Audio Excellence hosted two rooms designed to accommodate smaller numbers in a more realistic listening situation. As a result, they achieved some mighty impressive sound from their two settings. One room was geared to take advantage of the massive attack and control inherent in the $21'595 Wilson Audio Sabrina. Doing duty was an MSB Analog DAC at $16'895, a fully decked-out NSB Universal Media Transport at $16'185, an $11'990 Naim 282 Pre and the Naim NAP 250 power amp at $6'500.


The other was a wonderfully immersive pairing of $10'999 Audio Physics Avanti speakers with Naim electronics, a $5'495 Uniserve Music server, a NAC 272 pre and power supply at $15'490 and a NAP 250-DR power amp. Here again small form factors belied the huge dimensional and musical involvement created. This one had all the audiophile adjectives in an easy to accommodate size. Reps from Plurison and Audio Physics were on hand to field the questions.


Atelier's Samuel Furon was hosting a room featuring the Jean-Marie Reynaud loudspeakers with a lovely ribbon tweeter. Pricing on these was running $12'900/pr...


... supported by a Metrum Pavane DAC at $6'500 and Audioproject CA10 Class A amp at $3'500. The sound here was incredibly detailed without becoming analytical.


At about the $13'000 mark, Toronto Home of the Audiophile and Gershman were demonstrating the Gershman Acoustics Grande AvantGarde with a list of equipment which really belongs in the dream category. Glittering Pass Labs, PS Audio and Esoteric lined the back wall. The sound in this room was classic Gershman, always musical, always composed and ever capable of rising from intimate to grand scale with ease.


Fairview/Tricell were making the always enjoyable $19'000 Joseph Audio Perspective loudspeakers sing with an assortment of Aesthetix electronics (conveniently priced on the front for the prospective and the curious). The Gold Note Meditarraneo turntable with a Benz Ace and a PH7 phono stage provided the analog front end...


Tricell top dog Mr. Vince Scalzitti  was happy to pose with his fine wares. I decided to cut off the almost affordable from the dream material at this point. In the "if you have to ask, you can’t afford it" category, there were heavy hitters out there and they all commanded attention.


An interesting conundrum for me was where to place the offerings from Goldmund. The new Logos towers which I listened to were quite remarkable. As a modern lifestyle product, they have all the convenience of wireless ability, self amplification and room-friendly size and aesthetic...


Sonically the demoed combo with the small Mimesis 11 preamp hub and Eidos 17 Universal player (adapted by Oppo to Goldmund requirements) was transparent in the best tradition, with a matter-of-fact presentation and unobtrusive. Alas, I have no price to put a value on the system but knowing their origins, I have conservatively placed it in my first of the dream category.


There were items of interest in the Audio Alchemy/Nexus room. At roughly $25'000/pr, the KEF Blade 2  were filling the room with very convincing music courtesy of the resurrected Audio Alchemy electronics. The high-end performance, high-value motto seemed very much in evidence as was the elegance of style...


... The DDP-1 DAC pre is listed at $2'899 Canadian, the PS-5 Power Station at $899 and the hybrid Class A/D power amps at $'2899 for the 125wpc DPA-1 stereo and the same each for the 325-watt DPA-1M monoblocks. Welcome back. Mr. Madnick.


Goerner Audio were demonstrating their relatively small $27'000 Rudolph loudspeaker from Wiener Lautsprecher Manufaktur in a prodigiously sized room. Analog source was an Acoustic Signature WOW XL at $3'490, an $450 AC-1 power supply, TA 1000 tonearm at $2'190, a London DECCA Supergold at $1'850 and a Grandinote Celio phono preamp for $8'750. Music servers were the $13'500 Grandinote Volta and Trigon Trinity integrated server at $5'500...


... Amplification was provided by a Grandinote Shinai integrated for $17'000. The sound was wide open and spacious in the sweet spot but the large room robbed it of a bit of absolute dynamic ease and restricted the best listening area for the audience. A pity because if you got to hear it in best circumstances, it was quite lovely.


In the Erikson Consumer room, attendees had the privilege of meeting with veteran designer Kevin Voecks and listening to his $33'000 Revel Ultima 2 Salon 2 four-way speakers marrying titanium cones with a beryllium tweeter. Matched nicely to these gorgeous floorstanders were the $42'000 Mark Levinson N° 52 Reference Pre and N° 53 Reference monoblocks at $35'000 a piece. This was a visit well worth the effort and a fine opportunity to discuss aspects of design parameters with a true expert.


On the other side of the room was a remarkably civilized and convincing horn effort from JBL. At $22'000/pr, they were getting great support from a Mark Levinson N° 585 integrated for $16'000.


In the Focus Audio room...


... Mr. Kwong worked hard to scale back his massively elegant $35'000/pr Master Audio 3 Be loudspeakers to achieve their best in a smaller room. The tall towers were supported by the Focus Audio Concerto Mono amps at $35'000/pr and a set of $88'000 Metronome Kalista CD transport and Nausicaa DAC. The Focus Audio has always been a strong product line and it was showing decent potential here.


Knut Skogrand of Skogrand Cables was debuting his stunning new...


... ACA Seraphim Skogrand speakers at $45'485/pr. His front end, prices in US funds, were Beethoven speaker cables $25'000/pr, SCI Beethoven interconnects $19'000 - $22'000/pr, SCAC Beethoven power cables $18'000 - $21'000 each, Triangle art turntable $14'995, Oris tonearm $5'800, Apollo MC cartridge $8'000, VAC Statement 450s amp $39'000, VAC Statement pre $22'500, Sutherland Phono Blocks $10'000, with stands provided be Massif Audio Design at $2'400 each plus amp and TT platforms at $700 each. His prior show offerings have all been top drawer and this was no exception. This was high art and gorgeous music. Mr. Skogrand plays the game at an exalted level but the quality of his designs didn't disappoint.


Audio by Mark Jones brought in some luscious fare. The combination of $64'000 Magico S7 in this finish paired with the Tenor 175s amps at $55'000 was a delight. Front end was the big Kronos table at $38'000, arm at $8'500 and XYZ cartridge at $8'500, with an $8'000 Aurender digital front end, a PS Audio DAC at $7'500. Phono stage and Pre/power supply were $50'000 and $100'000 respectively. Tenor and Jones were on hand to enjoy the audience reactions. Expensive equipment and some real ear candy here.