Toronto Audiofest 2022 Show Report Part 4
Lower level rooms and ground floor in part 4.
Show Report By Rick Becker

  Up the small set of stairs and around the corner was Sutton A where the Lenbrook Group of companies had an unusual presentation of the new Dali Kore flagship speaker driven by a rig of NAD products. It wasn't until I returned home that I connected the dots in this room. Lenbrook is the distributor of NAD electronics, PSB speakers, and Bluesound Wireless Music Systems.

DALI is a major Danish brand and it seemed odd to drive their new $150k flagship speaker with more entry-level NAD components, as well respected as they are in their price range. They were using a NAD M33 as the preamp with two M23 stereo amps bridged as monoblocks. The cabling was by audioquest.

DALI has bought out a premium Danish woodworking company to bring the manufacture of the cabinets in-house. The outer Ammara Ebony veneer is on top of 16 specially oriented birch layers and the curved cabinet section is formed at once. Like most of DALI's higher-end speakers, a dome tweeter is combined with a ribbon tweeter to create a wide-dispersion high-frequency array that permits/requires DALI speakers to be aimed straight ahead. I was told all DALI speakers are designed to be an easy load for an amplifier.

The Kore has 88dB sensitivity and a nominal 4Ohm load. The base of the speaker is a composite resin for strength and vibration control in this  The music easily filled this large room, but I could sense that the NAD electronics were not revealing all this speaker had to offer. This was the North American premiere of this speaker which was introduced in Munich in the spring. In retrospect, I had to wonder if Lenbrook is taking on the distribution of DALI. A little surfing on the web confirmed my suspicion. They certainly made a splash with their presentation in Toronto.

Moving from Sutton A to Sutton B I was seduced by the Focal headphone display that was offering discounts from $160 to $800 on four models at the show only and only while supplies last. They all appeared to be hooked up to SPL Phonitor XE headphone amplifiers from Germany. What caught my eye and eventually my ear was the North American debut of the Focal Utopia 2022 headphones ($6499) which were stunningly rich in both sound and comfort and the wireless Bathys headphones ($999) which my audio buddy Tom surely needs when he mows his lawn.

I had to wait for the hostess to fetch a pair of Bathys as they were kept behind the counter, lest someone absentmindedly walked away while listening to music. The noise canceling feature was defeatable if you need to pay attention to what's going on around you on the sidewalk. I was impressed with the comfort and sound quality... not to mention the freedom of mobility they offered. They were so good, my wife would probably commandeer them for use in the kitchen.

Sutton B was the largest of the Suttons, being wide enough for EQ Audio to divide it up into four separate spaces. The first space on the right, pictured above, was comprised of Rotel electronics and Monitor Silver 500 7G series speakers ($4k) that are available in five finishes. A Rotel Diamond DT-6000 DAC Transport (otherwise known as a CD player with an accessible DAC, $3k) fed a Rotel Diamond RA-6000 Integrated amp ($5800).

All three of these items were EISA Best Product awards in their respective categories (of which there are many.) The Monitor speakers won their award in the 2021-2022 year; the Rotel gear in this year's 40th Anniversary ceremony.

The next alcove on the right was this elegant Focal powered by Naim rig in honor of the 10th anniversary of the association of these two prominent companies — Focal from France and Naim from the United Kingdom. (Has it been that long?) The rig featured Focal Sopra No.2 speakers and a Naim network music player, preamp, power amp, and a couple of separate power supplies, as well as Naim Super Lumina cables. Aside from the cables (I think), the rig totaled $62,400.

The third alcove on the right featured the gorgeous new Monitor Platinum 3G speaker ($17,500) in piano ebony veneer with a recommended amplifier power of 200-800 Watts of music signal into 4 Ohms. A Michi P 5 preamp ($5,900) and S5 stereo amp ($10k) drove the Monitors. A Roon Nucleus music player ($2,200) was the source and the cable loom was from Kimber Kable. A closer look at the stand-mounted Platinum 100 3G revealed the etched inlay on the top which accents the very fine craftsmanship of this series. I got to hear a bit of music in this alcove. I was impressed, but the room situation did not do it justice.

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