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

M3  KIN By Totem Acoustic
Totem Acoustic, in Montreal, goes back as far as I can remember at the Montreal show. They don't shoot for the moon, but rather produce solid, high-quality models with more mass appeal, which has made them very successful. The Torrent driver was designed by Vince Bruzzese, and variations are used in several of their models. They went with a modest stereo rig here with a turntable, Aurender streamer, Manley Labs phono stage, and a rare Totem-designed integrated amp. Many times, they will present an impressive home theater display.

I actually dropped down to the lower level late on Saturday to catch a shot of Vince, seen here one-on-one with a customer. The huge graphics have been a trademark of their presentation and started the trend many years ago. No doubt they have helped build the brand.

Vince sensed my presence and glanced my way. Always good to see him.

On the wall outside their room, Totel had a display of their lifestyle KIN speakers that includes both active and passive models.

M4  True North Distribution
True North Distribution is a new player in the Canadian market following its recent launch as a joint venture between U.S. based Fidelity Imports and Canadian-based Playback Distribution. Between them, they have an amazing array of brands, but their presentation in Montreal 4 was less than convincing, most likely because of the newness of the venture. Frédéric Pinsonneault has been named National Sales Director. If this company can get organized, its future presentations should fall in the "must see" category at Montreal and Toronto.

Perlisten speakers were paired with a rack full of Esoteric components with an Avid turntable on top.

Here's a better look at the electronics.

In this rig, the PMC Prophecy 9 speaker ($16k), introduced a year ago, was driven by a Java Acoustics integrated amp, and supplemented with a pair of Velodyne subwoofers. Some Silent Angel gear was also in the rack. Unfortunately, the systems were set up along the walls on the periphery of the room, which was not optimal for displaying the systems.

Vienna Acoustic is a fine line that I've admired over the years.

Their mid-woofer drivers feature a unique driver with a flat cone.

Samples of Vicoustic room treatments were seen at a couple of places in this very large room. True North has a lot of very fine gear for distribution, so hopefully they will be more organized at the Toronto show this fall and here in Montreal next year.

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