Canton Reference Line

[JMD]

And the new version is supposed to be better yet.

[FreddieFerric]

Originally Posted by JMD

And the new version is supposed to be better yet.

You would hope that would be the case. The shear weight of the new 1K's is stout. My V-Ref 1 DC's come in at 194 lbs each...The new 1K's at 295. That's a significant increase in cabinet design mass...,and in a shorter package with one fewer driver.

Would love to hear a pair.

[For The Love of Music]

Originally Posted by FreddieFerric

Here's a couple of pics of the big reference 1 DC's

[/IMG]

Freddie is this your system? If so, very nice and is that a Lobster claw I see on the amp?

[FreddieFerric]

Originally Posted by For The Love of Music

Freddie is this your system? If so, very nice and is that a Lobster claw I see on the amp?

Yes, it's mine.

The lobster claw represents "grip."

The lobster that was formerly in possession of that claw was quite delicious I might add.

[For The Love of Music]

Originally Posted by FreddieFerric

Yes, it's mine.



The lobster claw represents "grip."



The lobster that was formerly in possession of that claw was quite delicious I might add.

Funny!

[Formerly YB-2]

And, I did not know they had crawfish that big around NOLA. Did you have in an etouffee?

[FreddieFerric]

Originally Posted by Formerly YB-2

And, I did not know they had crawfish that big around NOLA. Did you have in an etouffee?

We pick them up next to the Waterford Nuclear Plant. Something in the cooling water turns them into monsters.

[SCAudiophile]

Originally Posted by freddieferric

here's a couple of pics of the big reference 1 dc's

congratulations!

[Scyld]

I've been listening to 9k for about two weeks now and don't hear any sound changes after the initial 1-2 days break-in. Didn't hear a single harsh sound from them anyway.

(remember, english is not my native... )

It seems to me that they have no specific sound, which is good. Sound differences between any records are clear and obvious, even between different tracks on a given album.

For me the most impressive thing about these speakers is how they handle difficult, intensive, loud and "messy" parts of recordings, where speakers normally can be harsh and unnatural. Everything plays clear now, with no changes in timbres, separation and soundstage. You can hear distorsions if they are present in a record, but they don't mix with musical content and are not highlighted.

The soundstage is not just great, it's enormous. Super wide and deep. For comparison, when I auditioned PMC Twenty.22 with almost the same electronics of T+A (the seller tried to convince me not to buy Cantons), they had no soundstage depth at all.

The dynamics seems real. It's enough to sound real and impress, but never exaggerated or tiring.

Considering timbres... I've never heard the instruments sound so real. They just breathe. For example, almost all Duke Ellington's albums (Jazz party in stereo, Afro Bossa or Far East Suite etc.) in hi-res audio. I was blown away by how natural these records sound. The soundstage is terrific there too. Funny thing is, I never thought these records were so good. Without any "for their age". I don't think I can remember any modern record play with THAT good timbres of natural instruments. Same can be said about old classics. For example - "Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition - Karajan" recorded in 1955! Amazing. My system can finally handle all that "brass" crescendos.

As a drawback I had a hard time trying to listen to some old rock. The Beatles, Queen... well, it's not a torture, but I'd rather listen it with a car radio). The Beatles sound especially annoying with every instrument sound wrong and artificial. As a contrast, even John Lennon's solo album "Imagine" sounds fine! Yes, it's strange, but in a good way. Some other rock sounds really good. For example, remasters of early Led Zeppelin or Steve Wilson's remixes of King Crimson sound great.

Every live record tends to play more emotional and real with these speakers. Bill Evans at the Village Vanguard (Waltz for Debbie) or Elvis in Memphis. Just like being there.

Voices are wonderful too. I can hear no problems in woofer/tweeter crossover. The sound is silky smooth and detailed. These speakers have a very pleasant ability to clean-up the original voice sound from distracting effects or distorsions. For example, King Crimson - "Exiles" always had some grain on the vocal. Some speakers can't handle it at all. Or take any of the 80-s music with harsh electronic effects. 9k will extract music and vocal for you, now that's impressive.

It can also be said about the whole sound. Distractions (effects, applause, noise or sibilants) are not accented, the focus is on the music and emotions.

The volume level is really not that important with these speakers. No dramatic changes, no sweet spot volume here. And LF/HF balance is not really changing off-axis (vital for movies and group listening). I was also impressed with how enthusiastic and rich they sound even at very low levels. It's really important when listening in late evening or night hours. On the other hand, they had enough power to sound almost at concert leverls in a rather large demo room at the shop (30-40 square meters and high ceilings, it's hard to say the true numbers). While doing this, the woofers travel about 1-1.5 cm out of the boxes. Wave surround rules)

The bass amount is definitely enough. I even had to reposition my subwoofer and change it's phase to LOWER the extent of bass on one axial mode frequency.
With some modern electronic music or movies the amount of bass is more then enough)))) Even sometimes too much. I'll check it again after making changes to room acoustics and adding bass traps.

