CES 2018

Kanto has just emerged in the market this past year with a series of three powered bookshelf speakers, a pair of subwoofers and two styles of stands. The company is based in Coquitlam, BC, Canada, and marketing manager Brett Smalley ran through the line.

The compact YU2 ($199) uses a 3" composite woofer and 3/4" silk dome tweeter, and has a USB DAC built in, an auxiliary input and output, sub output. Smalley describes the YU4 ($299 - shown in the photo above) as a "hybrid desktop/bookshelf speaker." It sports a 4" kevlar woofer and 1" silk dome tweeter and has the same features as the YU2 and also includes Bluetooth aptX as well as two optical inputs, built-in photo preamp and remote control (that also includes bass and treble tone control buttons). The YU6 ($389) is basically a larger version of the YU4 and has 5.25" kevlar woofer and 1" silk dome tweeter.

All speakers come in a variety of finishes, as seen above, including bamboo and are shipping now. Accessories include two styles of speaker stand: one for lifting the speaker at an angle off the desktop and the other a more conventional 26" or 32" conventional floor stand.

Kanto also announced it will be releasing a single-box design stereo speaker called the SYD with two 4" kevlar woofers and 1" dome tweeters for those that want to save desktop space.