The people behind Toronto Audio Fest (TAF) are Sarah Tremblay, Michel Plante and Ben Scarcelli. Sarah and Michel are the ones that organizes the Montreal Audio Fest and Ben partnered with them for TAF bringing his valuable knowledge of the Ontario Market. The TAF venue was The Westin Toronto Airport Hotel, which is conveniently located right by the Toronto Pearson Airport. The great sound insulation of this Hotel ensured that the sounds of aircraft taking off and landing did not impact the interior of the hotel, allowing the exhibitors to demonstrate their gear with a relatively low ambient noise factor that is so crucial to revealing the sound quality of their audio systems.
The Show was well attended. According to Michel, he estimates that it attracted around 4000 people and he is very pleased with the attendance. The atmosphere was cordial and friendly, typical of what you would expect from a mostly Canadian audience. What made this Show extra special were a multitude of live performances and seminars that added a lot of spice to the experience.
My colleague Jim Smillie and I did our best to give every exhibitor the attention they deserved. However, since we were able to spend only about ten minutes in each room, the fact that many of the rooms did not have acoustics that would be considered ideal, the reality that the equipment on demo did not have enough time to settle in completely, the restriction that we were able to listen to only two or three tracks and also the irritant that many rooms had a good number of visitors talking over the sound of the systems on demo, made the task of accurately evaluating the sound quality quite challenging. I would therefore ask you to take all these factors into consideration when reading about our evaluation of the sound quality of each of the systems being auditioned.
Audio Excellence
This room featured the Sonus Faber Aida II speakers ($186,000) driven by the McIntosh C1100 preamp ($17,550), MC1.25KW monoblocks ($33,750), MP1100 phono preamp ($10,800), MCT500 CD/SACD Transport ($6075), the Clearaudio Statement V2 turntable ($225,000) with TTI Black Lacquer tonearm ($34,995), and Goldfinger Statement Cartridge ($19,995). The cables and interconnects were a mixture of Nordost Valhalla 2, Try 2, and Frey 2. The power conditioning in the room was provided by the Audioquest Niagara 7000 ($9995) with a Dragon power cord ($10,250). The host in this Room was Vilip Mak and Will Kline.
The sound in this room reflecting the name of the room, was 'excellent'. The sound stage was huge and the sonic image was rock solid. The character of the sound leaned towards the euphonic, but then that seems to be what audiophiles who buy McIntosh gear tend to prefer.
Executive Stereo/Nordost
In this room Ed Stone gave us a demo of the Vivid Giya G2 Speakers ($66,000), driven by Moon 860A power amp ($19,000), 7408 preamp ($9800), 390D music server ($6800), and Oracle Delphi turntable ($15,000). Cabling was by Nordost Valhalla II.
The sound in this room was quite captivating. There was a lot of air between the instruments and the speakers disappeared quite well, leaving a solid and believable sound stage. The voice of Rosanne Cash was quite seductive with good presence and body.
Bryston
In every audio show in Canada, you can always count on the Bryston Room to be one of the most popular with visitors. It was no exception at this Show. The room was always full of very enthusiastic audiophiles browsing Bryston's latest gear.
The room was dominated by the new Bryston T-Rex speakers (made by Axiom) that stood around 9-feet tall with an array of 14 driver units . The height itself is going to rule this speaker system out for most house and apartment where the ceiling height is typically 8-feet. Design-wise, the T-Rex comprises two Model Ts stacked on top of each other to form a mirror image. According to James Tanner of Bryston, the T-Rex has extra bracing and a layer of rubber between the two stacked speakers. The T-Rex retails for CD$20,000 a pair and that price includes the BAX-1 three-way electronic crossover. At that price point, The T-Rex could be considered a veritable bargain! The T-Rex pair was driven by an all Bryston combo of the BP-26 preamp ($3795), MPS-2 power supply ($1865), BDP-3 digital player ($3995), BDA-3 DAC ($3795), BAX-1 Digital Crossover ($3495), BIT-20 power conditioner ($3999), and the 21B Cubed 3-channel power amps ($23,999/pair).
