The New Tenor
The city and Jazz Festival were a wonderful diversion but the real purpose of the trip was to tour the Tenor facility and meet its principals. My goals for this Tenor visit were to get a complete understanding of the 350M: its design, operation and of course, quality and reliability. Secondly, I wanted to understand what happened to the old company. With lots of internet speculation and rumor, I assumed that there might be an interesting story to tell. Finally, what about the new Tenor? Was this just another shoestring audiophile company which could conceivably follow the same fate as its predecessor - or something more?


Let's deal with the amp first. No need to equivocate, the Tenor 350M is the finest amplifier I've ever heard in my life. After two years and $1,000,000 in R&D, it's not just a warmed-over version of the old 300s but new from the ground up although visually, the exterior design is shared with their predecessors. As to the details and if you're curious about what $90,000 buys in an amplifiers in terms of design, sound, reliability and protection, you're going to have to read my complete review. It's a pretty compelling story of a company's passion, from the theoretical through manufacturing down to and including the smallest screws and washers. Yes, there is actually a discussion of screws and washers. If you're a person who reads the last chapter first and wants the bottom line, here it is: the 350s are by far the finest electronic amplifying devices I've ever heard. Period.


As to the company, I really didn't know what to expect - a single designer working in a basement or a more robust operation? What of the business structure? Company names and trademarks are often sold at bankruptcy just as any other asset. Was this simply Tenor Audio in name only? What of the intellectual property of the amplifier itself? A company struggling out of bankruptcy could have just as easily tweaked and modified their original hybrid, slapped on their name and served it up as some acceptable but old technology just rebadged. And finally, was the new management the status quo or did the company undergo some fundamental changes in order to guarantee its long-term success? Happily, the answers were all very positive.


The new ownership, led by President Jim Fairhead, is apparently a well-funded, passionate audiophile group with enough cumulative business experience to manage a company 100 times the size of Tenor today - or even a Tenor of the near future. Unless the owners group invested as a lark for the sheer vanity of owning an audiophile company -- which I highly doubt -- they have all the management expertise needed to build Tenor Audio into a major player. Business management, financial, engineering, physics, communications, testing and industrial management skills are all covered by the new ownership group. There is a lot of raw business firepower here for a small audiophile startup company. It should be fascinating to watch and see how this plays out.


Tenor tour and the grand unveiling
The Tenor facility is actually spread out over three locations:
  • An assembly facility located on the outskirts of Montréal serves as the heart of Tenor. The visit began here with meeting Jean-Pierre, who painstakingly assembles, tests and calibrates each amp in this neat and orderly facility located in an old RCA plant.
  • A research and development laboratory, where Michel Vanden Broeck seemingly toils in peace removed from the day-to-day operations, business concerns and production matters.
  • Finally, the primary listening room is a Rives design, ultra high-end listening roo located in the home of Martin Labrecque, one of Tenor's new owners.

After spending a rather intense first day absorbing the design and theory of the 350s, I eagerly awaited a first listen which came later that evening in Martin Labrecque's elegant suburban home. His custom Rives-designed listening room was among the most neutral and quietest rooms in my experience. Probably the lead-lined doors had something to do with the quiet but whatever the reason, the room presented a deep presence to the sound. Martin's room had a solid list of high-end equipment.


  • Tenor 350M amps
  • Dunlavy Signature 5s Speakers
  • Prototype preamp from Michel Vanden Broeck
  • Musical Life Basic 80 turntable with Conductor tonearm
  • Benz Ruby2 cartridge
  • Cardas Golden Cross power, interconnect and speaker cables
  • Magnum Dynalab MD 100 tuner
  • Denon 3910 digital player
  • Balanced-Power using custom transformers, configuration and grounding

What a night - hours of stunning musical presentation all with very familiar vinyl. Even with speakers that were the weakest part of the system, the sound was mesmerizing and vivid.


We trudged out at a midnight. Having listened to many of my go-to records -- those where you know every single note -- it was a superb beginning and indication that there was something special going on.


Coup de foudre
Following another day of touring, exploration, art, history and discussion, we convened at Coup de foudre, Montréal's high-end audio emporium. The name translates literally as a lightning strike or lightning bolt. But the name apparently conveys the deeper meaning of a pure, intense, almost mystical notion of falling in love or love at first sight.


With co-owner Graeme Humfrey and Tenor management, we prepared for the formal unveiling of the Tenors in a reference system. The store moniker seems to fit Graeme, a passionate recording engineer and knowledgeable audiophile. Also, he is somewhat of an unusual 'character'. Although no doubt an astute businessman, he is obviously first and foremost a music lover. Decrying the corporate nature of the business, which at times overshadows the music, but displaying a collection of equipment that is certainly the crème de la crème, he offers some real premiere brands such as Wilson, Avalon, Tenor, Rockport and dcS. As a vinyl freak, it was also great to see turntables displayed in the store windows visible to passers-by from the sidewalk.


I anticipated that this would be a lot of fun and it was. The store's system was very close to my own reference, Wilson Alexandrias, VTL preamp, Transparent interconnect and of course, vinyl. Although the Brinkman table didn't quite match the performance of my Walker (what does?), the system certainly offered an excellent starting point of comparison to see what the Tenors bring to the sonic table.


Yes, the Tenors were driving a truly world-class system, and with my playlist ready to go, the Tenor management team assembled and the store closed, we settled in for a great listening evening and prepared for what was the grand unveiling of the Tenor amps. They did not disappoint.


The Tenors proceeded to strut their stuff, clearly displaying their core attributes. Power, authority, soundstaging and musicality were all easily definable. Only one minor glitch marred the presentation. The bass was so strong that either the room or the turntable was overloaded, causing some loss of low-end definition. I suspected the suspension-less Brinkman to be the culprit. Yet by the end of the evening, there was no doubt that these amps were something special. I heard new detail and nuance from very familiar records. I was left with three pronounced descriptors: detail, seamlessness and musicality. In this otherwise known system, I attributed these qualities to the Tenors.
Michel to left.