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Toronto Audiofest 2024 Show Report By Rick Becker

Sunday Morning, October 20th
My big regret on Sunday morning was not having squirreled away a piece of cake from the industry dinner for breakfast. Oh well.

With batteries fully charged, I packed my bags and downloaded all my gear to the car before returning to finish up the lower level in the Westin and the rooms in the Holiday Inn next door.

Lower Level of the Westin Hotel
Carlyle  Wynn Audio
The Carlyle room in the Lower Level is the best room in the hotel as it is acoustically isolated from music or other noise. Even the home theater in the nearby Windsor room doesn't make it into the Carlyle. It is no wonder that Wynn Wong has maintained his position here to present his very high-end products. That, plus the advantage of a small vignette with solid walls allows him to present both a small and a large system.

The small system was from Audio Group Denmark which has made a Herculean effort to appear at most shows in North America in the past few years. Peter Hansen has racked up a lot of miles lately.

While the visual presence of this rig was rather small, the music was large and very present. The cable mess frequently seen at shows is because manufacturers travel with long cables to accommodate a variety of installations at shows. Even the rack could be eliminated from view in a domestic setting with the Ansuz power pieces concealed out of sight.

The Olympus rack from Critical Mass System provides a stable surface and absorbs vibrations for the U188 all-in-one integrated amplifier from Aavik ($30k). Below it was the Ansuz Mainz8 A3 power distributor ($5k) and on the floor to the left was the Ansuz Power/Ethernet Switch A3 ($5,400). Cables were Ansuz, Gen 3 and special Ansuz Karkz S2T footers provided resonance control. The integrated amp features a chassis lined with copper and titanium.

This was the first showing of the Borresen Acoustics C1 speakers ($22,500, including stands) and it sounded very good to me. This smaller rig in a more confined space sounded better than previous shows (Montreal 2024 and Capital Audiofest 2023) where larger rigs in much larger rooms suffered from poor room acoustics. Size matters and bigger isn't always better, whether you're talking about room size or equipment. This one was just right, yet I expect this system could fill an even larger space with its "You are There" signature.

The large rig in this room is always something special and this show was no different. Wynn Audio is a purveyor of many fine lines so they have a lot of opportunity to mix things up and present interesting premiers. Across the bottom level with illuminated red logos was amplification from Karan Acoustics from Serbia. The eye-catching purple racks and amplifier stands were custom-ordered MAXXUM-Ultra/Center Stage Ultra models from Critical Mass System (USA).

On the left rack was the Thiele TT01/X turntable with tonearm from Germany ($49k). Below it was the Vinnie Rossi Brama Preamplifier ($53k USA) and on the bottom, a Karan Acoustics PHONOa Phono Preamplifier with a separate power supply next to it ($51k).

On the right rack was the Metronome T/AQWO2 CD transport ($46,500) and C/AQWO2 D/A Converter ($43,500), each with a separate power supply. The Karan Acoustics POWERa monoblock amplifiers were to each side ($145k/pr).

I had a nice chat with Jean-Marie Clauzel of Metronome, who was visiting. He was very proud that everything in their components is made in-house in France and that they are very meticulous in their research and development. The flagship DAC includes both AKM and ESS chips that can be used with the built-in tube and solid-state amplification. You can use different filters or no filters at all. There are 24 combinations of features to tailor the sound to your system, your room, and your preference. You can use the DAC for streaming as well.

I reported on the Thiele articulated zero tracking error tonearm at a show last year but here we saw it mounted on Thiele's turntable. In retrospect, it wasn't clear how it accommodates lifting the tonearm. I'll have to watch Wynn the next time he cues up a record. The cartridge was an Ortofon Verismo (7k euro) MC which features a line contact diamond stylus and a titanium body constructed with the selective laser melting technique they developed.

The Entreq wood grounding components have been around for years but I was curious about the little ones attached to each speaker. Wynn explained that was the latest tweak, using a small ground box to drain noise at the negative binding post on the speaker. The larger Olympus Hero box grounded the rest of the system with ten terminations.

The cables used in this system were a combination of Crystal Cable from the Netherlands and Fono Acustica from Spain.

The Tidal Audio Piano speakers ($93,500) from Germany were elegant and had no trouble filling the room with outstanding sound quality. I've heard Tidal speakers that reached a lot closer to the ceiling in this room which did not impress me any more than their entry-level Piano. The fit and finish of Tidal products are world-class as you would expect at this price level.

Wynn's ability to create outstanding music using a variety of manufacturers is impressive. He is always a gracious host and never lets me slip out of the room without saying goodbye.

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