The sound from the T-Rex was easily the best I have heard from any Axiom made Bryston Speaker that I have heard. The sound stage was immense and the bass while surprisingly deep, could have been a bit more tuneful. Male vocals were rendered with a lot of authority and texture.
Mike Pickett also of Bryston, showed us the new range of Bryston wireless speakers with accompanying electronics that make it very convenient to set up a whole home audio system.
Audio by Mark Jones
Mark Jones is one of the most gracious, friendly and accommodating hosts you could ever hope to meet at an audio show. He is also very adept at transcending the acoustic hurdles of hotel rooms/halls when setting up a system in a way that squeezes the best sound quality possible under the circumstances. This Show, it was no exception.
This time Mark showcased the new more affordable Magico A3 speakers ($12,800) which were driven by the Luxman L-509x integrated amp ($12,345), D-05u CD/SACD player/DAC ($6495), PD171A turntable (9095) with a Lyra Kleos phono cartridge ($4795), and a Roon Nucleus+ music server ($3300). The system was provided clean power via an Audioquest Niagara 5000 power conditioner ($5000). All cabling was by Audioquest.
This system which totals to a shade over $50,000, had so much of synergy, it outperformed many other systems at the Show that would make a six figure dollar dent in your wallet. Magico's first venture into the more affordable speaker category is very commendable. The A3 has many of the qualities of its more expensive siblings like impeccable build quality, good presence & transparency and pinpoint accuracy in terms of imaging. The A3 is sure to give many speakers in the $10,000 to $14,000 price range, a real run for their money.
Motet Distribution/House of Hi-fi
In this room I met Luke Manley, the President of VTL Tube Logic. He gave us a rundown of the system they were demonstrating. The system consisted of a VTL TP 2.5i phono stage ($5250), TL5.5II line stage preamp ($11,200), 5200 stereo amp ($17,500), Unison Research Duet CD player, a Lumin A1 network player, Acoustic Solid III turntable with a Jelco arm and a Dynavector cartridge. The speakers were the Triangle Signature Delta ($9000). All the cabling was by XLO.
This was one of the smaller rooms of the Show and I am sure this system would have sounded better in a room that allowed the speakers to breathe a bit more comfortably. Despite the restrictions, the sound was well defined with no congestion even with complex passages. We heard a Cassandra Wilson CD where the bass was a bit boomy, but when Luke switched to analog with an Alison Krauss LP, the sound was a lot more musical with a more saturated midrange and tighter more tuneful bass.
Totem
I can always count Vince Bruzzese, the owner of Totem to surprise you with something unusual. Last year Vince blew my mind with his Tribe Tower ($5999), a diminutive floor standing speaker that sounded more full bodied than many speakers that are ten times its size. Vince explained to us that he achieved this by eliminating all the frequencies that would distort the Tribe Tower and so the speaker could focus on and accurately reproduce only the frequencies that it could handle comfortably. Despite that, he claimed that the Tribe Tower goes down to 26Hz with hardly any audible distortion.
This year, the surprise was the Kin Play active speaker ($1250), which was demonstrated to us by Zason Ziddle. I found his little speaker quite intriguing not so much because of its sound quality (which was surprisingly good) but rather because of its versatility. The Kin Play is Bluetooth compatible and it also has inputs for line level signals, digital (optical) and a phono input that eliminates the need for an external phono stage. This makes it a great choice for a den, a kitchen or any other space where you do not do critical listening. You can conveniently play any music that you have on you iPhone, iPod, iPad, and any other device that transmits via Bluetooth. You can also connect a turntable directly and enjoy your vinyl collection with no fuss or complicated wiring.
Plurison
Emmanuel (Manu) Lequere the Brand Manager of Plurison, took us through the latest lineup of Naim and Focal products. On display were a trio of Naim network digital music players, the entry level ND5XS2 ($4495), the NDX2 ($8995) and the top of the line ND555 ($24,995). According to Manu, these represent the state-of-the-art in network players. The ND555 marries a new streaming platform with Naim's analogue technology. It features a 40-bit SHARC processor with advanced signal processing and has a suspended brass sub-chassis to isolate sound-critical circuits from vibrations. It needs to be used with an external power supply ($13,999), which Naim claims, is the best one that it has ever made.
