Canton owner's 'club' - Page 3

I own a older Canton Karat 5.1 Set, build in 2001, pair of Canton Karat M50 DC, CM7 DC as Speaker and Rears and a AS 300 SC Sub.
Still highly satisfied with the Karat speaker set.

At the moment i'm renovating my little Cinema-Room, so Rears will be back in place, when i'm finished with it.

I got the 501 Rears and they sound fantastic, I decided to stick with a 5.1 so I did not buy the 202's.

I will post pictures soon, I am running all Cantons with SVS 20-39 PC+ and SVS PC12 Plus subs.

Helo!

I hope i will get some information here.

I have a pair of canton digital 2 i think. I recive them as a gift from my godfather.He buy them some time ago.The problem is there is no label or something that writes what kind of model they are.In the back site is writen DIGITAL 2. Is this the model of the speakers?I have other soudn sistem now (genelec) and i want to sell this two speakers.Can anyone tell me how much they are worth?

I hope to get some info.


Cheers Dare

Hi any one here owns the Canton GLE 490 I'm on the market for new fronts and center I listen them at local dlr here in Houston and they sound great any thoughs?also are this speakers comparable to the B&W 683 witch one would be a better purchase.thanks
Ubaldo

I have two pair of 409 GLE and was fond enough of them to get the second pair after buying the Mythos STS towers. The GLE's sound much better to me. They have a more up front sound that sounds much better to me at lower volumes and still sounds great when louder. They are not expensive, but it is the sound I prefer. I have owned Kef 104 a,b's and Sonus Fabers after them. Those were destroyed in a fire. The 409's do it for me for my music and home theater.

Jordan

I found a new in the box pair of canton le-170 speakers for $399, with 5 year warranty from an authorized retailer... they're replacing pure junk speakers and will be used in my home theater with my newer marantz sr-5002. Anyone have any opinions on this set? I'm probably going to get them regardless, just curious what others thought...

I don't see how you could go wrong. I am running Canton Ergos with my Marantz receiver and I really love the sound. I always understood that the LE line has a lot in common with their Ergo line. Remember to set them up facing directly forward rather than toe-ing them in for best results. Actually I toe them in slightly. Enjoy!

Audition them first, but yeah, seems like a good deal. They used to sell for $900/pair or so.

So yeah, I am no audiophile by any means, mostly due to lack of $$ rather than lack of care, but I went ahead and picked em up, and the range of sound I'm hearing now is an immense difference from the junk I was using before. They were such poor speakers I won't even bore you with what they were.... My subwoofer, center and surrounds came from a sony package I picked up a couple years ago... the subwoofer is certainly powerful and jarring I can't imagine wanting much more than what this behemoth does, for fear of pissing off residents of China...

Anyways... one step at a time, so far I think my first two choices have been seriously solid. Get a decent receiver (marantz sr-5002) replace your **** front speakers (Canton Le-170's.) If anything... I can say I've made the jump from noob to amateur

I

I am happy to hear you are diggin' your new purchase. Enjoy!

I just received my GLE 403's and GLE 405 CC. I could not be happier and the price makes them sound even better Great looking speakers with good build quality. I have started to break them in with a little Credence, Dire Straits, and Prince. They have not missed a beat. The louder I crank them the better they sound. Low volume clarity sound great as well. Tonight I ran them with Punisher War Zone in Dolby True HD on Blu-Ray and they rocked. Glad to be a new member of the Canton owners club!

I just bought a pair of black Chrono 502's. I've been told they use the same drivers as the Ergo range but in the enclosures of the GLE range. The Chrono 502's replace my NHT Superzeros. I love my superzeros and if I had been able to find enough of them for 5.1 surround I would've been happy. They were just so good, they didn't go down past 75Hz but everything above that they did superbly.

While at the store I got to compare them directly to a pair of B&W CM1 and 685's and some other speakers. To be honest I don't like the B&W sound at all, I found it too muddy and lacking any life. I was expecting something more especially with all the hype about nautiles tube tweeters. While right away the sound of the Canton's caught me and it was just a matter of picking between the GLE or Chrono range.

