Canton Vento 826.2 Speaker Review

[dogmamann]

I once had Canton Ergo 620 and while they had great soundstage the sound was bright, artificial and metallic

The ergo series has nothing to do with ventos. Square cabinet, metal tweeter, totally different concept overall. They sound totally different

 

[dogmamann]

Harman speakers are few and far between in Europe, if they are available at all then at very inflated prices, at least twice of what they cost in the US.
I can't find the M105 listed currently, but the M16 are 1300€/pair which is 270€ more than the much better KEF R3 for example.


I do agree that these particular speakers aren't much to look at, however there is definitely something to be said for a good high-gloss finish. I'd take that over faux-wood any day of the week, a vinyl wrap almost always (emphasis on almost, there is definitely a right and several wrong ways to do it) look cheap.
And even a real wood veneer can look bad.

Of all ASR approved passive speaker brands, only KEF can be had in Germany for reasonable prices. For example 529 € each for r3 is a great price imo. But they are limited with their narrow dispersion. Revel has only one dealer if am not wrong in Germany. I prefer revel anyday over canton and Kef any day.

 

[617]

Honestly for a two way with baffle mounted drivers this is quite good. The M/T integration is very good.

If you really want full range, I would look at those trick new Ascend models with the beastly Seas woofer but this is a very good speaker.

 

[AndreaT]

I haven't done any direct comparison yet. I'm waiting for a miniDSP FLEX TRS to be delivered today so I can properly time align and EQ my Rythmik Audio E22 subwoofer with the KH 150s. Then I would be able to decide if going with Neumann's MA1 software, Dirac Live or miniDSP plugin (with REW filters). As of now, Neumann's MA1 app is doing OK but pretty sure Dirac Live and even miniDSP plugin with REW filters are going to do a better job regarding integration and bass management of course. After EQ and time alignment is done, I can do a direct comparison with the M106s switching speakers in and out.

Keep us posted about your results and listening impressions!

 

[Trell]

But note this is just a guess. For these speakers in this price range, Canton should have added, for example, a notch filter if needed. Canton of course has the technical knowledge to solve it and a notch filter is neither expensive nor complicated to build and insert into the crossover filter.
It would be interesting to see what the Canton Vento 826.2 crossover looks like.

Here is for the previous model of the larger speaker with 6.8" woofer. Edit: Added a measurement done by a German magazine.

 

[airgas1998]

hometheatrehifi gave the Vento 100 high remarks and came up with a flat fr when tested.. don't know anything about how they test things and if it's flawed or not il leave that up to you guys...

Canton Vento 100 Floor Standing Speaker Review​

https://hometheaterhifi.com › reviews › canton-vento-1...

 

[Vladimir Filevski]

the distortion measurements can be ignored in real life. you are not going to hear that distortion in a living room.

No, it can not be ignored. I remember several years ago two different customers bought different Canton models (not the Reference range!) and were complaining about high distortion right from the first day of the listening (I measured them and the pesky 2kHz distortion was there). They returned speakers and bought another brands.
It seems the infamous 2 kHz distortion peak is universal through the Canton range, except maybe in the Reference series.

 

[amirm]

@Amir A nit to pick. Usually a slight increase in amplitude response above 10 khz doesn't sound bright. It sounds airy, a bit of sense of air added. A bump in the response around 6-8 khz sounds bright. You aren't letting your measurement curve bias you on brightness are you?

Of course a lean woofer response can also give a brighter sounding perspective too. Maybe it is bright and airy.

I swapped in for the Revel because I initially could not figure out why it gave the impression of brightness. So measurements did not bias me that way. Indeed it did the opposite. When the Revel sounded warmer and more balanced, I went and looked at its measurements and saw that the M106 is flat to good few Hertz lower. This was an interesting revelation to me as before, I put more value on bass extension as the preference score does.

 

[amirm]

What is the price for Revel M105? Objectively Revel is much better speaker.

When I looked yesterday, it was $570 each or something like it.

 

[Kaiju]

Digging speaker reviews, Thank you.

 

[amirm]

On bass response, it must be hellish to try to predict in-home response in that region. Every situation is different so how to optimize? We need to make bass EQ standard so that speakers can be better designed without assumptions of where they are positioned.

 

[Cars-N-Cans]

My guess, considering the metal material in the bass driver diaphragm. Probably strong break up modes higher up in frequency. This can be reduced via notch filters and , or with really steep crossover filters. When you do that, the distortion is reduced.

I was thinking the same thing, but here the modes are being excited by the fundamental within the crossover region. Oddly I think its actually other distortion products that are the issue as in absolute SPL terms, they are riding on top of the rest of the distortion. It would probably work if they could get the crossover down lower to 1.5-2 kHz so the distortion products are not high enough to excite the modes, but that impacts the tweeter design. Interesting to think about. I love the way metal woofer cones look, but the things that make them so visually attractive are also the things that make them have other undesirable characteristics like strong resonances.

Edit: With all the distortion that is already there, does it even really matter in the grand scheme of things? Maybe that's how they felt at Canton as well. Still for a high-end speaker it would be nice to see better since there are speakers much cheaper that do better.

 

[YSC]

On bass response, it must be hellish to try to predict in-home response in that region. Every situation is different so how to optimize? We need to make bass EQ standard so that speakers can be better designed without assumptions of where they are positioned.

Sure for this, was guessing the bass coz it kind of coincide with what the genelec bass-6db switch does, so potentially have it's merit

 

[Mnyb]

Hmm other brands managed port resonance in small speakers like Kef ? In some models , with some special design of the port tube ?

But kef also tries to second guess your room gain and also have that bass slope, meh .