On passive display, were the new Focal Kanta speakers, the No.1 ($6999), the No.2 ($11.999), and the No.3 ($13,999). Also on display was the matching center channel ($3699).
Just outside the Plurison Room I met Anne Bisson, who was autographing the CDs and LPs bought by her fans.
LeMay Audio
Francois LeMay gave us the tour of the very impressive looking system that he had set up in his room. The analog source comprised of the Kronos Pro turntable ($49,000), Kronos SCPS-1 PSU power supply ($13,500), the Black Beauty tone arm ($12,500), and the ZYX Omega phono cartridge ($9700). The digital source was made up of the Baetis Audio Reference X server and the Merging Technologies Nadac ST2 DAC ($13,000). Amplification was provided by the Tenor Audio Phono 1 phono preamp ($65,000), Tenor Audio Line 1 line preamp ($126,500), and Tenor Audio 350M mono blocks ($165,000/pair). The speakers were the KEF Blades ($40,000). Cabling was all provided by Inakustik and totaled to $36,660. Inakustik also supplied the three power conditioners which cost $4500 each. The equipment sat on Modulum Audio platforms that together, retailed for $31,700. The retail price of this whole system totaled to a sobering $589,960.
So what does half a million plus Dollars in equipment sound like? Quite impressive! The female vocals were rendered with great presence and a lot of emotion whereas the choral tracks sounded amazingly close to the real thing.
Audio Eden
In this room Mark Hamelin showed us his demo system with included the Kharma S7 Signature speakers that were driven by the Nagra Classic Tube Preamp ($19,995), the Nagra Classic solid-state amp mono blocks ($38,000/pair) and stereo ($21,000).
The synergy between the Karma speakers and the Nagra electronics was very apparent rendering a very smooth, relaxed and full bodied sound.
Kennedy Hi-Fi
Nick Fantetti, Account Manager for Lenbrook Americas, gave us the tour of the equipment in this room which included many products from Bluesound, the sister company of NAD. He showed us the Node 2 wireless music streamer ($599), which can be connected to any existing stereo system through a plethora of analogue and digital inputs and outputs. The Node 2 links up to your computer based digital music library, internet radio or even a smartphone or external hard drive. The Node 2 works even without an Internet connection.
Another interesting product from the Bluesound family is the Vault 2i Streamer + Hard Drive ($1499). This unit allows you to rip, download and store your digital music files in its 2TB hard drive which doubles as a network NAS drive. You can connect the Vault 2i to your existing audio system, or directly to a pair of powered speakers or you could even stream your digital music in lossless mode to Bluesound players anywhere in your home.
Kevro International
Monitor Audio products are distributed in North America by Kevro International, a family owned business operated by Brothers Sheldon and Jeff Ginn. Sheldon gave us the rundown of the gear that he had at the Show. It included the Monitor Audio Studio Speakers ($1799/pair), a Roksan K3 Series integrated amp ($2499) which puts out 140-watts of high current and is equipped with aptX Bluetooth technology, a Roksan K3 Series CD player ($2499), and a Roksan K3 Series DAC ($2499).
Sheldon prides himself on offering true high-end audio systems without the noise-bleed level prices that has become the norm in this industry. The system on demo at the show retails for just around $10,000 but it punches way above its price point. The sound was nothing short of astounding for the price. It was well defined, offered great dynamic contrast and was smooth and relaxed. I have no hesitation in opining that this system had, by far, the best sound of any total system under $10,000 at the Show. On a side note, I was informed that Monitor Audio has acquired Roksan.
Yamaha
Nico Boucher showed us all the latest and greatest that Yamaha has to offer. These included the C-5000 preamp ($10,000) and M5000 power amp ($10,000), which drove the NS-5000 speakers ($18,000). One of the more unique products was the Musicast Vinyl 500 turntable, which can connect to your network via the Yamaha Musicast app. This allows you to stream your vinyl record sound anywhere in your house via Musicast modules.
