Third Floor Part 2: The Toronto Audiofest 2024 Show
Enjoying great tunes on the third floor.
Toronto Audiofest 2024 Show Report By Rick Becker

  Turning the corner, I continue with my coverage of the second half of the third Floor.

Room 346  Star Electronics / Yamaha
The Yamaha system was provided by Star Electronics, a high-end dealer with a long track record in Toronto. The front end looked like an Apple Mac Mini feeding a Weiss DAC 204 on the floor resting on a pair of wood beams. On the table was a Yamaha C-5000 preamp ($14k) and a Yamaha Power Amplifier – M5000 ($14k), driving stand-mounted Yamaha NS-800 monitors ($6k) each weighing over 28 lbs. – quite substantial for a two-way monitor of this size. Note the substantial speaker stands, as well.

The Yamaha rigs at the Montreal show, featuring their large flagship monitor, have often been a disappointment, possibly due to the difficult square room. The ethereal music played here in a much smaller room was more impressive, shedding the most favorable light on the brand in years. A Yamaha floorstander sounded quite good on the upper level at the Montreal show earlier this year, too.

348  VinylSound
This second room sponsored by VinylSound was understandably packed given the acclaimed MoFi SourcePoint 888 speakers ($7250). I was able to get in to take some photos but I was not overwhelmed by the sound quality on this visit. It wasn't until I returned on my sweep at the end of the show when the room was empty and I was able to sit in the sweet spot.

Doing so made all the difference. This is frequently the penalty of aligning speakers on the long wall of the sleeping rooms. Doing this can make for superior sound in the center chair against the wall but at the expense of favorable seating for more people. If you thought this room sounded good from where you were sitting, off-center, you would have loved it even more from the center seat.

On top of the rack was the MoFi MasterDeck turntable ($8495). With the MoFi Ultra Gold MC cartridge, the price rises to $10k, indicating the cartridge is far above entry level but not stratospheric.

Below the turntable was a HiFiRose RS150B Reference network streamer ($7k). Below that was the MoFi MasterPhono phono stage ($8495). Next shelf down was an IsoTek V5 Electra power conditioner ($2500). IsoTek power cables were listed at $195 and $399 which is very affordable compared to what most rigs were using at the show. And on the bottom shelf was the Mastersound Compact 845 tube integrated amp ($13k) which I suspect was the unsung hero of this rig. Cardas Clear Cygnus speaker cables ($2335) completed the signal chain to the speakers.

The PointSource 888 needs no introduction as it is one of the best reasonably affordable floorstanders today. The protruding front baffle is an interesting design element on the floorstander whereas I have not warmed up to the similar approach on the stand-mounted monitor. As I mentioned above, I think the Mastersound tube amplifier contributed a lot to the resolution, inner detail, spatiality, and air of this presentation. I'm glad I stopped back for a listen from the sweet spot.

350  Hearken Audio / Northstar Audio
Any room with Von Schweikert speakers is bound to be worth a listen and this one had exceptional sound quality with the VR55se speakers ($118,500) in a champagne finish driven by Westminster Lab's Quest preamp ($34,500) and Westminster Lab's REI monoblocks (100 watts at 8 Ohms, increasing to 400 watts at 2 Ohms) ($46,275). Front ends included an upgraded ($4,500) vintage Technics 1506 R2R tape deck with a Bottlehead Tape RePro preamp ($6k).

For digital, an Antipodes Oladra server-streamer ($40k) was used with a Playback Designs MPD-8 Dream DAC ($36k). A Hearken custom audio rack ($5k) kept things tidy. And a full loom of Master Built cables – the Von Schweikert house brand was employed.

The speaker lineup has been re-branded and the VR55se, as it was labeled here, has likely become the Ultra 5 on their website. I'll try to get some clarification at Capital Audiofest in a couple of weeks. I don't need to echo the accolades it has received.

The music was so perfectly balanced in this room that I asked Damon Von Schweikert if he was using his subwoofer technique to eliminate bass boost as he has done in the past in small rooms like this. He showed me one of the two prototype subs in the room they were working on. It looked small, but it was very effective in performing its bass cancellation mission in this room. It will likely be a year before it is released and will be bought for bass reinforcement rather than its use here. It's an interesting concept and there was no bass boom in the music I heard.

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