CANTON Vento Reference 3 DC vs. the 3.2 Model


Hello fellow audiophiles,

After a few years away from the scene I have decided to return to our hobby. That being said a few years ago I sold my Salk HT3 and were my favorites speakers. I sold them because my son was going to college and needed some extra funds. So my son graduated two years ago and now I am looking for some speakers.

Right now I am looking at the CANTON Vento Reference 3 DC on sale at Accessories4less for $3800 / pr with free shipping and a free Vendor Reference 50.2 Center channel. Because I only plan to use this for 2 channel only for an office studio that is being constructed I will sell the center speaker unopened. Room is 11 x 18 with 8.5 for ceilings.

Here is my main question? Is there a big difference between the CANTON Vento Reference 3 DC (older model) vs the 3.2 newer model. The sales person told me that there was only a minor difference with that being they changed and upgraded the tweeter. 

Does anyone have any experience between these two models? Is is mere cosmetic or does the newer model produce better sound as well? At this point I am only looking at this speakers and not any others. I listen mostly to jazz and older RnB. 

Thank you,
revrob
revrob
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. 
Hello, I have the Canton Reference 3/3.2 too, is it awesome speakers.
I bough on Audiogon used, and I have the Canton Reference 5 and Vento 807, the last one I bought from Accessories4less new, and my first Canton speaker. And I used to have the Canton Vento 809, sold to a friend. Really amazing sound speakers.