Salon Son & Image 2010
Montreal High-End Audio Show

Part 1 -- Report By Rick Becker

In a fourth Focal room was a modest stand mounted monitor driven by an NAD integrated and CD player. Are you picking up on the "Moderately Priced" theme, yet?

 

An Ayre CD player, Accuphase control center and a Rotel RB 1090 power amplifier were unlikely bedfellows driving Solen loudspeakers with what appeared to be an external crossover sitting atop the floorstanding speakers. It sounded pretty good, though. But what really caught my attention were the pyramid shaped monitors sitting on the floor from Tetra Speakers. I looked around for my friend Adrian Butts, but he was not to be seen. Like most Tetras, these were not only unusual in shape, but also in finish. They would make an awesome diorama with a pair of Nagra pyramid shaped monoblocks. Just add the miniature camels and invite some tourists! I like it when someone steps out of the box like this.

A Dr. Feickert’s new Blackbird turntable with slots for adjusting tonearm distances was seen in the next room, but the source in use was an AMR cd player. A KR Audio Kronzilla SX integrated amp (50wpc, triode mode) with the huge 1610 tubes was driving a pair of TEO loudspeakers with external crossovers that they have been working on for 17 years that they still have not released. Both the crossover box and the circuit board inside are tuned to 2 Hz. Teo is also the maker of Liquid Cables that impressed me so much last year and I had the pleasure of meeting Brian Kurtz who is their Man in Texas with whom I’ve been emailing for the past year as these expensive cables have undergone refinement. I was hoping to meet Ken Hotte, inventor of the liquid cables again this year, but our paths did not cross. The liquid metal used in the cables is said to cost $20K per gallon — much more expensive than gasoline. Unfortunately, the room was packed with people and there were too many conversations going on to get a good fix on the sound here. Oops, forgot to photograph this room.

Leema Acoustics from Wales in England presented a pair of small stand mounted Xero monitors that belied their size. They are bi-wireable and sounded very competitive at $1400. The whole rig priced out at $17K featuring their Antila cd player and Tuscana II integrated amplifier from their top series. They make lesser priced models as well. This is not a fly-by-night company, having been in business for 12 years, and could very well be the Big Discovery of the show this year. If I were a Solid State guy I would be jumping all over them for review samples — very nice design, too. Damn! Where did my camera go?

 

Well, I found my camera to take this shot of the Triangle speakers. That’s the Duetto on the stand. They have drifted into landscape that borders on Bling…or is that decorative technology? The source was a computer that fed a Hegel DAC via Toslink cable. A Hegel preamp and power amp completed the system. I would certainly suggest you give them a more critical listen based on their previous track record.

 

Let’s see here... Clearaudio turntable, VTL 5.5 Mk II preamp ($8K with phono, $6K as line stage), Pathos CD player and integrated amplifier, VTL power amp. This must be one of the two smaller rooms hosted by Coup de Foudre. Very nice sound here with the Avalon Indra speakers in a more modest system than they’ve presented in the past, but they have a larger room on the lowest floor which probably holds their big guns. Sweet music here, nonetheless, with lots of air.

 

When I was greeted in the hall by Bill Parish of GTT Audio and Joe Kubala of Kubala-Sosna Research I knew I was not only among friends, but also in the High Rent and High Quality Audio district. In one of their rooms was the smaller YG Acoustics Kipod speaker ($38K). Sources were a V.Y.G.E.R. turntable with an SME 312 tonearm and a TEAC or Esoteric CD player. The V.Y.G.E.R. turntable is a suspended turntable despite its solid look. The Veloce battery powered preamp was coupled with a $3000 phono stage as an upgrade, bringing the price to $18K. The phono stage uses battery power from the preamp. The Veloce monoblocks driving the YGA are $12K. At one point they were playing an LP from Classic Records that uses a special vinyl formulation and is pressed on one side only, providing outstanding sound. Harry Pearson is said to be reviewing the preamp and that things are looking very good for Veloce. This was one of the Best Rooms at the show.

 

Across the hall Bill Parish had set up a modest mbl system with the World Premier of their new entry level speaker, the model126 in satin white ($12,500 including stands). This replaces a $17K speaker and yet reportedly goes 6Hz deeper and is more linear. With mbl’s unique omni-directional tweeter and midrange it produced a spacious sound throughout the room. The mbl electronics were from their Reference line, so the term "modest" is relative in this case. In previous years I’ve seen a spread of mbl gear on the floor that resembled a small city. The monoblocks shown here, for example, were the model 9007 at $36K for the pair. This room, too, was one of the Best Rooms, as it usually is for mbl. Bill Parish of GTT Audio and Video is the new mbl distributor for North America .

 

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