I have always liked the Yamaha house sound. It is relaxed, effortless and very musical and this system was no exception.
Gershman Audio
Ofra and Eli Gershman are the perfect hosts that make everyone feel very welcome to their room at all the audio shows that they participate in. They also play the most pleasing music rather than the audiophile staples that is ubiquitous at audio shows. We entered the room to the riveting sounds of Supertramp's Crime of the Century and the room was packed with visitors whose heads were bobbing in time with the music.
Eli had two of his speaker models set up for demos and he kept toggling from one to the other with each track he played. He began with the Grand Studio ($6500), which includes the attached stand and then moved to his top-of-the-line Posh ($129,000). The electronics were supplied by Krell Industries and Rondi D'Agostino, Managing Director, and Walter Schofield (COO) were on hand to explain their Krell products. The Posh speakers were driven by a Krell Duo 300 amp and Krell Illusion preamp with an Oracle Delphi Signature turntable and Oracle PH-200 phono stage as the source. The Grand Studio speakers were fed by an Oracle Origin turntable, an Oracle Origin tonearm, an Oracle PH-100 phono stage, and a Krell K-300i amplifier. All cables were by Kimber Cable.
If there were one word I could use to describe the sound in this room from both speaker models, it would be 'fun'. The expression on the faces of the audience said it all. It was very obvious that everyone in the room was have a great time. We waited for 10 minutes to get a good seat but it was in vain. The people in the room were having too much of a good time to give up their seats. We were therefore forced to listen by standing at the back of the room. Despite this, we could easily tell that the sound quality was quite outstanding. The PRaT was spot on, the highs and the mids were very seductive and the bass was taut and well controlled.
Paradigm/Anthem
In this room Blake Alty introduced us to the Paradigm Premier 800F ($2500/pair) and the Defiance X12 Series subwoofer ($1650), and the STR integrated amplifier ($5500). The STR incorporates a high-end DAC, an on board Anthem Room Correction system as well as phono inputs for both MM and MC cartridges.
According to Blake, the Paradigm Persona Series is doing very well and is now being offered in a choice of colours and various permutations and combinations of cabinet colour and baffle finish so that customers can mix and match the look that they prefer.
Martin Logan
The new line-up of Martin Logan subwoofers took center stage in this room. Justin Brown described these subwoofers to us, informing us that they offered many input options including Bluetooth connectivity as well as Anthem Room Correction. The unique feature of these subwoofers is that they can be configured to fire downwards or forwards by the user. These woofers also feature high excursion, low turbulence inverted surround woofers.
On demo was the Martin Logan Renaissance ESL 15A driven by the Moon Electronics 860A amplifier ($15,000), 740P preamp ($9000) and the 780D DAC ($15,000). The system was aided by the Dynamo 800X subwoofer. The sound was big and bold with great presence on both male and female voices and percussion was rendered with very accurate PRaT.
American Sound
In this room we met with Angie Lisi and Ashraf Nashed who took us around the various gear which included the Boulder 1110 preamp ($21,000), VAC Renaissance MkV preamp ($13,000), VAC REnnaissance phono stage ($13,000), DCS Rossini DAC ($29,429), DCS Clock ($9.249), Sonus Farber II Cremonese ($50,000), Avantgarde Zero horn speakers ($18,900), and Avantgarde Duo XD horn speakers ($42,000).
The Avantgard Duo XD speakers threw an enormous sound stage but typical of horns, the sound was coloured but in a pleasing way that appeals to many audiophiles who are horn fans.
Kirmuss Audio
This was not a room but a demo Kiosk set up in a hallway of the Hotel. Jerome Fragman held court here. He was constantly surrounded by many intrigued audiophiles as he demonstrated the KARC1 vinyl record cleaning system which retails for $1100.
