Wynn Audio’s Grand Opening in Toronto

Wynn Audio’s Grand Opening in Toronto by Richard H. Mak

Toronto’s audio world has a new player in town, and he comes with a lavish reputation which precedes him. Known for his exquisite style and taste, Wynn Wong, President of Wynn Audio draws a lot of attention wherever he goes.   
Just one week ago, Wynn Audio wows the Toronto Consumer Electronics Show (TAVES) with a One Million dollar system, drawing attention from the visiting public as well as industry players. On November 5, 2016, Wynn invited me to his store’s grand opening event. Once again the experience is like a page taken out of the Robb Report. If he didn’t tell you Wynn is his first name, you could have easily mistaken the store as one of Steve Wynn’s projects.
Talking to Wynn Wong is always an enjoyable experience, with his big smile and easy going attitude, he is a breath of fresh air in the old-fashioned Toronto audio industry. With Wynn, it is not just about making a sale on his equipment, he carries in him a lifestyle in which audio equipment is but one of the essential part of the Bohemian equation. His bespoke tailoring model carries brand names which are not run of the mill products for the masses, he caters specifically to the ultra high end with names such as Goldmund, Tidal Audio, ZenSati, and Reimyo to name a few, all of which seem share one commonality: 6 digit price tags.

Wynn’s all new show room is located at 20 Wertheim Court, hidden away behind an inconspicuous front entrance with a very small sign and a tiny doorbell. It reminds me of the Fine Wine Reserve in Toronto, almost as if the front is purposely dressed down to not draw attention to the good stuff inside. As I walked into the store, a tall gentleman with a nice suit and tie handed me a crystal glass of champagne, but of course it is not just any champagne, it is Veuve Clicquot, which he offered to every patron of the event which numbered over 100 by the day’s end.      

The pastries he served is from Nadège Patisserie, one of Toronto’s finest. Just as fantastic, is the Summberbird Økologisk chokolade liquorice (chocolate and liquorice) and the Peter Beier Chokolade, the latter unfortunately is still not available outside of Denmark.
But Wynn’s opulence is extended not just to his customers, every one of visiting suppliers get invited to a private dinner at the Harbour Sixty Steakhouse. I need not to guess who footed the bill, because Wynn does not follow the traditional “seller treats the buyer equation”, with Wynn I already know the answer.
The showroom is nicely decorated with marble floors and an open bar. There are two listening rooms, both of which have high quality Jatoba hardwood floors. As I walked into the first and the smaller of the two rooms, music was coming from a Reimyo system driving a pair of Combak Corporation’s ENCORE ENC-5 speakers. These speakers are designed by Kaxuo Kiuchi San of Reimyo and carries a price tag of CAD8,000.
What drew the most attention, however, is the main show room which measures 17′ x 23′, with a 11 ft. ceiling, the room made the Tidal Sunray speakers looked small. Mark Johansen of ZenSati Cables, was engaging the audience with background stories to the tunes which he was playing. He played a track with bells on the background which the audience all thought were coming from real bells, when in fact they were all electronic bells.   
The system consists of a Goldmund Eidos 17 Universal Player  CAD17,799, a Reimyo DAP-999EX Ltd D/A Convertor CAD12,500,a TIDAL Presencio Preamp/Phono CAD92,000,a Goldmund Telos 1000+ Monoblock CAD147,998, and a TIDAL Contriva G2 loudspeakers CAD65,000.
The ZenSati cables grabbed everyone’s attention, as they are almost jewelry like. The price tags on them also resemble jewelries in a Tiffany store. To give you an idea, the Seraphim Speaker Cable 2.5M is priced at CAD46000, the Seraphim 1M XLR interconnect is CAD17000, and the 1.5M Seraphim Power Cord cost CAD25500. Display samples are lavishly laid out on the table.   I almost had the urge of putting up my hand to ask for permission before touching them.
   
I have had the privilege of listening to the Tidal Contriva G2 loudspeaker in my own listening a few months earlier, and I drove them with my McIntosh MC2KWs. Despite the prodigious power, I did not find them to be a good match as the G2s seems to like amplifiers with a faster transient response. With the Goldmund, they seem come alive and with a much better tonal balance. According to Wynn, the diamond tweeters and ceramic woofers employed in the Tidal’s tend to work with amplifiers with high damping power, ie. Goldmund’s or Tidal’s very own amplifiers.
Make no mistake about it, beautiful tonality was coming through the speakers. The overall sound of the system is fast and clean but with a touch of warmth. Bass was adequate and there did not seem to be any room acoustic issues. The vocal image seem to be larger than real life, but that’s mainly because of the speaker positioning which can be easily fixed by repositioning them.   
As to the sound of the ZenSati cables, I really cannot say much because I don’t know how much of the sound can be attributed to the cables, or other components.   
Wynn Wong has opened a new segment in Toronto’s high end market. Giving away too much detail may take away the excitement of your initial visit. If you want to find out what very expensive equipment sound like, make an appointment with Wynn Wong as his showroom operates Store Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 1:00pm to 7:00pm, Sunday and Monday by appointment only. appointment only. For sure you will enjoy the equipment as well as the pleasure of his company. Be forewarned, you just may walk out with a much slimmer piggy bank.
Richard H. Mak – Senior Analog Contributing writer