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The "other" German Speaker Manufacturers (Canton, Magnat, Heco, Quadral, ...) - Where do they stand?

Thunder22

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I have the 896.2's. Accessories4less used to sell Canton steeply discounted and when I bought mine they threw in the 866.2 for free. At the time it was a leap of faith considering I had never heard any Cantons before. For what it's worth, I have been very happy with them.
 

Nango

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Their texts might be, but they offer measurements of their lab which are serious and comparable. Also the reviews of Malte Ruhnke (used to be in Audio and now chief editor of Stereoplay) can be quite trusted as he was a knowledgeable loudspeaker guy who was even criticising the German magazines in the past.
They are more like paid ADS for the audio industry.
 

thewas

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thewas

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See iam german. The klippel system makes me proud about german engineering. But hiding measurements and using all that marketing blabla makes me feel ashamed. Thats not what i understand from good german engineering.
As I had answered before that is not just a German but world wide problem or do you expect German hifi manufacturers and magazines to act differently than the rest of the world just because Klippel is a German company?

 

tomtoo

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As I had answered before that is not just a German but world wide problem or do you expect German hifi manufacturers and magazines to act differently than the rest of the world just because Klippel is a German company?


Sure its a international problem. But iam german and like to give my view on the proplem.
 

dualazmak

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I am just considering about adding QUADRAL AURUM SEDAN 9 as an alternative pair of compact and "vivid" woofer (7", 18 cm) in my multichannel multi-driver multi-way multi-amplifier stereo system, as I shared my current idea here and thereafter through this post. The specification and the dimensions seem well fitting with my current plan.

I would highly appreciate if I could hear subjective impressions and/or objective measurement data on QUADRAL AURUM SEDAN 9. It looks I may purchase this SP in Japan through Quadral's official sole dealer (and its contracted audio shops) in Japan with warranty and repair/replacement services.
 
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Crosstalk

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The good thing is as well that the german second hand market is flooded with them. I bought a pair of 890dc for 650 eur and to my ears it was one of my best hifi investments
I bought a pair of 890DC for 450 Euros, It had some scratches but drivers were good. Recently I sold them back on ebay for 400 after 6 months of use. To me it lacked bass extension and everything else was superb. Stereo.de says that all cantons have the 'nachschwingen' but against a KEF R series I never could hear a difference in timing.imo 896DC is the only speaker we need. At its price its flat, has decent extension and huge drivers for very SPL. Since the drivers are big, I felt 89x series are superb for home theatre usecase with a projector. The sound 'objects' still stays connected and fullbodied even when the speakers are kept like 3meters apart giving us that huge wall of sound. Upon pulling the Speakers 1,25 meters away from the back wall, the soundstage is extremely holographic in my room. Things just float around the space and speaker totally disappears. I dont understand why we need a higher end speaker sometimes when the flatness is already acheived by this.
 
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Crosstalk

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You speak out of my sole.
Stereo.de has atleast graphs. So I ignore their rating, and look at them to see what I need. Also distortion figures. I recently bought their review of A45 to see what the distortion figures are. Sadly that was missing but the freq resp of that thing is mindblowing, its -3db at 20hz and its more or less flat all around, !! if their measurements are right.
 

symphara

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Late last year I hunted for speakers for a 5.1.2 system for an apartment I occasionally use. I only auditioned the front LR speakers, given my limited time and that in general dealers don't stock the centre speaker.

I'm mentioning this in the context of German speakers, which is what I started with.

First I auditioned Heco Aurora 1000, based on [subjective] rave reviews. I was seriously considering buying a pair, given the affordable price and the frequency response published by the manufacturer (down to 22Hz!).

Unfortunately the conditions were less than ideal. They had an oldish NAD integrated amplifier and a NAD CD player (with the dealer's music) and a little streamer that accepted some of the tracks from my USB stick. I thought the room was pretty poor for auditions.

Then the sound. It was just bad. Hard to describe. Good female vocals but no bass, distortion, junk. It was not right. Could have been the equipment and the room, but I ran away as quickly as I could.

Continuing with German manufacturers, in the same budget ballpark I went to the Quadral dealer and he produced the new Signum 90. Much better room and equipment (treated room, fancy Bryston integrated amplifier). We listened to the tracks on my USB stick.

The Signum 90 sounded better than the Heco 1000 in every way, but still inadequate in my opinion. I thought they often produced a metallic-sounding tone that was disqualifying in my mind, and to me they were overly bright. Bass extension is ok but nowhere near the 27Hz claimed.

The Chromium Style 8 is a better speaker from any point of view (of course more expensive), but I also thought it was overly bright, a touch metallic, and it also has poorer bass extension than the spec would suggest.

The dealer assured me that Quadral Aurum is much better, although he had none in stock to verify this claim, and even the cheapest Aurum, with all possible discounts and good will, was outside my budget, so I didn't pursue it.
 

Klonatans

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The dealer assured me that Quadral Aurum is much better, although he had none in stock to verify this claim, and even the cheapest Aurum, with all possible discounts and good will, was outside my budget, so I didn't pursue it.
I have Quadral Aurum Montan 9 speakers and they indeed are way better (and more expensive too) than Chromium Style 8 that I used to own for a while. Montan 9 are really impressive speakers provided you have a room big enough for them and position them properly (the twin woofers can go very low and the bass can easily become too dominant). They also love power (with a Naim Nait 5i 50 W per channel integral they sounded shrill and underpowered).
 

Crosstalk

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Guys freqeuncy response is one thing. but please look at distortion figures also before buying anything. Many German brands I looked at are horribly bad compared to anything like a KEF.
 

Timcognito

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What about Elac? They get good measurements and reviews.
 

Crosstalk

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What about Elac? They get good measurements and reviews.
Distortion graphs? I guess KEF still has the edge here , Also none are coaxial. Coaxial has coherent tweeter and midrange wave reaching our ear, which isnt possible for normal speakers. None of the German companies have good coaxials . As of today, in my books r11 or R7 from Kef beats every speaker under 5k euros or dollars in terms of perfect technology.
 

BrokenEnglishGuy

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Distortion graphs? I guess KEF still has the edge here , Also none are coaxial. Coaxial has coherent tweeter and midrange wave reaching our ear, which isnt possible for normal speakers. None of the German companies have good coaxials . As of today, in my books r11 or R7 from Kef beats every speaker under 5k euros or dollars in terms of perfect technology.
Elac have a coaxial but it's only in their expensive line
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Sancus

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None of the German companies have good coaxials .
ME Geithain makes quite competent coaxials, though they may not be as perfectly computer modeled as Genelecs, they have some other pros like cardioid bass in certain models.

Biggest con is availability outside of Germany.
 
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