At the time I had not read any reviews on them or even knew their price, I was judging my the sound alone. Initially I liked the GLE more, I thought the bass and mid range on both speakers were about the same, punchy and tight not muddy at all. After about 2 hours of switching back and forth from Chronos to GLE I found I liked the Chrono's sound better. The GLE were a little too bright for me and wouldn't suit my listening habits. When the dealer told me the price for the chrono's I was shocked, what a bargain! these speakers sounded like they should cost more.

I've never bought brand new speakers before so I've only ever heard about speaker break in and to be honest I was a little skeptical. I thought it was a placebo. So when I got home and started listening to some music I was so so disappointed, what happened to that tight bass? I know for a fact my room makes all speakers sound boomy especially when I put the speakers near a wall (which is where they are) I know exactly where in my favourite songs it happens too, coz it sounds different to how it does in my car/on ipod. But the bass was non existent, I have a sub but that's not the point... I felt cheated. I did an A-B test comparing the chronos to the superzeros and there was more bass on the superzeros. Now I was thinking maybe it's because the shop had acoustic treatment or was using a warm amp or even warm speaker cables lol. After thinking about it, I narrowed it down to either the speakers need to be broken in or the shop had hidden a sub somewhere (these possibilities made more sense).

After letting them break in for a couple of days, like magic... Let there be bass, and there was bass; and I heard the bass and it was boomy. Just as I expected. I think I'm going to stuff the ports. I really love the Chronos now, comparing them to the superzero's; I'd say there's more bass range and more detail in the high end on the Chrono's, not more treble but detail; for example: I can hear the extra detail especially in the amplification of electric guitars that fuzzy/clipping sound in the guitar amp when it's in overdrive. I'd say the overall balance of sound pretty much matches my superzero's. The extra detail makes listening to rock so enjoyable, oh well sometimes not too... electric guitars aren't always pleasing to the ear. Another good thing about these speakers is that the high end response doesn't drop off so much when your not in the optimal listening position like they did with my superzero's.

If I had to make a complaint about these speakers it would be that they didn't come in a piano black finish, I'm drooling over the high end models in piano black. I think if the Ergo's came in a piano finish I'd pay the extra money for them, wood veneer doesn't turn me on. And also I wish the grills attached magnetically like the B&W CM1.

Thanks for reading my thoughts. If your in the market for speakers, I'll strongly advise you listen to Canton, especially if you don't mind or like speakers that are slightly bright (Not Klipsch bright though).

You know what; I don't consider these speakers to be bright, not when you compare it to the instruments whose sound speakers are supposed to be reproduce. I have a friend who plays the drums, and when he hits the hi-hat or crash-cymbal it rings in your ears, I can actually hear my ears clipping the sound lol. And it sounds so harsh and metallicy exactly like how the Klipsch I've heard sounds. Now this is not how I want my music to sound but that's how the instruments sound... but what else do you expect when some guy is smacking an oversized saucepan with a stick?

Since I could not find Canton in any of my local sotes I could not audition them before purchase. So I purchased a pair of GLE 407 from Accessories4less. I auditioned B&W 684 and CM7 (replaces 700 series) and I liked it, but they were a little over my budget. Once I received my Cantons, I went out and took a pair of B&W 684 for a side to side test in my house. I paid about $700 for canton GLE 407 and B&W 684 were available for $1000 at my local store. So I connected both pairs to my newly purchased Marantz 6001 and ran some tests: Jazz, instrumental, rock, classic, havy metal. Well, initially I was not impressed with any of the speakers. Like previous reviewer I felt like the B&W sounded much better in the store, but I new nothong about how Cantons should sound. After reading some reviews and talking to the store sales guy, I understood that I need to give both speakers some time to break in. After 48 hours of continious looped Metallica CD , I felt like I can give the speakers another try. What a magicaal change. Canntons opened up and improved the low and mid ranges substantially. B&W also improved, but Cantons won overall. I felt like B&W were kind of muddy, and Cantons provided a detailed sound on the whole range. And canton's bass was enaugh for me to listen to my music without a sub. I can even say that I liked Canton 407 more or at least as much as much more expensive B&W CM7 I auditioned in the store (close to $2000 for a pair).

So the B&W went back to the store and I became another happy owner of the Canton GLE series: 407 fronts, I also added a pair of GLR 403 for the rears. I think GLE series present a tremendous value for the money.