In general, I can hear no coloration or some sound profile. I had Vento 802 before, and there's no comparison. Ventos definitely had coloration in the midrange. It was really annoing to listen some harsh, bright recordings on these. Natural instruments were impressive, but brass was sometimes too bright and active in the midrange.


Some words have to be said about the system they play with.
- HTPC (with full size seasonic platinum power supply, foobar2000 + NAD ASIO driver. SACD images converted with Saracon to 24/176.4; other stuff - bit perfect)
- Nad M51 DAC (by USB)
- Quad Elite Stereo amplifier.
- Audioquest MacKenzie interconnect cables (custom connectors), Van den Hul D-352 Hybrid speaker cables
Some special features:
- passive relay volume control (Alex Nikitin's style with constant input impedance, design and boards by Max Volobuev) with electronic controls (1db step) and relay input selector; battery powered (one for relays and one for controller, controller is galvanically isolated; takamisawa impulse (memory type) relays).
- AC power filter (custom made, Lampizator's schematics) with individual filtration for every line, solid 2.5 square mm conductors, Eaton Moeller rotary switches (every line has it's own contact group), Mennekes power sockets matched with Mennekes power plugs everywhere.
- Electric components have no (removed) power sockets, fuses and back panel switches (modified). Power cables go directly to power supplies. So the system gets ON/OFF only with Eaton Moeller industrial rotary switches.
- DAC also has additional chassis damping.
- custom built speaker stands (4cm oak top and bottom panels, 3*6cm metal tubes with fine quartz sand) 11.5 kg each; the speakers are attached to these stands with screws (a great feature of 9 k speakers) with thin cork layer on the top of speaker stands; stainless steel adjusting spikes

You can find some high quality photos in this album (link is not active, copy it to browser; access only via this link: flickr.com/gp/scyld/01H7g5 )

At the shop I've auditioned 9k with T+A 2500 series amp. It definitely has more punch and grip, details and contrast. With Quad the sound is kinda tube-like and "english". Excellent microdinamics and soundstage, but not so much macrodynamics and grip, less contrast.
I consider changing my amp to something proper, but am afraid of loosing that soft analogue touch of Quad. So I will have to test amps at home. But firstly I'll have to do some acoustic treatment to my room.


P.S.
Has anyone auditioned Canton's reference line with NAD m22 or m32? Or some other speakers... I'm really interested with these two. I also have the opportunity to get T+A PA 2000 R for a really good price (new) and I auditioned these speakers with 2500 model. The results were quite impressive. If anyone can comment about T+A integrated amps (how they compare in their price range), please, post your thougts.

[FreddieFerric]

Originally Posted by Scyld

I've been listening to 9k for about two weeks now and don't hear any sound changes after the initial 1-2 days break-in. Didn't hear a single harsh sound from them anyway.

(remember, english is not my native... )

It seems to me that they have no specific sound, which is good. Sound differences between any records are clear and obvious, even between different tracks on a given album.

For me the most impressive thing about these speakers is how they handle difficult, intensive, loud and "messy" parts of recordings, where speakers normally can be harsh and unnatural. Everything plays clear now, with no changes in timbres, separation and soundstage. You can hear distorsions if they are present in a record, but they don't mix with musical content and are not highlighted.

The soundstage is not just great, it's enormous. Super wide and deep. For comparison, when I auditioned PMC Twenty.22 with almost the same electronics of T+A (the seller tried to convince me not to buy Cantons), they had no soundstage depth at all.

The dynamics seems real. It's enough to sound real and impress, but never exaggerated or tiring.

Considering timbres... I've never heard the instruments sound so real. They just breathe. For example, almost all Duke Ellington's albums (Jazz party in stereo, Afro Bossa or Far East Suite etc.) in hi-res audio. I was blown away by how natural these records sound. The soundstage is terrific there too. Funny thing is, I never thought these records were so good. Without any "for their age". I don't think I can remember any modern record play with THAT good timbres of natural instruments. Same can be said about old classics. For example - "Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition - Karajan" recorded in 1955! Amazing. My system can finally handle all that "copper" crescendos.

As a drawback I had a hard time trying to listen to some old rock. The Beatles, Queen... well, it's not a torture, but I'd rather listen it with a car radio). The Beatles sound especially annoying with every instrument sound wrong and artificial. As a contrast, even John Lennon's solo album "Imagine" sounds fine! Yes, it's strange, but in a good way. Some other rock sounds really good. For example, remasters of early Led Zeppelin or Steve Wilson's remixes of King Crimson sound great.

