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Scenes From Day One of the Toronto Audiofest

A working musician: singer and flautist Caroline St. Louis (above).

Toronto Audiofest co-organizer Sarah Tremblay (above).

Isabeau Corriveau (above) was tireless on harp.

Wynn Audio's Wynn Wong (above) with products from Tidal, Thales, and EMT.

Yamaha's A-S3000 integrated amplifier ($CAD8000).

The Wadax Atlantis transport ($US45,000) measures its own vibrations.

Like last year, James Tanner (above) presented an all-Bryston system featuring the T-Rex, which consists of an inverted pair of Bryston's…

Audiovector R3 Avantgarde Arreté Loudspeakers; Goldnote Giglio Turntable, Ph10 Phono Preamplifier, PSU10 Power Supply, and Four-Shelf Rack; Alluxity Pre 2 Preamp with Streaming DAC, Mono One monoblock amplifiers; Synergistic Research PowerCell

Should you ground your loudspeakers? With most speakers it's a moot point, since there's no practical way to ground the internal metal parts. A few companies—Tannoy comes to mind—have in the past sold speakers with a grounding pin, claiming reduction of distortion and RF interference.

Audiovector, of Denmark, has returned to the practice grounding their loudspeakers, providing a grounding pin on their Avantgarde Arreté–series loudspeakers, which can be wired to earth ground via a special grounding terminal on the carbon-fiber panel. (The cable costs extra.) The big Arretés were in the…

Lumin Streamer, Mutec Master Clock, PS Audio DAC, Pass Labs Amp, GoldenEar Speakers, Gutwire and Siltech cables

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)…

Jean Nantais Turntable, Graham Tonearm, Miyajima Cartridge, Yamamoto Amplifier, Rethm Speakers, Ocelia Cables, Harmonix Accessories

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…

Esoteric SACD Player/DAC, Audio Research Amplifiers, Acora Speakers, Cardas Cables

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…

Melco Server, Aqua Acoustic Quality DAC, Audio Valve Preamp, ATC Powered Speakers, JL Audio Subwoofers

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…

Aurender Streamer, Rogue Integrated Amplifier, MartinLogan Speakers, Kimber Cables

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…

Bob Deutsch’s Day 2 Photo Post

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…

Fyne Audio Loudspeakers, Audia Flyte Electronics, Melco server, Lindemann DAC, Swiss Cables, Quadraspire Racks

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…

A Lifetime Achievement Award for Robert Deutsch

Last night, at cocktail hour here at the Toronto Audiofest, the organizers presented their Lifetime Achievement Award to Stereophile contributing editor and longtime Stereophile contributor Robert Deutsch.

Audiofest organizer Michel Plante invited Jim Austin, Stereophile's new editor, onto the stage to present the award.

"Tonight I have an honor that I haven't earned," Jim said. "I've been Stereophile's editor for only eight months, and I get to present a lifetime achievement award."

Jim then told the audience that he had asked John Atkinson, a longtime colleague of…