Well just purchased the Canton's GLE 403's in Cherry. Going to order some new interconnects and speaker wire and use them in a two channel rig powered by a 200 watt per channel Rotel and Marantz SACD player. If after 50 hours of looped music they don't perform, they go back. Its just two bad you can't go to a local store to listen to gear. I almost pulled the trigger on a pair of Dynaudio 140....great little speaker, but decided to give these a try to save a little coin.

The Canton arrived today about 12:30 central time. Scanned over the manual and it said to let them break in about 15-20 hours. These speakers are true cherry wood with a great solid build. They have a little weight to them. The covers are metal and look outstanding. These are one pair of very handsome looking speakers. Most speakers give you the cloth grills, so its a change to have a metal grill that's not bad looking at all. they have soft dome silk tweets, and a metal mid/woofer that look outstanding. I hooked them up to the Rotel amp at 200 watts the Marantz SACD and Rotel CDP. I put a Elaine Elias CD in the Rotel and the speakers right out the box had a very large sound stage but the tweets where extreemly bright and I could tell it had a bottom end but it sounded muddy. I just never really liked the sound of the Rotel compaired to the warmth of the Marantz. So I load up the Marants with the CD and it was a little warmer than the Rotel but it still sound bright and muddy. I left the CD in the Marantz and looped it and came back about 4 hour later. WOW the brightness was about gone and the low end was smoother. I'm liking these speakers. Im going to let them play all night and then come back and give a report. Just cant understand why these speakers are not talked about much here in the States? From what I remember from the sound of the Dynaudio 140's, these speakers not fully broken end, are starting to sound clear and detailed like them. More to come later

The 304's are starting to open up more. These speakers are some of the clearest speakers I have ever heard at this price point. They are 14 inch book shelves. I had them positioned about 5 feet from the wall just to break them in, but now I have them about 1and half feet from the wall..,nice bass coming from the bottom end....You really dont need a sub with these speakers. canton recommends that you dont toe them in....they claim you get better sound stage, and man they where not kidding. One other thing I did discover. Becasue of the clarity of the 403's you will discover that you have many badly recorded CD's in your collection. I'm hearing some bad recordings that I never new they where bad with my Paradigm Monitor 7's v3 tower speakers. While the seperation is not as good as the Paradigms, but not bad.....the clarity is. More later.

After a few days of listening to the Canton 403's, I've decided that these are keepers. I've read the reviews on this thread about the Canton's as well as the pro reviews. And I just cant see how anybody can say that these speakers don't have sparkle as a few on this forum have suggested. These are $700 book shelves that I got discounted because they upgraded the soft dome tweets, so the 403's went out of production and came back the following year as the 430 model. Like I said the 430's have a new modified tweeter. But the 403's are a great speaker. It is no means a slouch.

I've listen to some great speakers over the years and I can tell you these are in the same class as your Dynaudio's, Dali's, Revel's, Paradigm's, B&W's, Monitor Audio's, Axioms' Aperion audio's and all the likes, and at a cheaper price. And they don't give you some cheap vinyl like some of the others at this price point. Theses are real wood...mine are cherry wood that look wonderful. They have a nice soft dome tweeter that did sound very bright before the break in period. But after the break in like all good speakers, they get primed for how they where engineered to sound. After I hooked them up to my Rotel Rb 1080 200 watt amp and RC 1090 control amp and RCC 1055 CDP and Marantz SACD, the speakers where not as warm as lead to believe. While they are in no way as bright as my Paradigms (which I would not say are bright at all) they are not as laid back as some say. They have a lively silk dome tweeter. I think they are a little bit more alive than the Dynaudio 140 tweeters if you ever had a chance to listen to those. The woofers where a little boomy, but they too settled down and became a nice bottom. They are ported in the rear and have a Frequency response of 38...30.000 Hz and crossed over at 3.000 Hz. And if you are using these in a two channel system as I am you can get by without a sub. The woofer/mid drivers are aluminum and look very distinctive, while the tweets are black soft dome. The face of the speaker is made to match the woofer...they are a nice looking speaker. They are not bi-wireable at this price point, but neither are Dynaudio 140's, or Aperion audio, and like the Dynaudio 140's Canton used better internal wiring claiming therefore bi-wiring is not needed at this price point.