Every live record tends to play more emotional and real with these speakers. Bill Evans at the Village Vanguard (Waltz for Debbie) or Elvis in Memphis. Just like being there.

Voices are wonderful too. I can hear no problems in woofer/tweeter crossover. The sound is silky smooth and detailed. These speakers have a very pleasant ability to clean-up the original voice sound from distracting effects or distorsions. For example, King Crimson - "Exiles" always had some grain on the vocal. Some speakers can't handle it at all. Or take any of the 80-s music with harsh electronic effects. 9k will extract music and vocal for you, now that's impressive.

It can also be said about the whole sound. Distractions (effects, applause, noise or sibilants) are not accented, the focus is on the music and emotions.

The volume level is really not that important with these speakers. No dramatic changes, no sweet spot volume here. And LF/HF balance is not really changing off-axis (vital for movies and group listening). I was also impressed with how enthusiastic and rich they sound even at very low levels. It's really important when listening in late evening or night hours. On the other hand, they had enough power to sound almost at concert leverls in a rather large demo room at the shop (30-40 square meters and high ceilings, it's hard to say the true numbers). While doing this, the woofers travel about 1-1.5 cm out of the boxes. Wave surround rules)

The bass amount is definitely enough. I even had to reposition my subwoofer and change it's phase to LOWER the extent of bass on one axial mode frequency.
With some modern electronic music or movies the amount of bass is more then enough)))) Even sometimes too much. I'll check it again after making changes to room acoustics and adding bass traps.

In general, I can hear no coloration or some sound profile. I had Vento 802 before, and there's no comparison. Ventos definitely had coloration in the midrange. It was really annoing to listen some harsh, bright recordings on these. Natural instruments were impressive, but copper was sometimes too bright and active in the midrange.


Some words have to be said about the system they play with.
- HTPC (with full size seasonic platinum power supply, foobar2000 + NAD ASIO driver. SACD images converted with Saracon to 24/176.4; other stuff - bit perfect)
- Nad M51 DAC (by USB)
- Quad Elite Stereo amplifier.
- Audioquest MacKenzie interconnect cables (custom connectors), Van den Hul D-352 Hybrid speaker cables
Some special features:
- passive relay volume control (Alex Nikitin's style with constant input impedance, design and boards by Max Volobuev) with electronic controls (1db step) and relay input selector; battery powered (one for relays and one for controller, controller is galvanically isolated; takamisawa impulse (memory type) relays).
- AC power filter (custom made, Lampizator's schematics) with individual filtration for every line, solid 2.5 square mm conductors, Eaton Moeller rotary switches (every line has it's own contact group), Mennekes power sockets matched with Mennekes power plugs everywhere.
- Electric components have no (removed) power sockets, fuses and back panel switches (modified). Power cables go directly to power supplies. So the system gets ON/OFF only with Eaton Moeller industrial rotary swithes.
- DAC also has additional chassis damping.
- custom built speaker stands (4cm oak top and bottom panels, 3*6cm metal tubes with fine quartz sand) 11.5 kg each; the speakers are attached to these stands with screws (a great feature of 9 k speakers) with thin cork layer on the top of speaker stands; stainless steel adjusting spikes

You can find some high quality photos in this album (link is not active, copy it to browser; access only via this link: flickr.com/gp/scyld/01H7g5 )

At the shop I've auditioned 9k with T+A 2500 series amp. It definitely has more punch and grip, details and contrast. With Quad the sound is kinda tube-like and "english". Excellent microdinamics and soundstage, but not so much macrodynamics and grip, less contrast.
I consider changing my amp to something proper, but am afraid of loosing that soft analogue touch of Quad. So I will have to test amps at home. But firstly I'll have to do some acoustic treatment to my room.


P.S.
Has anyone auditioned Canton's reference line with NAD m22 or m32? Or some other speakers... I'm really interested with these two. I also have the opportunity to get T+A PA 2000 R for a really good price (new) and I auditioned these speakers with 2500 model. The results were quite impressive. If anyone can comment about T+A integrated amps (how they compare in their price range), please, post your thougts.

First off, for English not being your native language, you have a fine command of it.

Thanks for posting such an in depth review of the 9K’s. All of those great qualities you described I also experience with my big Canton’s. Would love to hear how the 1K’s perform. I also experienced some of my old rock albums being less than satisfying. Can only mean the mastering wasn’t so great to begin with. Doesn’t matter. There’s an enormous amount of music out there that makes the Canton’s shine.