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Another system that did a great job at communicating music's gestalt was the one taking pride of place in the Toronto Home of Audiophile Ltd room. The system included a Lumin U1 streamer ($CAD8000), a Mutec Ref 10 Audiophile 10 MHz master clock with MC3+ smart clock/re-clocker/USB interface ($CAD7150 for both), a PS Audio DirectStream DSD DAC ($CAD9500), a Pass Labs XP22 preamp ($CAD14,000), a class-A, 30Wpc Pass Labs XA30.8 stereo amp ($CAD9800), and a pair of GoldenEar Triton One.R speakers ($CAD8000). Completing the system were a DirectStream Power Plant 20 power conditioner ($CAD14,700)…
The Hearken Audio room was showing the sort of gear that indulges my creative impulses. None of it looked boring, or robotically manufactured on an assembly line. Two of the displayed items in particular snagged my focus: the Jean Nantais Ultimate Lenco analog rig ($US17,500), outfitted with a Graham Audio 12" tonearm ($CAD10,335; only arms of 10.5" or more in length can be used) and a Tru-Lift automatic tonearm lifter ($USD275), a Miyajima Labs Saboten L low-output MC cartridge ($CAD6700), and a pair of 102dB-sensitive Rethm Saadhana speakers ($CAD24,000).
No less artisanal as…
The Acora Acoustics room was another standout. The Canadian company has been building speakers for only a year, but they are on to something with their SRC-1 speaker ($CAD37,995/pair), whose enclosure, as per their marketing literature, is "handcrafted using granite by only the finest artisans in Canada." Sure, they must be a pain to move around, but one could say the same of the amps that were powering them, the cinderblock-shaped Audio Research Ref 10/750Se amps ($CAD95,200/pair).
Mobility issues aside, what I heard of them being fed by an Esoteric E-02 phono preamp ($CAD12,000…
Entracte Audio's room displayed a nifty little system centered around a pair of active ATC SCM 40A speakers ($CAD13,800/pair) supplemented by two JL Audio E110 subwoofers ($CAD2300 each). Preamp duties were handled by Audio Valve's Eclipse preamp ($CAD6600), while the source consisted of a Melco music server ($CAD7300) being fed music files from an external hard drive, and the Italian Aqua Acoustic Quality La Voce S3 Discrete R2R ladder DAC ($CAD5500).
Though I felt the sound could have used an extra layer of harmonic meat on its bones, it was engagingly animated and dynamic, and capable…
Featured in the MartinLogan room were the company's standmount Motion 35XTi speakers ($CAD1600/pair). The XT denotes the model's folded-diaphragm air-motion tweeter while the i stands for improved, the latter mainly as it relates to upgrades made to the speaker's woofer and crossover. The speakers were used in conjunction with MartinLogan's Dynamo 800x powered subwoofer ($CAD1000), which Larry Greenhill reviewed glowingly in the February 2019 issue of Stereophile. Completing the system were an Ultralinear/triode switchable (100Wpc and 60Wpc, respectively) Rogue Audio Cronus Magnum lll…
Saturday was a busy day at the Toronto Audiofest.
An image from the AudioTeens room, presented by hifipro.ca. Speakers are KANTO's YU2.
hORNS by Autotech Symphony, with electronics from a variety of European brands: Rockna, Inakustik, NAT, Lector.
Totem’s Vince Bruzzese, with the Totem Fire V2, $7000/pair CAD.
AER Excenter loudspeakers, 116dB (!)/W/m. Not sure about the price in U.S. or Canada, but the website lists them at 60,000 euro/pair. You can buy just the drivers for 3900 euro each.
Richard Kohlruss of…
I wasn't paying a lot of attention to Scottish audio in 2016, but here's what I know: The new owners of Scottish loudspeaker company Tannoy at first threatened to move production to China, but ended up opening a new factory in Scotland instead.
That would seem to be a positive outcome, but along the way, a group of employees separated from the company, including Paul Mills, Tannoy's longtime product development head, some other engineers, and key production staff. Those former Tannoy employees soon formed a new company: Fyne Audio.
Just 20 months later, Scotland's Fyne Audio…
Gobsmacked is a word I never use, but I will in this report. That's because I'm at a loss to find a better term to convey how I felt when I heard the system MBL had set up in their room—which, by MBL standards, was small (other qualities that came to mind about the system's look were tidy, clean, and really, really white). The all-MBL system consisted of a total of three components: The three-way omnidirectional Radialstrahler 120 speakers with integral stands ($CAD30,150/pair), the 300Wpc C51 integrated amp ($CAD14,600), and the C31 DAC-CD player ($CAD12,000), with Wireworld cabling…
As noted in the spec sheet being handed out in Executive Stereo's room, each Kii Three loudspeaker ($CAD23,000/pair), which stands all of a foot high (the bottom portion of the speaker in the photo is a subwoofer, which was not being used during my visit), is stuffed with six drivers, six amps that generate a total of 3000W, and six DACs.
When I read that, I admit: The purist in me balked. There's no way these speakers will sound pure, I thought smugly. I was wrong. In fact, the Kii Audio Threes, which use digital signal processing to control the relative phase and timing of its drivers,…
Imagine an audiophile system assembled by the UN and you might end up with something that looks a lot like what I discovered in the Wynn Audio room. Among the countries being represented there were: France, with the Metronome AQWO CD/SACD player ($CAD22,000), with tubed output stage and USB input; Switzerland, with the 215Wpc Goldmund Telos 590 NextGen integrated amp ($CAD33,800); Germany, with the Vimberg Mino speakers ($CAD41,900/pair), built in the same factory as its sister company Tidal Audio (not to be confused with the streaming service); Sweden, with the Entreq Olympus Infinity ground…