CANTON Vento Reference 3 DC vs. the 3.2 Model

@revrob , thanks for the long post. I wish it were longer! Lol

It seems that Accessories4Less.com has quite a bit of latitude when it comes to lowering the price of these speakers. The lone review of the 3.2 DC says the buyer paid $4600 instead of the listed $6k price and that included the $1k center channel speaker! You paid $3500 instead of the $4k listed price. Great deals all abound.

I don't expect to sell the speakers soon or ... ever but it does give me pause that there seems to be absolutely no secondary market for these speakers. Poo happens right? I try to prepare for the worst.

I don't mind the shipping costs because I am considering other ~100 lb speakers. My first choice is the Legacy Audio Signature SE, used of course, for ~$4500. They are 106 lbs, 148 lbs shipped.

I really want to obtain cross sectional diagrams and schematics for the speakers. Canton seems to use exceptional drivers. I'm just being paranoid. If A4L extends the $4600 deal to me I think I have NO choice but to pull the trigger. Would you mind posting pictures or if that is not de rigueur PM'ing them to me? 

Thank you so much.

@zeusodin
I just missed out on the free center channel for $3800 shipped, the reason being that there were only a free of the Canton 50.2 center speakers left so that deal was off the table or else I would have purchased all 3 together. 

Just looking at my invoice I was charged $3,399.98 shipped. I also noticed about 1 week after I made my purchase that they had raised the price on their website of the Reference 3 DC from $1899.99 to the current price of $1999.99 each. 

Below is the email I received from Mark at A4L. I don't believe you can get the center channel included anymore but it is worth a try. 

Good luck

From A4L:

"Hi Steve,

The reference 3 is the previous version of the reference 3.2. The only difference is the tweeter (3.2 has ceramic tweeter).

 The model is no longer listed on the site as it’s discontinued.

Regards

Mark Sabbarese

Accessories4less.com

M-F 9am to 5:30pm EST

Direct 407-329-3245

407-859-3335 / 800-657-0195"

I also owned the Legacy Classic more than 20 years ago but the Salk and Cantons are much better speakers. However Legacy does make a high quality speaker.

Good luck.

I finally purchased these speakers as well this week. I purchased the Canton Vento Reference 3 DC and the Vento 866.2 center channel. They arrived yesterday and and I connected them expeditiously. They are absolutely amazing straight out of the box. I am very thrilled and extremely thankful that I came across these posts. I was concerned because there is definitely a dearth of good information on these speakers.

On a down note, I contacted Canton to determine the differences between the 3 DC and the 3.2 DC. The short answer is NOTHING! There is absolutely no difference between them. So A4L / Canton is using a Stereophile review of the 3.2 to price the speakers at $6k. They are then taking the same speakers and branding it 3, linking to the same Stereophile review of the 3.2s. Of course, the obvious question is How are they different?

This alone leans towards fraud, misrepresentation, and false advertising. Maybe borderline. Borderline. Crosses the borderline. However, when they blatantly advertise on the A4L web site that the 3 has the tungsten / manganese tweeter yet the 3.2 has the ceramic tweeter that clearly crosses the line into fraud. The tweeters are exactly the same because they are the same exact speakers. I confirmed this with Canton. The insert included with speakers upon receipt clearly reads ceramic.

I hope no one who purchased the 3.2s actually reads this post if they want to continue to be happy. Ignorance is bliss.

That notwithstanding, the speakers are absolutely amazing. They are definitely Reference quality speakers worthy of a price many-fold more than the $4000 (or $6000) purchase price. Snicker. There seems to not be a resale market for these speakers currently. That’s easy. Don’t sell them or arrange for a private placement. I don’t plan on ever parting with them. They are that AMAZING.

I agree with everything you posted and as you know we both discovered the same thing about the Canton 3.2 DC and the 3 DC. As you stated the 3 DC brochure list the exact same drivers and configuration as the 3.2 DC but for 2 thousand dollars less per pair. 

You and I lucked out but what about those who actually bough the 3.2 DC when they could have saved 2K. Interesting that A4L no longer list or carries the 3 DC on their website. 

Phenomenal speakers right out of the box that continue to get better over time. There was another post on this site about someone who purchase a speaker for 15k a pair and didn't like them after 6 months and ended up changing his entire front end just to tolerate them.

If they don't sound good right of the box they won't sound great after the break-in. I am fortunate that the Canton sounded good from the beginning and now they sound great. Truly a Reference Speaker.