I’ve personally never experienced overwhelming bass in room with speakers in my home , the closest I get is in our very tiny HT room off less than ten square meters , the cheap band pass sub is a tad booming on music it’s ok on movies.
It’s actually Canton one of their wall mounted 5 identical smal speakers and band pass sub combinations, they have several of those packages .

I’ve had my share of bad bass , but rarely to much , so I don’t really get these bass slopes that both kef and Canton and others are doing .

I’ve lived in at least 14 different rented and self owned apartments many with concrete and brick walls in Europe.
So for me personally this adaptation of the bass to try to second guess room interaction has never worked for me.
So I think it’s a fools errand to even try . Build linear speaker let us figure it out with bass management.

 

[uwotm8]

Never thought that Canton is an otsstanding manufacturer, so pertty much expected. Not great, not terrible, boring look, nothing special - strong pass for me while there's Dynaudio or Focal, or even KEF out there. These distortions, however, are unexcpected and pretty bad for that price and mid-to-big standmounter (meant to be pushed to play loud sometimes).

P.S. Recessed (rather lower) mids are definitely not my fav signature, that's why it's a pass second time

 

[Marc v E]

Everything has its advantages and disadvantages in comparison even to the 8030, for example the Canton has a nicer look for a living space, the Revel have deeper bass and the KEF smoother vertical directivity.

Don't forget about the Elac db62.
They are an excellent alternative to the cantons.

 

[dogmamann]

No, it can not be ignored. I remember several years ago two different customers bought different Canton models (not the Reference range!) and were complaining about high distortion right from the first day of the listening (I measured them and the pesky 2kHz distortion was there). They returned speakers and bought another brands.
It seems the infamous 2 kHz distortion peak is universal through the Canton range, except maybe in the Reference series.

I had the reference 7K, on paper it had the distortion above 1 percent in 2-4K region. But to me with music, it was not noticeable whatsoever.

 

[dogmamann]

Hmm other brands managed port resonance in small speakers like Kef ? In some models , with some special design of the port tube ?

But kef also tries to second guess your room gain and also have that bass slope, meh .

I’ve personally never experienced overwhelming bass in room with speakers in my home , the closest I get is in our very tiny HT room off less than ten square meters , the cheap band pass sub is a tad booming on music it’s ok on movies.
It’s actually Canton one of their wall mounted 5 identical smal speakers and band pass sub combinations, they have several of those packages .

I’ve had my share of bad bass , but rarely to much , so I don’t really get these bass slopes that both kef and Canton and others are doing .

I’ve lived in at least 14 different rented and self owned apartments many with concrete and brick walls in Europe.
So for me personally this adaptation of the bass to try to second guess room interaction has never worked for me.
So I think it’s a fools errand to even try . Build linear speaker let us figure it out with bass management.

The reference series has a bass port at the bottom with a waveguide kind of thing which opens 40 percent to the rear and 60 to the front. When I got mine, I thought it was a gimmick. But I could place the speakers close and far away from the wall and in both cases the room wasn’t overloaded. The ventos on the other hand was boomy close to the wall.(vento 890-bottom firing). That speaker needed very precise placement to get a decent sound while the references sounded good easily without much trouble in the same room. But considering the price differences, I feel ventos are the best cantons anyone should look forward.

 

[FeddyLost]

Looks like they did this consciously.
Bass sloped for better use of room gain in small rooms, absence of notch filter at woofer breakup - just because if owner need more SPL, he will buy bigger speaker.
So, we have small speakers with decent LF extension when placed near wall and we saved few euro on notch filter.
Sad, but true.

 

[tomtoo]

1st I will state that playback SPL is a big factor is perceived bass. While a 10db increase in the mids sounds 'twice' as loud subjectively, about 5-6 db increase in bass sounds 'twice' as loud subjectively. So a speaker light on bass at low SPL might sound perfect cranked and a speaker with full bass at low SPL might sound overly thick cranked.

... software prediction = I don't know if that is a great substitute for trying a few speakers in your room.

Plus bass is a very subjective area of sound. You may like some very different from someone else and the variation of listener preference in what amount of bass is right was very, very wide in Harman's published testing.

Anyway, you really ought to have the ability to adjust the frequency levels of the bass range via PEQ or similar means. You can't completely control how the bass ultimately sounds by frequency response alone but you will get ahold of much of it.

Back to the simulated in room bass, even room modes are dependent on enough factors that a prediction will be meaningfully off. (do you want to predict a 12db gain at 45hrz for a room mode that is actually at 52hrz?) This is very important since a speaker losing bass here might work well or it might gain nothing depending on exactly where the mode is.

I can say this after testing dozens of speakers often in the exact same location I recommend measuring each one. The variation is quite notable and I have only had a few speakers that would require essentially the same PEQ application for in room bass adaptation.

One thing that is very important are all of the interference reflections (SBIR).

Even just slight differences in driver height from floor and cabinet width and where the port is and what frequency the driver hands off to port affect the range from 40-150hrz substantially.
Distances to the front wall and side walls being very profound in their effects.
Number of drivers radiating is huge factor. Driver size is factor. I have noted that a larger driver seems to be less affected by SBIR than a smaller driver which makes sense if you think about it. (similar to using multiple woofers, which are all different distance from some boundaries thus spreading interference over a wider range with less severe specific nulls.)

Anyway, you really ought to have the ability to adjust the bass range via PEQ or similar means. Plus once you have a great tune for closed windows spring hits and you open all the windows wide and the room sounds very different.

Thx for that extensive answer a lot. I just was wondering how precice a simulation could get. Looks like its harder then i thought.