@zeusodin,
Thanks for the question.This is going to be a long post so I hope you don't mind. First of all speakers, in my opinion, represents the heart of a true audiophile system. Almost everyone on this forum believes that their current speaker is the best they ever owned until their next set of speakers.
I have had my share of speakers after 40 years in this hobby of our. My two favorites are the Lenehan SR2 bookshelf monitors. The do everything right especially reproducing bass and anything below 45hz. Original cost $4k but I bought them used. I still owned them.
My favorite speaker were a pair of Salk HT3 full range with ribbon tweeters which I owned for 5 years. Overall one of the finest speakers you could own. The Salk Community over at Audiocircle.com is a strong community and Salk has won high praise from the Audio world. I paid $3k used for them and sold them for the same amount 5 years. Great value and hold their price.
Recently my wife and I purchase a new home and I decided to get back into audio. First up was to purchase a new set of speakers. The criteria had to be a full-range speaker, capable of going down to 25hz, play at loud and at soft level. Being able to play anything from Jazz to Classical to Elton John. Needed to convey a sense of realism all while staying under my budget of $4k.
Lastly, for me, unlike other audiophiles, I was looking for my last speaker at least for the next 5 to 10 years like the Salk so resell was not a big concern. You will be surprised how many people won't buy a speaker they really like because of resell value
So naturally I am thinking used. Maybe another pair of Salk, Vandersteen, Von Schweikert, Focal, Talon, and Dynaudio, to name a few. The problem was going to be able to hear them and then what would the cost to ship large speakers to my home. The shipping would reduce my budget by several hundreds dollars if the speakers weigh as much as I thought.
So I had to rely mostly on review of speakers in magazines and forums such as Audiogon and others. After researching for several months I came across a review of the Canton Reference 3.2 DC Speakers in Stereophile Magazine. Basically they loved the speakers, rated them a Class A, and thought they represented real value and were worth the $16K asking price.
$16k was 4 times my budget but then I found Accessories for less that had them listed for under $6K, shipped and no taxes. So I did more research but there was limited information available.
So I email the people at A4L and asked about the speakers. They had two models listed, the Reference 3.2 DC at $6k and the Reference 3 DC at $4k. I asked what was the difference beside price and they said the tweeter and that the 3 DC was the older model, Obviously they highly recommend these hand made German Brand speakers. He offered me a deal of $3.5 shipped for the Reference 3 DC shipped and I purchased them.
Before the speakers came I keep hearing in the back of my mind you just spent almost $4k for a speaker you haven't heard, relied on a speaker magazine and what would it cost to send them back if you didn't like them?
Well on day one I was pleasantly surprised by the quality, the build, the finishes. These beast weight 108 pound each. But then the sound hit me and even on Day 1, I knew this was not going back and I had discovered what many audiophiles were looking for in a reference speaker: imagining, soundstage, midrange, the ability to reproduce the sound of a piano, vocals, the ability to go low without a subwoofer. The Canton has all of those qualities. I believe I hit the jackpot even better than my Salks.
Finally, what is the audiophile value on a rating of 1 to 10, for me 9+ maybe even a 10 compared to what I have listen to. For $4k shipped, no taxes, 5 year warranty I personally believe these represent a phenomenal value.
The only con: very limited USA dealership, potential resell value, and the cost of shipping. I believe this things are the reason the price is so low.
In my opinion you won't find a better value for a Reference Audiophile Type of Speaker even used under $6k plus shipping. $16k when Stereophile reviewed them versus $4k to buy them new today. Highly recommended!
Peace,
revrob