The system was developed by Charles Kirmuss who was also at the Show. It is an ultrasonic cleaning and restoration system that is priced well below many other similar systems in the market. It has a patented record suspension system that does not use any skewers and avoids frequencies above 35kHz. It utilizes a bath of six liters of distilled water that is heated up to 95 degree Fahrenheit. An anti-bacterial surfactant is applied to the vinyl record surface using a goat hairbrush, which acts as an anti-fungal agent. After restoration, some of the vinyl records did not look as good as before the treatment. Jerome explained that it was because many used vinyl record sellers use questionable cosmetic means like applying shoe polish to make the records look better and the Kirmuss system removes them thereby making the record look cosmetically less attractive but nevertheless, the sound reproduction from those records will be distinctively better.
Saturn Audio
Gilbert Yeung of Blue Circle Audio is designing some less expensive equipment for René Evans who has branded this as Saturn Audio Excellence (Blue Circle Audio is still going strong with both lines being assembled in Canada). The PMC Twenty 5.24 Speakers ($9500) were driven by the 601 power amps ($4950), 501 preamp ($45,500), 201 DAC ($4950), and 103 power filter ($3950). The source was a Lumin Ui Streamer ($7950) and L1 Music Server ($1650). The cables were all by XLO.
The sound in this room was pleasant to hear, and while not the last word in definition, it did have a very smooth midrange and highs that were a tad on the sweet side.
ExaSound
George Klissarov, the President of ExaSound gave us the rundown on the equipment he had on demo. It included three new products, the flagship PlayPoint DM dual mono DAC and Roon /UpnP server ($14,000), the e32 Mark II ($3499), and the PlayPoint Mark II ($1999). The speakers were the Gershman Black Swans, which sounded rich, full and well rounded, delivering micro details with panache.
Charisma Audio
Bernard Li, the owner of Charisma Audio unveiled a lot of new products at the Show. These included the Well Tempered Lab 254 turntable, ($9400), the Charisma Audio Musico tonearm ($3300), the Charisma Audio Signature One MC cartridge ($5130) the Codia Acoustics Design Diagon 4-tier audio rack with Wenge shelves ($6700), and the Audio Space LS-5/9 Ebony rack ($7440). All the cables in this room were by TEO Audio.
Crown Mountain Imports
Alex Tiefenboeck the owner of Crown Mountain Imports had the ProAc K3 speakers ($19,900) driven by the Norma Revo PA 150 amplifier ($9000), SC2LN preamp ($9200), and the DS-1 Reference DAC with CD Drive ($6800). All cables were by Portento Audio.
The sound in this room was lush and captivating, with a lot of air around the voices and instruments. The bass was deep and tuneful and there was a lot of dynamic contrast, which made the listening experience very pleasurable.
ELAC
We entered this room expecting to meet with Andrew Jones who the organizers had mentioned, would be one of the star attendees of the Show. It was therefore disappointing to learn from Frederick Bourgeois that Andrew was not able to make it to the Show. What did not disappoint, were the ELAC products on demo, which included the Navis Bookshelf Speaker ($3000), the Navis Tower Speaker ($6000), and the Discovery Music Server ($1500).
Both speaker models have custom designed midrange, tweeters, and aluminum woofers and each driver is powered by its own amplifier. The speakers can be connected via wire or wireless. The latter does compromise the quality of the sound. The Discovery Music server is a very versatile device that offers playback of local, streaming music and multi-room music. The interface is very intuitive and easy to operate. To add music all you have to do is to connect the Discovery to your external hard drive via USB or point the Discovery to your NAS and it will organize and gather meta data for your whole music collection.
As for the sound, it's vintage Andrew Jones; crisp, clear and truly enchanting! The highs were transparent and seductive; the mid range was full bodied and with a good deal of presence and the bass was surprisingly deep and controlled given the size of these speakers. Vocals were delivered with great presence and body.
If your whole audio gear budget is well under $10,000, these speakers and server are a no-brainer. Just add your digital music tracks and you are good to go. No need to budget for speaker cables and interconnects, no complicated wiring to bother with, no need for multiple components, elaborate racks and other accessories. Well done Andrew Jones. You have made entry into the world of high-end audio very affordable and uncomplicated.
