Part 4: Montreal Audiofest 2400 Hallway And Bonaventure Room
A fabulous fusion of audiophile gear.
Montreal Audiofest 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker

Bonaventure Room   Gentec International, Klipsch, Pro-Ject, TEAC, AndWiiM
The folks at Klipsch asked me to stop in to see the all-new Klipschorn AK7, La Scala AL6, and Heritage Active Crossover before the show. I didn't have the heart to tell them what a difficult room the Bonnaventure can be. It's a big, square room with high ceilings and two walls of glass. The floor is split in half with two levels and stairs connecting them. I've heard a lot of good speakers sound pretty mediocre in this space. On occasion, it has been used as more of a bazaar, filled with tables filled with silent displays. Gentec International was the Canadian distributor that put these products on display. The audio brands here are just a small portion of the many products they carry in a variety of categories.

As I entered, there was an attractive display of their moderately priced speakers with copper-coned drivers and a stack of subwoofers. The electronics consisted of a WiiM Vibelink amp on the top shelf, a WiiM Ultra server in the middle, and a modest power conditioner on the lowest shelf. WiiM shared the room with Klipsch and others. I didn't get to hear either of these speakers here during my visit.

At the far end of the room was the world premiere of the new Klipschorn AK7 playing music that sounded decent if you found the right distance. The speaker is designed to be placed in a corner, but there was only one corner available to the left. The front wall, seen here, had a heavy drape pulled over the glass. I've left the photo uncropped to give you a sense of the size of this room and the height of the ceiling. You are seeing less than half of the front wall behind the speakers.

The new LaScala was set up along this same wall on the lower level to the right. Still, both speakers are highly efficient and easily filled the room. The problem was with the acoustics of the room, and the rig they employed could have been improved easily with the use of tube gear, but the distributor wanted to use his solid-state brand.

I peeked around the side of the AK7 and captured this photo of the two horns and crossover inside. Normally, this side would be against a wall in a corner.

The rig included another WiiM Ultra server sitting on top of the new Heritage Active Crossover that permits you to bi- or tri-amp either the AK7 or LaScala. Below that were the TEAC components, including a UD-701N USB DAC / Network Player ($4300 USD). Below the preamp were a trio of AP701 stereo amps ($4000, each) used to tri-amp the Klipschorns. The power conditioners used in all the rigs here were UltraPower HDC 150RM units that I'm not familiar with. The good news was that the current supplied was at 120 Volts, something that isn't always the case at shows.

Here's a look at the identical rig used to drive the Klipsch LaScala hornspeakrs. That was a TEAC PD-505T CD Transport ($1500 USD) that features an input for an external 10MHz clock and both coaxial and optical digital outputs. It does not feature the VRDS drive that TEAC is famous for, but rather a newly improved conventional design from a previous model. Still, for $1500, this looks like a very viable unit for someone needing to retain CD playback capability, particularly if they wish to upgrade sound quality with an external clock. If you want the VRDS drive system, you will have to wait for the Esoteric VRDS-701T CD Transport ($3000) as it is presently sold out, or spend a lot more money for an Esoteric model.

The Klipsch speakers drew a lot of attention during my visit. These guys were intrigued by the new crossovers, and they give you an idea of the size of the LaScala. It's not small, but it is designed to go up against a wall or be pulled out a bit, as was done here.

Here's a look at the binding posts of the crossovers that allow for the use of either the passive internal crossover or active bi- or tri-amplification. It would have been interesting to hear the Klipsch LaScala driven by vacuum tube amplification on the mids and highs, and solid state on the bass in this large room. Even just a single tube amplifier driving the entire speaker would have brought more life to the music.

The new speaker crossover and active crossover unit were designed in time for Klipsch's 75th Anniversary. It features a single knob for the midrange and high frequency horn drivers. As I recall, both the midrange and high-frequency horns are new, hence the new internal crossover design. Here, you have a close-up look at the TEAC PD-505T CD transport mentioned above.

I had the distinct pleasure to meet Roy Delgado, the man who has guided Klipsch since the passing of founder Paul Klipsch in 2002 at 98. I complimented him on the fine book-matched veneer work on the Klipschorn. It was through Ray's effort that Klipsch broke with tradition to upgrade the drivers and create an external crossover, allowing for fine-tuning the two speakers in different settings. We met again, two weeks later, at AXPONA 2025, where their presentation was limited to a much smaller suite on the 4th Floor, where they played both speakers in separate areas, synched together playing the same music so you could walk from one room to the other to compare. It sounded much better in Chicago, but I'll get into that story in my AXPONA report.

Pro-Ject, the turntable company from Europe, may rightly be praised for helping to bring back vinyl to the masses with their affordable, quality turntables. They make a huge variety of styles that range from affordable to aspirational for many. The X2B, which comes with both mini XLR and RCA outputs, allows you to use it with their (and other) balanced phono stage to help eliminate the RFI that is increasingly polluting our media environment. (Actually, our media environment is doing a lot of the polluting.)  Clean design and carbon fiber tonearms are hallmarks of Pro-Ject turntables, reducing the intimidation of the LP ritual. The X2B and its phono stage garnered an EISA award for the 2022-2023 year.

WiiM streamers and their other products were new to me, but word from others tells me they are very good as well as very reasonably priced. I'll be looking into these products from China, which are ultra-affordable, depending on tariffs.

Leaving the Bonaventure room at the end of the day, I encountered Isabeau Corriveau, whose harp playing stopped many people in the main corridor. She appears at numerous shows during the year, offering her music on both CD and LP.

Part5 Coming Soon!
Part 5 will continue with the Industry Banquet, which has been a welcome change to relax, feast, socialize, and dance with others in the industry. That will be followed by my adventures in the lower level, which features larger rooms and some of the best presentations at the show. Keep checking back.

---> Onward to Part  5 of Rick Becker's Montreal Audiofest 2025 show report.

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