THE Rotel seem to bring out the best in the way these speakers sound. They are rated at 140 watts and the instruction manual says to run power to them greater that 140 is recommended. I played a variety of music including jazz, and classical, and gospel. The highs are sweet, the mids great in a speaker of this size and the bottom end was nice and smooth...very surprising for a speaker of this size. Not as boomy as the Monitor Audio rs1, but still a nice bottom. Billy Higgins drums on the album "the Prophet speaks" by Milt Jackson are Cristal clear...you can hear every stroke as it was meant to sound...and that goes for the nice bass that John Clayton plays as well on that CD..you could hear his fingers slide across his stand up bass as he plucked each string. And Milt Jackson's vibraphone was just ringing through these speakers just as they would sound live.These are some of the clearest and most transparent speakers I have heard at this price point. And when I say transparent, I mean they will expose a bad recording...make you think something is wrong with your gear when its just a bad recording. Thats how transparent they are. Diana Kralls SACD The "look of love" is a wonder to hear through these speakers. Her voice is so clear as you hear her take a breath as the next beautiful note rolls from her lips. I mean these clear speakers reveal SACD as just that...a super and transparent sound field.

I am overall pleased with these little book shelves. They are 14 inches high, 7 and 1/2 inches wide and 10 inches deep. The tweeters are 1 inch silk dome and the mid-woofer is 7 inches aluminum. They have real wood in your choice of Cherry, Walnut, Beech, Mocca, Silver and Black ash They listed at $700 a pair before they upgraded the tweets and now you may find them at a local dealer or online at just under $400. Many of the pro reviews said they where a bargan at the $700 price tag, sounding like a speaker that cost much more...and I would have to agree. So if you are interested in a nice real wood book shelf speaker that transparent clear speaker that has great detail, put the Canton 403's or 430's on your list...you will be surprised.

I have a pair of Karat 920DC bookshelf speakers that I bought 15 years ago after a long, exhaustive search auditioning a *lot* of speakers. Can anyone suggest what model today would be equivalent? It looks like maybe an Ergo 602 or 603? (my memory is that the 920DC is 33Hz..33kHz and "passive distortion control")

What's the difference between the GLE and Ergo series?

What do you mean? The equivalent today of the Karat 920DC would be the Karat 720.

The Ergo is in a different price and class bracket that the GLE

frenchmon

These speakers are simply GREAT! I'v heard many a speakers in my time...Many of the popular boys...Dynaudio, Paradigm, B&W, PSB, Dali, Monitor Audio and many more and Id say Canton are just as wonderful and maybe better in SQ in like speakers in this class. I have the 403's being driven by Rotel RB 1080 amp and the RC-1090 Pre amp. These speakers are simply great. The speakers are so transparent with its soft dome tweeter that its not forgiving on bad recordings like my Paradigms. My paradigm towers are a great speaker, but listening to the Canton GLE 403's, its tweeter is more transparent. And it has very good bass extension for a book shelf speaker. Ive had them for about 10 days now and the detail and seperation has opened up more. Im useing balanced interconnects from monoprice, but will be upgrading in the near future to better cables. I have it set up in my basement for now, while I clean out a room for a dedicated two channel room. If you are in the need for a good speaker that's hand made with a very reasonable price tag that you would expect to be much more, then give Canton a try. Its a German made speaker thats made in Germany...built by hand, with real wood. These speakers need breakin time and use good quality gear with them....you wont be sorry.

frenchmon

I have 6 Canton CT-1000's

I would like to take 4 of them and make them my front L & R speakers.

Is there a proper way to do this or do I just wire them up and listen?

Using a Denon 4308 to drive them.

I got a pair of Canton LE102 in mint condition from Craigslist. The seller told me they sit in the basement for several years, and I probably need to break them in. I am so eager to have a listen, but have to wait for the Music Hall A25.2 Integrated Amp (used one snagged from Audiogon) to arrive this weekend.

I know LE102 is the entry level Canton, hopefully it wouldn't let me down.

Great...let us know what you think

Well, finally the speaker wire and banana plugs I ordered from monoprice arrived yesterday. It takes a whole week for UPS ground to ship from CA to IL. Anyway those speaker wires are very thick 12AWG quality copper, couldn't be more happier with them.