Audio Excellence
Adrian Low, the President of Audio Excellence gave us a tour of this room, which featured the Wilson Audio Yvette Speakers ($33,000), Mytek Brooklyn+ DAC, Audioquest cables and the Niagara 5000 power conditioner. The very captivating sound was evident by the fact that this room was constantly standing room only. Daryl Wilson has built on his famous father Dave Wilson's legacy by taking the performance of Wilson Audio speakers to new heights. Daryl has firmly put his stamp on all the new models introduced by Wilson Audio and the Yvette is no exception. Despite the relatively small size of this room, the Yvette Speakers sounded extremely good. The transitions from the tweeter to the midrange to the woofer was near seamless to deliver a very coherent sound.
JVC
JVC have firmly established themselves as the brand to beat when it comes to high-end video projectors. At this Show, they demonstrated the capabilities of two of their models: the NX5 ($7500) and the RS1000 ($8000). The picture quality was absolutely incredible, displaying minuet details that lesser projectors would miss. The colours were true-to-life and the blacks were blacker than I have seen with any other brand of projector. Ian Graham was on hand to answer visitor's questions on the JVC projectors.
Reference 3A
When Tash Goka presents his speakers, he is always brimming with enthusiasm and confidence. At this Show, his Reflector Speakers ($12,000) took center stage. He waxed lyrical about the features of this model, calling it the pinnacle of Reference 3A technology. He told us that the cabinet sides have layers of thick glass, which is structurally integrated into the main cabinet. He also incorporated perforated cross and vertical spine braces and tuneable brass tension rods to minimize inward and outward movement of the cabinet walls. Tash claims that this has resulted in the quietest cabinet of any of his speakers.
The driver units used have Tash's proprietary woven carbon fibre cones that resist break-up modes. These operate in a direct-coupled full range mode, eliminating the need for a crossover. The Reflector uses a beryllium tweeter which is aligned and positioned in a precisely shaped wave-guide and is controlled by a single capacitor to achieve a very coherent sound.
So how did the Reflector sound? It did have a very low noise floor which does indicate that the resonance fighting measure that Tash took, have had the desired effect. The sound was well balanced with vocal that were slightly forward. The bass was taut and very tuneful. The midrange was smooth, lush, and relaxed.
Toronto Home of Audiophile
A very enthusiastic Wallace Poon ushered us into his room, which featured the new Nelson Pass First Watt SIT-3 ($5800), and Pass Labs new preamp the XP-22 ($13,999). The speakers were the Golden Ear Triton 1 ($6400).
The First Watt SIT-3 is a zero feedback design in which the SIT acts as a depletion device in tandem with a MOSFET that acts as an enhancement device in a voltage follower configuration. The advantage of this configuration is that it delivers greater linearity, minimizes distortion, and provides a bigger damping factor.
The sound from the SIT-3 / Triton 1 combination was truly pleasing. It was a bit laid back with effortlessness and ease that makes listening fatigues almost non-existent. This combination was particularly adept in reproducing the harmonic textures of intimate, uncomplicated recordings.
Tri-Art Audio
Steve Ginsberg of Tri-Art had a room filled with wood finish products all made in Canada. The system included the B-series 5 Open Speaker ($5529) driven by the Passive preamp ($1554), 60-watt S power amp ($2394), and fed by their P-Series CD/DVD Player ($900) and B–Series TA 2 turntable ($3000).
Tri-Cell
Tri-Cell is one of the oldest, biggest and most highly regarded distributors of high-end audio in Canada. Vince Scalzitti, the owner, had one of the biggest presences of the Show with multiple rooms demonstrating the plethora of world-renowned brands that Tri-Cell distributes in Canada.
Synergistic Research
Synergistic Research has earned a reputation of having some of the best sounding rooms at North American audio shows. When we arrived at their room at this Show, Andy Wiederspahn was still in the process of tweaking the system and so, although the sound quality was pretty decent, I am sure it must have improved significantly after Andy was done with it. Unfortunately we did not get an opportunity to revisit the room to listen to the final setting. The gear in the room included the Audiovector SR6 Signature MKII ($17,280), the Soulution Audio 330 integrated amp ($26,500), the Brinkman Audio Nyquist DAC MKII ($21,000), the Unison Research CD Primo Silver ($2425), HRS stands, Synergistic Research Tranquility Bases, Powercell 12 UEF SE, Active Groundblock SE and the Black Box. The room and the speaker cabinets were treated with the full complement of Synergistic Research High Frequency Transducers (HFT).
