Part 1 — 1200 & 1300 Hallways: Montreal Audiofest 2026 Show Tour And Sound Impressions
Exhibitor room and gear reviews, technical observations, and practical notes for serious listeners and music lovers.
Montreal Audiofest Show Report By Rick Becker

1307  Erikson Consumer
With a bit of wandering, the hallway turned left into the 1300 rooms, where I came upon Erikson Consumer, one of Canada's largest distributors of audio and electronics, primarily popular brands with broad appeal. Flanked by a pair of JBL monitors and floorstanders were two racks.

On the left were Chord products from England, and on the right were a set of components from Arcam. Models, prices, and individual photos of the components were nicely displayed on small posters on the wall, so I'll let them speak to you.

1312  Buchardt Audio, Cables Crescendo, And Heaven 11 Audio
Sliding from a mass market presentation to the boutique room here was a breath of fresh air, and the music was much more enjoyable. The Billie11 hybrid tube/Class D integrated amp can be ordered with some limited options, which you can explore on your own. Music on Qobuz was streamed from an iPad—nothing fancy here, but enjoyable, nonetheless.

If you thought the Buchardt speaker had a Danish-modern look about it, you'd be right. This is from a boutique Danish manufacturer with access to cutting-edge technology to design its speakers. They seem to have only a couple of models, but they are worth investigating. I noted the finger-joint construction with solid wood, and the mid-woofer driver with the wrinkled surround. I've heard numerous speakers with drivers with this type of surround, and they've all sounded very good. The styling is contemporary and should last a lifetime.

The amp is minimalist with protruding tubes on the input stage and a touch of Danish modern with its wood knobs. I found it attractive when I first spotted it years ago, and I still do today. It is a niche product, but it fits a pretty common niche at an attractive price point. And in my own experience reviewing Class D amps, I find that using tubes in the preamp, as was done here, always works best.

Itai Azerad, the man behind Billie11, grabbed my attention as I entered the show and introduced himself. I shared that I had been watching his company evolve since its inception and appreciated what he is doing. Indeed, again this year, he had a very fine presentation.

1316  IsoAcoustics
In the IsoAcoustics room, it was the same old with the same new this time. They've been running a demo of identical speakers, with and without their now-famous Gaia aftermarket footers, for years now. But in the most recent shows, they've introduced the new Gaia Neo model, which I recently reviewed. These are a great aftermarket add-on and potentially can save you thousands of dollars if you've been thinking you need to upgrade your speakers. Moreover, by changing the threaded inserts, they can easily be transferred to new speakers if you decide to go that route.

Their technology has been so successful that it has now been incorporated as an OEM footer specifically designed for numerous major speaker manufacturers. We will see an example of this in the Gershman room on the lower level at the end of my report.

Product comparisons like this, or for cables or power conditioners, are a great learning experience that can help you spend wisely in this expensive hobby.

At the back of the room was a table full of other products designed for subwoofers, desktop speakers, and sliders for use on carpeted floors.

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