Montreal Audio Fest 2022

(All prices are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.)

I like how Yamaha, a brand not known for audiophile products, has, in the last few years or so, been making audiophile products. I find it flattering, in a Sally Field kind of way: "You care, Yamaha. You really care."

And by all the signs, they do. Several of the company's high-end products have received good press lately, including in Stereophile, so I was happy to get a chance to listen to a few of those well-reviewed products in the Yamaha–Luna Cables room.

You want serious audio-purist cred? Consider Yamaha's GT-5000 belt drive turntable ($12,000 with tonearm): a 2kg brass platter, a 5kg aluminum platter, total weight of 58lb. You don't even have to hear it to know it's serious.

The demo also included a pair of NS-5000 speakers ($20,000), whose cones are made of Zylon, the C-5000 preamp ($13,000), and the 100Wpc M-5000 amplifier ($13,000), with parallel MOSFET output stages. Also exhibited, and looking serious but quietly so, on static display, was the DSD-capable CD-S3000 CD player ($7500). Adding to the room's audiophile quotient was Luna Cables, whose products Art Dudley spoke highly of, and with whom Yamaha had partnered, synergistically, via a Luna Cables Red step-up transformer ($4850) and a bevy of Luna Cables Mauve cabling. The Red SUT offers 26dB gain and comes with a stereo/mono switch.

The result of all this serious" equipment was sound to sink your body and mind into: sweet, refined, detailed, and pulsating with tactile momentum. The soundstage stretched past the side walls. Drum and bass notes popped out from the mix with satisfying flesh and swing. I remember thinking, as I was soaking in the sound, Glad you're at the party, Yamaha.