In terms of set up, I found that close attention to every aspect of speaker set up transformed the Reference 2’s performance from impressive to outstanding.

Listening through the Canton Reference 2s begged me to hit on one of their many strengths hard—they love to play loud. While some loudspeakers sound more like quiet speakers, the Reference 2s get better as they play louder, never sounding forced or harsh.

The Reference 2’s also do a wonderful job with deeper largely acoustic music, ØXN’s 2023 album CYRM was earthy, deep, and darkly delightful.

The Reference 2s do particularly well with physicality, deep rich bass, and live-like sparkle. This is the kind of music you want to be enveloped within so you feel as if you’re breathing in its space and place. The Reference 2s do a commanding job of throwing out a huge solid sound image that easily and convincingly escapes well free of the speaker’s physical form.

I can’t seem to get enough of the deep groove found in Jeff Parker’s latest The Way Out of Easy. Here interplay, delicacy, time, and timing are essential ingredients and the Canton Reference 2s proved more than up to the task.

When a system connects me to music in a direct and seamless manner, I tend to cue up the duets. Specifically vocal duets. Here, all of the Reference 2s strengths ring out from their ability to create believable singers in space in a you are there kind of intimacy and engagement.

The Reference 2s also allowed the accompanying amplifier’s particular qualities to shine through, something I view as a major positive. You can hear the differences through the Canton’s without the need for furrowed brow listening intensity.

Maybe I’ve saved the best for last. Engleskyts was recorded in the Abbey Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Weissenau, This is a very well recorded album that pairs soprano, church organ, and the space of the place. The Reference 2s sounded as if they were made to reproduce it, shaking the Barn’s loose bits with church organ-deep bass and the kind of clarity and richness that feels more real than reproduced while re-building a sound image with vaulted ceilings reaching into the heavens. Glorious.

The Canton Reference 2 made listening feel essential, physically convincing, and as moving and powerful as the music they expertly sculpted in space, even music that lives and dies by deep, deep bass, even when played as loud as loud can be.

The Reference 2s are also beautifully made, graceful looking, and offer basic yet very effective level adjustment that helps mate them to room and taste. Couple these strengths with Canton’s 50+ year old family owned business history and we have another strong favorite and highly recommended speaker. Bravo!

Michael Lavorgna, Twittering Machines, January 2025

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