Blissed out and dialed in at Toronto Audiofest 2026
Robert Schryer Oct 26, 2026
Part of the show report is below: Full report can be found here: https://www.stereophile.com/content/blissed-out-and-dialed-toronto-audiofest-2026
That store, mono/stéréo, featured a system at the show comprising a string-drive (technically belt-drive, but with a string!) CS Port LFT1M2 turntable ($48,100), fitted with an André Thériault Black Beauty tonearm ($15,000) and Aidas Cartridges Tru-Stone Violet Gold cartridge ($12,000), a step-up transformer, and various Luna Cables cabling, a CS Port C3EQM2 phono preamp ($19,100), a 30Wpc Riviera Audio Laboratories Levante integrated amplifier ($35,000), and a pair Jean Maurer JM 320E speakers ($35,000/pair), whose woofers protrude from the baffles to help achieve time coherence. The system also included Box Furniture Heritage HD3S component stands ($8750) and Coga Audio vibration-control accessories.
Regarding that CS Port ‘table, Danny explained that a string drive is said to create less friction and transfers less energy than a belt drive, resulting in lower noise. He also said that its platter rotates with greater speed accuracy than any other turntable he has measured.
On a recent reissue of Sonny Rollins’s classic 1956 Prestige LP Saxophone Colossus, Sonny’s sax sounded ample and thick-toned, conveying a sense of air propulsion and an almost viscous continuity from note to note that felt lifelike. Double-bass notes sounded acutely finger-propelled, with marvelous dynamic contrasts and richly rendered string textures, while drum hits delivered impact and a vivid sense of the materials being struck.
There was also a remarkable sense of tonal rightness, as if every note across the frequency range were ideally balanced and perfectly pitched.
It was wonderful.
