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

MK3  Atelier Canopee
Canopee equipment racks, with their trademark parallel inset stripes across the top front of each shelf, are frequently seen in rooms at the Canadian shows. They are a delightful design that won't break the bank, and they add the touch of warmth that wood often brings to an electronic environment. I caught Frederick Servant tending his space during a quiet moment.

M7  Evolution Home Corporation
I tweaked the photo so you could see what was going on in this room. That's a cutaway of the monster SVS PB17-Ultra R|Evolution ported sub ($3k USD, each), their flagship model. At AXPONA, they will introduce a new Compact 3000 R|Evolution model for people with less space to spare.

The entire speaker ensemble for this home theater presentation totaled only $15k (without the electronics and cabling), and it was pretty impressive, though not the intimate presentation I've seen at other shows in smaller rooms. I'm sure this would scale down nicely in more typical residences. Note the unique arrangement to elevate the surround speakers.

At the back of the room was a stack of most of their sealed models, preferred by audiophiles. SVS, IsoAcoustics, Stack Audio, and others make isolation devices specifically for subs that improve performance and limit some of the nuisance for your neighbors. Evolution Home Corp., based in Concord, Ontario, near Toronto, is a distribution company in the Custom Integration (CI) industry with reps serving all of Canada.

M8  Bliss Acoustics
Bliss Acoustics in Ottawa has quickly established itself as a major retailer with outstanding presentations at the Canadian shows over the past few years. It was no different at Montreal, again. Most surprising was the modestly sized Jovita speakers from Kroma Atelier ($65.5k), which filled the room with beautiful music as well as I've heard their much larger models, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, in rooms of this scale at Capital Audiofest.

The presentation of electronics was simplified, though no less outstanding than previous shows. This was all top-shelf gear.

That was the Aires Cerat DAC on the top left, with a separate power supply on the bottom shelf, and a J. Sikora Reference turntable on the right.

A Tedeska Tielke MC phono cartridge from Germany was something new to me.

The Gryphon stereo amp was impressive looking.

A Gryphon power distribution unit was around back, but I was reluctant to climb over the $10k (at least) Argento power cables to find it. An Argento power distribution box was the one with "AG" on it, and lots of power cables plugged into it. Argento cables use solid silver conductors, which makes them quite pricey.

The price list will cause many to skip on to the next room, but it was a treat to hear this first-class gear in person, to experience what's possible.

Dragan Reljic has no fear of marketing gear in this price range. "Tin Pan Alley" was as good as it gets in this room.

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