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You want sound that's narcotically intimate? Seductively expressive? Molecularly textured? The kind of sound that, once your ears and brain have latched on to it, makes you struggle to let go, even if you have a show report to do, because the sound is so hard to resist?

I submit to you this room, a collaboration among Canadian distributor Tri-Cell and two dealerships—Montreal-based L'Atelier Audio and Hearken Audio of Kitchener, Ontario—which delivered all the qualities above and was one of my favorite rooms at the show. Plus, I had one of my long-held biases shattered. More…

At first, online sales were mainly for inexpensive and moderately priced items, but over time, people have grown comfortable buying higher-priced goods online: computers, cars, and yes, higher-end audio equipment. The pandemic has accelerated this trend.

Many hi-fi manufacturers and importers have remained true to the traditional sales model, and for many hi-fi products, especially the expensive…

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

Montreal retailer Studio du Son's room was a blast from the past, complete with peace-sign door beads, a 50s-style wood-framed Black & White TV—okay, technically it was a blast from at least two different pasts—vintage photos of old-school rock stars, and a fat-knobbed radio and record player console. Oh, and KLH speakers.

The KLH speaker I heard in this nostalgia-drenched room, the Model Three ($2700 w/ stands), was a brand-new baby, arriving just in time for its official Canadian launch at the…

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

I seem to hear and read less about electrostatic speakers than I used to. I know they've always been a niche within another niche—audiophile speakers—but I remember the days when a vocal segment of passionate electrostatic devotees swore by the technology and refused to settle for the boxy colorations of your typical boxy speaker. Somehow, along the way, electrostatic speakers have become less visible, in the press as well as at audio shows.

That's a shame. Because whenever I do come across a pair of well-…

When I first saw the big black banner on the wall in importer/distributor Asona's room, which was, despite the chronological order of my postings, actually one of the first rooms I'd visited at the show, inscribed in big bold letters with Innuos across it, I thought: "Hey, Innuos, isn't that the company that makes streaming products? I guess they're exhibiting this year." By the second day of the show, every time I'd enter another room using an Innuos source, I'd be like, "Man! Is this the Montreal Innuos Show, or what?"

I don't mean this as a slight against the show but as an…

GO, KLH! The brand has become one of my coup de coeurs—which loosely translates as "darlings of the heart"—based on the two models I've heard at the show, the Model 3 in the Le Studio du Son room and now the Model 5 ($3750 w/stands) in this room. They sounded good and gave off an underdog-beats-the-odds vibe I find soulfully wholesome: their unassuming retro appearance, simplish design, small size delivering an earful (ear full?) of music. They remind me of the little engine that could, and did, climb that big mountain.

Here's another metaphor that's apt in some ways (and not so…

This year's annual audio-industry cocktail/supper ceremony was held in a ballroom-like room that gave the proceedings a bit of an Oscar-night flair. (Our invitation to Will Smith was rescinded in light of current events.) In what I'm assuming was a first at an audio-industry gathering, a drag queen entertainer was invited to perform on stage—Montreal's Rainbow—who did a skit with show organiser Michel Plante that involved her "translating" Michel's opening speech from French to English. What made it funny is that Rainbow's English is spotty at best, but she gave it a good, inventive whirl…

Two new Coltrane reissues on vinyl, from the partnership of Universal Music and Acoustic Sounds, typify the breadth of this range and the…

Those mesmerizing moments were precipitated not by nature but by spending several previous hours listening intently for differences between three stellar preamplifiers: the solid state Dan D'Agostino Momentum HD ($40,000),…

The power supply unit uses ECC83 and 6080WC tubes, one each, newly manufactured by JJ Electronic.

According to Lars, the Monica, which…