I use EMU0404 PCI sound card as the source, Music Hall A25.2 Integrated AMP to power the Canton LE102 speakers. They do sound very nice, very detail, neutral and well balanced sound. Before the Canton LE102, I used a pair of KRK RP6 active monitor speakers ($400 a pair) with the same EMU0404 as source, the Canton is obviously superior to KRK in almost every respect. Remember both of them have 1" tweeter and 6" woofer, Canton just has much better details, more transparent, and much larger soundstage (and instrument image). The only downside for Canton is that the bass part is not loud, hopefully with more time to break in, they will improve in this part.

I really enjoy listening music for hours after hours with this nice little system, it simply make me feel involved into the music playing. I do believe the Music Hall A25.2 amp also does a wonderful job here.

Karat and Ergo series are the next step for me.

I'm so happy I found this thread, since I have a hard time deciding on my new speakers. I'm about 99% sure about the fronts (Chrono 507), center (Chrono 505) and sub (Chrono 525SC). But I have a real problem finding the matching surrounds. The 502 is simply too big to hang on the walls, and the 501 has to be flat-mounted (as far as I can tell) but I need to surrounds the be mounted in a 45° angle.

So any suggestion is welcome! My receiver will be a Marantz SR6004, guess that's ok with these Cantons?

Not sure why I hadn't plugged "Canton" into the AVS search engine before today, but I did, and low-and-behold what do I find? A club in need of membership. Well, count me in!

I have been the proud owner of two ~20-year old pairs of Cantons; Ergo 90s and Karat 920s. I've had them for about 9 years now. My wife and I were just starting out when a family friend of hers that had moved out of the country needed to clear out the stuff she left in a storage space. She told us that we could take anything that we liked. As we were looking around, I took a step back to look up and bumped into what was behind me. Feeling that I moved it a bit, I turned around to see what I had disturbed and took the sheet off. It was love at first sight! (Don't tell my wife! ) I latched onto the Ergos and said to the storage manager, "She said we could take anything, right???" When I saw the Karats I was beside myself. Two systems! I was like a kid in a candy store.

I didn't truly know what I had found until I got them home and hooked them up. Woah! Granted, I was running some Jensen speakers that had come with a bookshelf system, but I could tell that it was not just because they were POSs that the Cantons sounded so good. I knew they were something special. Since I had no documentation on these, other than they were about 11 years old or so based on the dates on the Mitsubishi audio systems that we also brought home (assuming that they were all purchased at the same time), I turned to the web. I found Canton's page and was shocked at what the contemporaries were selling for. Holy $#!+... what a gift! Anyway, neither pair was even listed in the archive on their website. So, I called them up, and they sent me original manuals for the speakers, free of charge. What a great company!

When I first hooked the Ergos up I kept using a KLH center I already had. After testing out quite a bit of material, I decided to use them w/o center channel, and for several years I didn't feel like I was missing a thing. I finally got a decent center and wired in the Karats as rears so that I could have surround, but I still find myself reverting to 2.0 every once in a while since there is just something about letting the Ergos shine in all their glory.

Recently, I purchased the Onkyo TX-SR607. After running Audyssey, the 607 has breathed new life into my Cantons. I knew they were good, but never knew they could sound this good! I am even more pleased with them now than ever. I know I was kind of "wasting" my Karats by relegating them to rears (esp. since my old AVR was only Pro Logic and it did not use them much), but with the 607 in All Channel Stereo mode, the music is truly all around me. I am glad they are finally getting some good use.

Now, whenever somebody asks me for speaker recommendations, if they have the budget, I tell to take a look at Cantons. After all, while I have a far cry from a Home Theater, they make my Home Movie Viewing Room what it is. Without them, it would just be a run-of-the-mill family room with a nice TV. Granted, I have had zero experience with any other decent brands (aside from the occassional wandering into speaker rooms at electronics stores, which I realize aren't truly the best places to audition speakers), but I feel that these are some of the best sounding, and best looking, that I have heard/seen. When I get the budget, and the requisite WAF, I would love to complete the set with an Ergo center and sub. Now that I mention it, I would love to get some Ergo rears, too, then I can take the Karats to the bedroom and replace those Jensens that are still hanging around. For now, I am going to audition an Energy ESW-8 sub I got from Costco (for 100 +tax)... it sounds kind of funny to say that, Canton towers with an Energy sub. Like having a side of fries with your steak. We'll see how it goes!

VSP

Oh, I forgot to mention... Vlasto & Nuance, it is nice to see some other DT fans around here!

"Let the light surround you!"