Toronto Audiofest 2025: Complete Show Coverage, Biggest Gear Reveals, And Best Demos
What happened, what to buy, special highlights, plus our best audiophile gear picks!
Toronto Audiofest 2025 Show Report By Rick Becker

Sound United
The room was packed with people the first time I visited, and the sound was unimpressive. When I returned on my sweep, the room was empty, and the music was much more alive with greater air. That was the Marantz SACD 10, also in Champagne finish on the counter on the right.

I find the upscale Marantz series to be especially attractive in the Champagne finish. An Audioquest Niagara 3000 power conditioner was on the lower shelf.

Bowers & Wilkins had samples of various finishes they offer on a couple of their speaker series. Some colors were specific to only one series.

Sound United

Marantz and B&W always draw a crowd at shows on the strength of their brand.

HARMAN International ("HARMAN"), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., recently acquired Sound United, which is comprised of Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Marantz, Definitive Technology, Polk Audio, HEOS, Classé, and Boston Acoustics.

Not seeing any Classé products, I asked about the continuation of the line, given that Sound United has been sold to Harman recently. A representative said Sound United will remain a separate entity with the staff remaining intact, and the Classé company will remain intact within Sound United. There is a lot of corporate wisdom under Samsung umbrella, so hopefully these fine lines will all prosper.

Allison Kulba (left), and Rose Guzzo, both of Sound United, were tending the B&W headphone table.

Sound United

This Marantz Grand Horizon wireless powered speaker system, with Apple AirPlay 2, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and HEOS Built-in, fascinated me when I first saw it at Montreal earlier this year. I finally got to hear it. Like room 337, it was crowded when I first visited, and it sounded good, but not particularly stereophonic. When I returned on my sweep, the room was empty, the sound quality had improved, and it was considerably more three-dimensional, but not close to what you could call "pinpoint imaging." I'd call it quality sound for entertaining at parties, and the design will fit a wide variety of upscale décor without looking like audio gear. It's available in Champagne, Midnight Sky, and Moon Ray, all at $5,500 USD.

This photo of a page in their brochure reveals the complement of drivers inside. The standard Horizon is the smaller version shown above with the available stand.

Toronto Home Of Audiophiles Ltd.

Any room with a Gershman speaker is likely within the Top Tier of rooms at any show, and this room was no exception.

I'll let you sort out the very fine components in this rig from the price list below.

Apparently, they were driving the Grand Avant Garde 30th Anniversary speakers with different Pass amps using different speaker cables at various times during the show. The massive triple run twisted cable not in use was the Gutwire Consumate speaker cable, $23,759 (10'), which is more than the cost of the speakers. The Gutwire Synchrony Cube seems to have been the other cable at $5k (12').

Aftermarket footers have been commonplace for decades, but lately I've caught wind of a number of spring-loaded versions (some of them DIY). These appear to be from SolidTech.

---> Next Page.