Lobby Level: Toronto Audiofest 2024 Show Report
Let's visit the Ground Floor and hear what's new.
Toronto Audiofest 2024 Show Report By Rick Becker

  On the ground floor, three rooms were located up a flight of stairs tucked away at the far side of the atrium. I totally missed them at one show and vowed never to make that mistake again. They typically have premium vendors and this show was no exception.

Atmosphere North  Bryston
James Tanner of Bryston was in his usual chair in this listening room and gave me the rundown on new products.

The Model T10 with dual tweeters, dual midrange drivers, and four 8" woofers has been seen before in Montreal. What was new here were the Middle T subwoofer towers with six additional 8" woofers on each side which were on silent display. The line arrays give a more even bass performance throughout the room. They were driven by 7B³ monoblocks that deliver 600W into 8 Ohms (and up to 900 into 4 Ohms). They are available with silver or black faceplates in either 17" or 19" widths.

Like many rooms, special pricing was offered at the show. On the top enclosed shelf appears to be a small streamer. Below it was the BP-19 analog preamplifier with headphone output but they have just introduced the new BP-20 preamp which combines their latest design for preamp, DAC, and streamer all in one chassis. Below the BP-19 was the BDA 3.14 DAC with a streamer. The Bryston BIT20 Isolation Transformer on the bottom shelf provided active surge suppression. A Plitron-designed and built toroidal isolation transformer provided isolation from the outside power grid. It can deliver 400A peaks when the music demands it. A smaller 15A version is also available.

Also new was the Bi-200 integrated amp shown here with the new engraved lines on the faceplate. There are two balanced and four RCA inputs.

Bryston also offers multi-channel Class D amplifiers including the BD 225 with 225 Wpc and BD 325 with 325 Wpc. It can be ordered with one to six channels in each chassis, which works nicely with their tower speakers that can be single, bi-, or tri-amp'ed simply by changing the crossover modules. (I explained this in more detail in my Montreal 2024 report.)

I was surprised to learn Bryston has taken on the Magnum Dynalab FM tuner line and offered the MD-90 in solid state at $1895, and the MD-90T triode tube version at $2895. The owner who built Magnum Dynalab was retiring and James Tanner didn't want this venerable Canadian company to disappear. The MD-90 is a mainstay throughout North America for radio stations to monitor their broadcasts and provide remote relays of FM signals. As a regular listener to Hearts of Space on NPR, I highly recommend their ST2 FM whip antenna.

Dixon  Audio Note (UK)
Walking into the Audio Note (UK) room is both visually and acoustically a déjà vu experience. The speakers are always in the corner – except for one time when they did quite nicely out in the traditional audiophile position, spaced away from the front and side walls. Aside from modest differences in the size of their speakers, they all speak with the same voice.

And unless you can compare the different price levels of their components side by side, it is difficult to tell them apart. Their almost uniform excellence makes it easy to configure a complete system from this one brand from a phono cartridge to the loudspeakers.

The cello seen here is a giveaway that their brand representative is not far away, but it wasn't until the industry dinner that I finally caught up with Vincent Belanger.

Here's a look at the prices, and they add up quickly, but then this is not their entry-level. Audio Note is a brand you can buy once and forget about the audiophile merry-go-round game, and keep your passion for the music alive. Eminently listenable and musically inviting.

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