EQ Audio Video: Musical Fidelity, Focal, Grado, Audience, Borresen, Ansuz, Axxess, Naim - Toronto Audiofest 2024
At every Toronto Audiofest, EQ Audio Video hosts the same room and it's easily the biggest one at the show—it's the size of a palatial Austrian ballroom—which the retailer subdivides into several closed-off demos that play at different times. EQ Audio Video owner Ed O'Herlihy knows how to put demos together so they always sound impressive, and this year I got to hear two of the best systems, not only in the EQ room, but at the entire show.
Final Words - Toronto Audiofest 2024
The Toronto Audiofest 2024 was a fun show, and by all signs, the audio hobby still beats with a vital, passionate heart.
Hearken Audio: Senna Sound, Jean Nantais, SteinMusic, Supreme Analog, Aidas, Miyajima, Yeti Acoustics, HRS - Toronto Audiofest 2024
Ontario retailer Hearken Audio always showcases systems made up of exotic products usually from distant lands by brands unfamiliar to me that, together, don't fail to be musical standouts at shows.
IsoAcoustics, EverSolo, PS Audio, PS Audio, Kimber Kable - Toronto Audiofest 2024
Another room exhibiting an EverSolo product was that of IsoAcoustics, which used a DMP-A8 streamer/DAP/DAC/preamplifier ($2700) to feed a pair of 350W PS Audio Stellar M700 monoblocks ($4500/each) and Aspen FR10 speakers ($13,999/pair)—two pairs, actually, one on regular spikes, the other on IsoAcoustics Gaia 2 isolation feet ($349.99/pack of 4), to allow for an A/B demonstration.
Kennedy Hi-Fi: Audiovector, Fezz Audio, Eversolo, Kimber Kable - Toronto Audiofest 2024
The Kennedy Hi-Fi room was showing another product at the show that was creating a buzz: the Audiovector Trapeze loudspeaker ($25,000/pair), another product from Denmark, a country rich in high-end manufacturing. A 3-way floorstanding design, the Trapeze features a proprietary 12" high-power mid/bass driver, a 5" high-speed midrange, and an AMT (Air Motion Transformer) tweeter.
Marantz - Toronto Audiofest 2024
The Marantz product that was under press embargo? A speaker! Actually, two speakers: the Marantz Horizon and its larger sibling, Marantz Grand Horizon. The speakers are intended for single-speaker wireless playback.
MartinLogan, Anthem, AudioQuest - Toronto Audiofest 2024
What speaker design immediately springs to mind when you think of MartinLogan? If you’re like me, the answer is an electrostatic one. Which is why I was momentarily taken aback when I walked into the MartinLogan room and saw on display the more conventional-looking, three-way, floorstanding XT F100 speaker ($5999/pair) from the company’s Motion Series XT, and this despite the fact I’ve known about the Motion Series XT for a couple of years now.
Monitor Audio, Rotel, Audience, Norstone, Roon - Toronto Audiofest 2024
Monitor Audio was displaying two systems. The first showcased a pair of the company's Studio 89 monitors ($2999/pair, + $799 for Studio 89 stands) and Anthra W12 subwoofer ($3700), fed by a 140Wpc, class-A/B Rotel RAS-5000 integrated amplifier ($3999), while cabling and the component rack, in systems 1 and 2, were by Audience and Norstone, respectively.
Motet: PS Audio, Accuphase, Lumin, Kimber Kable, Quadraspire - Toronto Audiofest 2024
You want big-toned, vivid, seemingly effortlessly dispersed sound with a knack for delivering some of the most stable and incisively air-sculpted, but not fatiguing, imaging I've heard at the show?
Sonic Artistry: Kora, Diptyque, Grimm Audio, Massif, Seismion, Nordost - Toronto Audiofest 2024
You know how they say that after a while dog owners start looking like their pets? I doubt it's true, but on the premise that it is, I wonder if the same can be claimed about brand names or store names; example: if you opened the "Best Gear Ever " store, would you, even subconsciously, feel compelled to seek out and sell the best gear? Would you try to resemble the name, to live up to it?