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

1327  ASONA Ltd
I entered the small room of this suite to take photos since there was no one present, and no music was playing.

The small Heed integrated amplifier has earned my respect from live presentations of this brand from New Zealand at the Capital Audiofest. Their new website is under construction, but from what I've heard, this brand should be on your radar for reasonably priced gear.

On the left was a Cayin vacuum tube CD player with a 24-bit/192kHz USB DAC that should be a reasonably priced unit worthy of further investigation. (C5-1000?)

Sliding into the larger room of the suite, I found a rig that had not been completely set up. The Kerr Acoustic K320 speakers ($13k, $15k in special finish) were not connected. This was most unusual. I knew Richard Kohlrus must be running thin with two rooms and a large headphone display at the show. On Sunday, when I finally ran into him briefly, I learned one of his people had become sick, leaving him short-handed. I doubled back on Sunday and found a more complete rig, pictured above, but again, unattended, and no music was playing. The speakers shown were now the Italian Albedo floorstanders, and the electronics on the rack had mostly been changed from my visit on Saturday.

I've heard a couple of much larger speakers from Albedo at Capital Audiofest, where their rooms earned a Best Room award. The grey Achema 2.5-way speaker with ceramic drivers is their new entry-level model priced at $25k.

On the rack were now a Shanling CT 90 CD transport with Bluetooth ($1299), Heed Presis preamp ($4900), Heed Omega monoblocks ($4800), and a Cen Grand DSCAC 1.0 Deluxe ($7700).

I spotted this handwritten room list, which I've used to identify the models and prices listed above. Hopefully, I've been close to accurate. I have no doubt this should have been a very good-sounding room, assuming the speakers had been broken in.

Montreal Audiofest 2026 Show Report Part 2 Coming Soon
That's it for the first two hallways in the upper level. I'll be back with Part 2 and the remainder of the upper level in a few days. There will be a lot more to share over the next few weeks, so keep checking back between your listening sessions.

---> Onward to Part 2.

---> Back to the Montreal Audiofest 2026 show report homepage.