Cardas
This room that included all the popular Cardas products from their Clear Beyond line-up to their more affordable Parsec and Iridium offerings. Brian Von Bork of Cardas showed us the new Cardas Nautilus power strip ($2000), which has no current limiting components. It incorporates Cardas' own 4181 US outlets connected with point-to-point 10 and 11.5 AWG wiring, RFI and EMI protection on every outlet and a star-ground design terminating to a 1 kilogram pure copper earth plate. The Nautilus is the successor to the Cardas Golden 6A power strip that they manufactured in the mid-1990. Brian also showed me the new Clear Beyond Power XL power cable ($2480/1.5meters). It is the highest capacity power cable that Cardas has every made and is equipped with sophisticated ground filtration and the all-new Cardas E5 connectors.
PMC
This room had the Estelon YB Speakers ($26,400), Soulution Audio 325 preamp ($14,900), and a Soulution Audio 311 power amp ($23,000). HRS racks and RW Acoustics panels that can be ordered with different images on them to suit the customer taste or room decor.
Transrotor
This was a static room where Tri-Cell displayed all the latest models of the world renowned Transrotor Turntables from Germany. All Transrotor turntables are heirloom quality and have such a solid build and finish, with proper care, they should deliver a lifetime of superb performance.
Dirk Rake the owner of Transrotor took us through his more popular models. He was particularly proud of the Alto ($8625), which offers users the option of adjusting the VTA of the turntable on the fly while the record is playing so that fine-tuning can be done by ear. This model also allows for the tone arm position to be adjusted in terms of distance from the platter. This makes it compatible with any tone arm that the user wishes to use.
Artist Cloner
This room was the biggest surprise of the Show. Here we met Silvio Comtois a very interesting guy who talks about audio with a great deal of enthusiasm. He claims that he has been building speakers for friends for many years and since the response was so good, he finally decided to build them commercially. His maiden attempt is the Rebel Reference bookshelf speaker ($15,995 including stands). These speakers were driven by the Scorpi integrated amplifier ($12,925), Merging Nadac as the source, Sollitz speaker cables ($1385) and Carbon interconnects ($1565). These were connected to the Pteros power distribution system ($3669).
The sound in this room totally blew us away. It was big, bold, imposing and true-to-life. The midrange was as smooth as a baby's bottom and the bass was tight and very tuneful. Even at higher volumes, the compression and distortion was surprisingly low. For a maiden attempt, we think that Silvio has hit this one out of the ballpark. We have no hesitation in declaring that in the $15,000 price point, the Rebel Reference was the best value, best sounding bookshelf speaker at the Show.
Audiogen
In this room we met Ibrahim Genis and Mert Ersoy who hail from Turkey. They had some very high quality components in the two demo systems in two different rooms. The first room included the Verity Audio Amadis S ($42,495), the Nagra Classic mono block amplifiers ($19,995/each), the Nagra Classic preamp ($19,995), the Nagra CDC CD player ($22,750), and Pranawire Avatar 2 speaker cables ($32,500) and interconnects ($19,500). The sound in this room was astonishingly good. Vocals came through with a solid presence, percussion was very precise and we could feel the bass in our bones.
The second room had the Egglestonworks Andra Viginti ($49,999), Lamm M1.2 Reference mono blocks ($41,999/pair), Lamm LL2.1 Deluxe preamp ($9990), Nagra HD DAC with Classic PSU ($52,000) and Nagra CDC CD player ($22,750). It was very obvious that the room was way too small for the Egglestonworks Andra Viginti. Despite this, the sheer quality and performance of this system shone through in spades. There was an unmistakable sense of ease with which this system delivered music, even at higher volume levels. I suspect that if this system were in a much larger room, its performance would have been a strong contender for best sound of the Show.
