Toronto Audiofest 2023 Show Report
Part 2... The Third Floor
Show Report By Rick Becker

Room 354  Atoll Electronique Canada
Atoll Electronique from France had always taken a more unique approach to styling their chassis, until a year or so ago. Today, in a more conventional form, but with a distinguishing curve in the lower left corner, people can concentrate on their sound quality which has improved with each new generation over the past couple of decades.

Here they were featuring their SDA300 Signature integrated amp ($7k) with streamer that puts out 150 Wpc @ 8 Ohms with MOSFET transistors and a Burr-Brown DAC good for 24/192. Also, note the headphone jack and USB input on the front — but otherwise a very clean-looking design. The Final model 7 Hybrid electrostatic speakers were $13k.

The Aesthetics gear on the right side of the table was not in play during my visit.

Room 356  Toronto Home of Audiophile, Gershman Acoustics, And Weiss
Toronto Home of Audiophile is a retailer and here I found one of my favorite speakers, the new Gershman Acoustics 30th Anniversary Grand Avant Garde ($18k) seen here with Eli Gershman.

This was the very first showing of the new Weiss Helios DAC (~$30k) seen on the top right rack. A Pass XP22 dual chassis preamp ($14,500) and XA 100.8 monoblocks ($30,450) (100 Watts, Class A) powered the rig. A Lumin U2 streamer ($7,500) and a Melco M100-H20 (NAS) music library ($3395) were at the front end. Cables were a mix of Siltech (very expensive) and Gutwire (moderately expensive) with a Gutwire MaxCon Extreme power conditioner ($5k) hidden behind the rack.

This was a very fine-sounding room and from previous audio shows with the Grand Avant Garde, I can tell you it will play in a much larger room, despite its modest size.

Room 358  Hegel Canada And Magnepan
Hegel Music Systems, from Norway, put together a relatively basic system with two components that each won EISA Awards for 2023-2024. On the left was the H600 streaming amplifier ($15k) with 303 Wpc @ 8 Ohms in a dual mono configuration. On the right was their Viking CD player ($6k). The speakers were Magnepan 3.7i ($8795 USD) with the tweeters positioned on the outer side for a broader sweet spot and a larger soundstage — a wise choice given not every visitor will be treated to a chair in the sweet spot at a show, but also not giving pinpoint imaging as when the tweeters are positioned on the inner sides.

No fancy equipment rack here; just a pair of contemporary end tables. Notice the expanse of bare wood floor, which might have been less of a problem with these speakers that act as a line source.

Room 360  Kanto Audio
Kanto active speakers must be king of bedroom, office, and dormitory systems, and maybe small restaurants across the land, too. From what I heard (the little black ones on the table during my first visit, and the outer white ones with AMT tweeters and a subwoofer on my sweep at the end of the show) they get the job done for not a lot money.

The speaker on the left contains the DAC and amplifiers, while the speaker on the right is connected to it with a speaker cable. Note the RCA and AUX inputs as well as the sub-output. There is also a switch between the phono and line circuits accessed via the RCA inputs, as well as a grounding post for the built-in phono stage. And two optical DAC inputs. These are Bluetooth speakers and come with a remote as well as a multi-function knob on the front. The drivers are a silk dome tweeter and a 4" Kevlar woofer on the YU4 or a 5.5" Kevlar woofer on the YU6. The YU4 goes for $349 on Amazon, which explains its popularity. Designed in Canada; made in China.

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