design that sets it apart from other brands. A DR Acoustics Antigone power conditioner cleaned up the power, but could use more subtle and elegant labeling in a rig of this stature. As I mentioned earlier, DR Acoustic supplies a very nice power cord that comes with the Classé Delta Series products.

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