Part 4 — Lower Level, Left (St. Laurent & Outremont Rooms) At The Montreal Audiofest 2026 Show
A deep dive into the Montreal Audiofest 2026, featuring early-morning impressions, high-end audio's latest innovations, audiophile solutions, and standout demonstrations.
Montreal Audiofest Show Report By Rick Becker

Part 1:  1200 And 1300 Hallways

Part 2:  2300 And 2400 Hallways

Part 3:  Industry Gala Banquet

This Is Part 4: Lower Level, And Left (St. Laurent / Outremont Rooms)

Coming Soon
Part 5:  Lower Level, And Right (Westmount / Montreal Rooms)

Part 6:  Best Rooms And Honorable Mentions

  The weather at Montreal Audiofest is nowhere near as bad as the early years when it was held earlier in the year at the Delta Hotel. Still, it was not surprising to find a coating of snow on the city on Sunday morning.

The snow surrounding the pool and the fog above the heated pool make for an enchanting early morning dip. I was hoping this would be the year I'd risk going for a swim, but the need to stay on schedule and get my work done prevailed.

Arriving at the hotel restaurant early, finding empty tables, and being seated immediately put me at ease.

Charles Kirmuss, the Doctor of Groove, joined me for a glass of orange juice. I had studied his website before coming to the show, and we had an interesting conversation about his record rejuvenating technology. When I see him at his booth, I rarely have time to engage with him, so this was a treat. Montreal is his hometown, so he always makes this show. He's a big fan of Anne Bisson, who is also from Montreal.

I had to seek out the food delivery robot I had seen last year. It is so cute with its blinking eyes. It was still so early that the garçon de café had to direct me to its charging station. This explains why there are ramps beside most of the stairways throughout the hotel's sleeping corridors. Still, I wonder how they keep the coffee from spilling.

After downloading my luggage to my car in the bowels of the building, I returned to the hotel and descended to the NiveauInferieur, where the large conference rooms and smaller meeting rooms are found. At the bottom of the escalator was the large, open Rega booth.

WK1  Rega Research And Stereo Group
The retired members of the Team Rega hockey team were seen in their jerseys, enlightening visitors about their turntables and other products. This was a busy spot every time I passed by.

The newest generation of Rega tonearms was on display in a case.

Having been a big fan of wall-mounting turntables since my early days as an audiophile, this display of the new, revised Rega mount for RP1 through RP6 models caught my eye. It is designed to coordinate with the three contact points of their turntables. Adjustable screws on the lower horizontal bar, where it meets the wall, allow for leveling the mount, hence the turntable. My only apprehension would be the distance between the two mounting screws, which doesn't appear to be the conventional 18" center-to-center distance of wall studs in American homes. In my experience, wall mounting the turntable eliminated skipping grooves from footfalls and significantly lowered the noise floor of the music, making it a very high-value upgrade.

The Rega flagship Naia turntable was parked next to their Solis integrated amp ($14k), which is a very handsome unit in this price range.

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