Canton Reference 9k opinions

milkdudd, they are excellent but you will need two subwoofers and a proper two way crossover to make them sing. Little woofers can not project bass well under 100 Hz. But, that does not mean they won't try. They will flap about helplessly distorting everything else they are doing like a big chunk of the midrange. You have to roll them off at 100 Hz and hand that part of the spectrum to a speaker that can handle it. With two subwoofers and something like the MiniDSP subwoofer crossover you can have a very serious system for a room that size demanding a very high quality turntable as well as other high quality program sources. 

The Cantons are excellent speakers.  They are not brutal to drive and will do a nice job in a small space but agree, a subwoofer would be essential.  A subwoofer with an active crossover is always better than one without.  I am not sure if 100hz is the right spot to roll them off but have had speakers that roll off at that point and they do well.  

Tonally, slightly forward and best with warmer amplification. I just checked stock with the distributor and the Black version is in-stock and ready to ship according to the website.  

I would put these up against the B&W 805 D3s and despite the price differential, I am not sure who would win.  It would come down to personal preference.  They are very good for the money.  

Sorry to be the disentir vote ther is a reason ca ton has been blown g ot speakers for years the speakers tend to sound very hifish not musical and not refinement enough vo.pared to the competition 

You should look at kef ref1

A far better speaker then the Usher we wete Usher dealers years sgo

 I have owned a pair Vento 890.2's for almost nine years. I have owned some good speakers over the years but these will be my last. There is plenty of good reviews for Canton speakers out there. Come to think of it, the only negative thing said I've seen was the post above, go figure.

Go figure indeed. I’m sure the Kef Ref 1 that he refers to is terrific. It’s a speaker I have considered in the past but at twice the cost of the Reference 9k (plus $1,000) that pushes it into pre-owned range price wise. Beauty of the Canton is at $3,500 instead of $8,000, I can buy them new without going completely overboard. I like the Dali Epicon 2 but also $8,000. Then there’s the TAD stand mount at somewhere around $15,000. Audiotroy I do appreciate all advice. I am familiar with the online retailer that discounts the Canton line. However they don’t and never have sold the Reference 9k model. As for the subwoofer I have been using a single 12-in Jamo Sub 650 connected directly to my power amp through the speaker level inputs. I know two would be better sonically but even one is nice to have for now. Sounds like Rythmik subs might be the way to go at some point. Two seems awfully overkill in my small room but I know it would still be better. Quite a disease us guys have here. 10 years ago I couldn’t imagine spending $2,000 on a set of speakers. The difference is back then I couldn’t imagine spending that much. Now I can’t imagine spending that little, at least to get exactly what I want. I know there’s plenty of great speakers for $2,000 but like anything once you go to the other side you don’t want to go back