Everything was better in the old days, as a lot of people tend to say.

Today, the world looks different: without a good dose of knowledge in mathematics and physics you can hardly gain a foothold in the completely overcrowded loudspeaker market. Anyone who is not willing or able to view the development of a loudspeaker as holistically as the body of a complex living being will find it difficult to build a successful company these days.

Canton filters out the bass below the operating frequency of around 35 Hertz, which reduces distortion and increases the maximum possible sound pressure level. Frank Gobl, head of development at Canton for many years, makes no secret of his preference for powerful, yet crisp bass and his sympathy for dynamic attacks that aim to come as close as possible to the live experience.

We decided to swap the integrated amplifier and network player for the big guns in our listening room. The Canton easily demonstrated the sonic differences between ‘very good’ and ‘at the limit of what is possible’. Previously lost details came to light in so many ways that it would go beyond the scope of this article to list them here. We were fascinated by the level of confidence with which the Canton now presented all of this and made the differences in the electronics become clear.

Trentemoller’s spherical and impulsive low-frequency sounds made our listening room vibrate with joy. The Canton threw the impulses from the membranes and showed no difficulty in reproducing these frequencies at very high volume even in the lowest regions.

Relaxed blues was then provided with ‘Blues Don’t Lie’. The listeners present in the STEREO listening room immediately felt involved in the action, were emotionally gripped and could hardly resist the temptation to turn up the volume bit by bit. And this despite the fact that it was unexpectedly fun to experience this visually and acoustically successful gem even at less than normal volume.

Michael Lang, Stereo, Editors’ Choice Winner, December 2024

Click here to download a PDF of the full review.