Entracte Audio
This room has designer Gilbert Yeung who was, by far, the most colourful (figuratively and literally) personality of the Show. It would behoove you to wear a pair of sunglasses just to gaze at what Gilbert wore. Gilbert is also the designer for all Saturn Audio equipment. The room had the Martin Miles 5 speakers ($17,200), Blue Circle NSI-G integrated amp ($43,800), Blue Circle BC 515 DAC ($5720), and a Melco N1 Server ($3299). Gilbert's whimsical nature can be gauged by the fact that this high quality system was connected with 10-gauge wire that he picked up from Home Depot and modified to requirements. The Home Depot cables notwithstanding, the system sounded surprisingly good which made us think, "Could the system sound even better with high quality speaker cables?"
DR Acoustics
Daniel Robidoux made a formal presentation of the DR Acoustics Antigone ($6995) and Creon ($3495) power management systems. These components run the unbroken power cables through carbon fibre receptacles containing a nano crystal formula, which is claimed to filter the power without limiting the current in any way.
I asked Daniel how this system was different from what Akiko Audio does with its Tuning Sticks which need to be strapped to cables and which claim to do exactly what the Antigone and Creon does. He claimed that his power management system is different but I can't help seeing the similarities both in terms of cosmetics and materials used. Daniel measured the noise levels using meters to show the effect that his power management systems have on the pollutants in the power. He also played music with and without the power management systems in place to demonstrate their effectiveness.
Audio Sensibilities
At the Show, Steven Huang the owner of Audio Sensibilities was proudly showing off his new Signature Speaker Cables which retail for $2400 for a length of 8-feet. Steven's cables punch way above their price point, offering performance that matches cables that are sold for twice and three times the price.
Massif Audio Design
Trev Doyle is well known for his bespoke audio racks and stands, many of which are made of exotic and rare woods. Here he is with one of the racks being used at the Show.
Wynn Audio
Wynn Wong, the owner of Wynn Audio always puts on a grand show. He never fails to ensure that the premium brands he carries, are set up right so that they deliver their optimum performance given the aforementioned restrictions at audio shows. Wynn's demo system comprised of the Kalista Dreamplay One CD player ($56,000), Goldmund Mimesis 22H preamp ($140,000), Karan Acoustics KA M2000 mono block power amps ($78,000), Zensati cables, Thales TTT-Compact II turntable ($19,500) with Thales Statement Tonearm (CD$28,000), EMT JSD-VM cartridge ($6500), and Vimberg Tonda speakers ($43,000).
Thales Statement tone arm uses a special kind of aluminum that is stabilized by natural aging underground, which is normally used in the parts on Swiss-made luxury watches. This tonearm continually adjusts the head shell to compensate for tracking error and it also has an integrated mechanism for adjusting the VTA and azimuth on the fly. A very cool feature!
The same company that makes TIDAL speakers makes the Vimberg line of speakers. Both brands are made in the same factory. The Vimberg speakers are supposed to be the more affordable offerings. Of course, at CD$43,000, it is debatable if the Tonda can be regarded as affordable, but when you compare it to the TIDAL line up that is around three to 10 times this price, I suppose it is 'relatively' affordable. Like TIDAL, the Vimberg line-up uses Accuton drivers, Mundorf and Duelund crossover parts, however, in order to bring down the cost of manufacturing to make them more affordable, they used aluminium hardware (tweeter mounting, feet, etc.) instead of polished stainless steel like TIDAL speakers.
The sound in this room was truly enchanting. The vocal were full bodied and crisp with a midrange that was smooth as silk and well saturated. The bass was deep enough that I could feel it in my bones. This room gets my nod for the "Best Sound of the Show."
The Toronto Audio Fest concluded with an awards ceremony where the high-end audio industry luminaries were given lifetime achievement awards. These included Paul S. Barton and Dave Wilson. Peter McGrath accepted the award on behalf of the late Dave Wilson. The audience at the Awards Ceremony included many of the movers and shakers in the North American High End Audio Industry.
