John Atkinson reviewed the Canton Reference 7K in September 2021, and Ken Micallef followed up. The 7K ended up in Class A, Restricted Extreme LF,…
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Canton Elektronik GmbH is a family-owned manufacturer of loudspeakers based in Weilrod, Germany. Founded in 1972—the name is from Latin and German: "Can" from the Latin "cantare," "to sing"; "Ton" from the German for "sound"—Canton is now well past its 50th anniversary. The largest manufacturer of perfectionist speakers in Germany, Canton is still based in the small township where it began, with manufacturing facilities in the Czech Republic.
The driver array of the Canton Reference 5 places the two twin woofers at the bottom, the tweeter in the middle, and the midrange driver on top. This arrangement is less common than tweeter on top. I asked the Canton Design Team about this choice: "The midrange driver is primarily responsible for spatial focus and soundstage representation. For this reason, we aim to design it as broadband as practically feasible and position it as optimally as possible for such localization-critical tasks."
In his measurements, John Atkinson often notes the degree to which the tweeters are above…
Sidebar 1: Specifications
Description: Three-way, reflex-vented. floorstanding loudspeaker. Drive units: 1" Black Ceramic dome tweeter, 6.85" Black Ceramic Tungsten midrange, two 6.85" Black Ceramic Tungsten woofers. Crossover frequencies: 160Hz, 3kHz. Frequency range: 21Hz–40kHz. Sensitivity: 88dB. Nominal impedance: 4 ohms. Max. power handling: 370Wpc.
Dimensions: 39.7" (102cm) H × 11.8" (30cm) W × 18.1" (46cm) D. Weight: 79.3lb (36kg).
Finishes: White Satin, Black piano; Walnut for a 10% premium.
Serial numbers of units reviewed: 24226937C, 24226938C. Designed and…
Sidebar 2: Associated Equipment
Analog sources: VPI HMW-40 turntable, VPI 12" Fatboy tonearm, Pro-Ject Classic EVO turntable, Lyra Etna λ Lambda cartridge, Ortofon Bronze Cadenza cartridge, Sumiko Amethyst cartridge.
Digital sources: MacBook Air running Tidal, Roon, Qobuz. Bricasti M1 Series II DAC, Musical Fidelity M1 CDT transport, Pro-Ject CD Box RS2 T.
Preamplification: McIntosh C12000
Integrated Amplifier: McIntosh MA252.
Power amplifier: McIntosh MC462 Quad Balanced.
Loudspeakers: Harbeth C7ES-3XD, Wilson Audio Specialties Sasha V.
Cables: Digital: AudioQuest…
Sidebar 3: Measurements
I measure loudspeakers in our living room. I move the furniture to the sides, place the speaker on my computer-controlled Outline turntable, raising it so that the tweeter is midway between the floor and ceiling, and fire the speaker along one of the room's diagonals. That maximizes the anechoic time window before reflections from the room boundaries arrive at the microphone. However, I was unable to lift the heavy Canton Reference 5 as high off the ground as I would have wished. I therefore measured the response and dispersion with the microphone at 1m rather than…
Technics Spins, Weiss Decodes, Fern & Roby Delivers—with Network Acoustics, ModWright, and Black Cat
At this year’s AXPONA, Christopher Hildebrand of Fern & Roby introduced a new system that combined striking design with serious analog and digital performance.
A Technics SP-10R and SME M2 12" tonearm were mounted to the new Fern & Roby Richlite-and-walnut plinth ($22,500). A ModWright PH 9.0X phono stage ($4750) and Miyajima Carbon cartridge ($2999) completed the analog front end.
Digital gear included a Weiss Helios DAC ($21,995); a Network Acoustics Origin 5V PSU and DAC cable ($2100); a Muon Pro streaming system ($2620); an Eno2 streaming system ($1610); and…
For me, Volti Audio systems from Greg Roberts have become perennial standouts at audio shows. Their purity, vivid dynamics, and—perhaps most important—their rich, natural tone create an immersive presentation in which all types of music truly swing and sing.
This year’s AXPONA was no different. Roberts officially debuted his new 104dB/W/m, 20Hz–25kHz Vittora loudspeaker system, which includes two main Vittora loudspeakers, two ELF12 subs, two ELFamp amps, and one ELFpre ($50,000 for the lot).
The chain featured an Innuos ZENith music server ($6699) feeding a Mojo Audio…
In room 1521, I caught up with Wayne Colburn—longtime preamp wizard for Pass Labs (and Threshold Audio before that)—and Kent English, the company’s veteran head of sales. Colburn was debuting his new 85lb XS Pre 2 line-stage preamp ($55,000), which he called a step up from the XP-32.
Colburn doesn’t consider the XS Pre 2’s design “excessive,” despite its name. He noted that the preamp uses separate boxes for the left channel, right channel, and power-supply/display, and described it as “more resolving, with a lower noisefloor. It sets a new standard for us.”
The power…
Refined Audio’s room 688 featured an almost entirely new system, with the exception of Dave Slagle’s familiar EM/IA gear. (Slagle, co-founder of EM/IA and a specialist in transformer-based designs, is known for his minimalist, high-purity audio components.)
At AXPONA 2025, Refined Audio’s Jon Ver Halen and Steve Dear, together with Vladimir Bazelkov of Audio Mirror, assembled a system that blended high-end analog and digital components.
Starting with the vinyl playback system: a Jan Allaerts MC1 Boron cartridge (approximately $4000) was mounted on the US premiere…
Steve Jain of Fidelity Imports seeks out high-quality audio brands poised for greater recognition. While some, such as Wilson Benesch—now distributed in the US by Fidelity—are already well-established in the industry, Jain’s commitment is evident in his support of respected manufacturers like Perlisten, Knosti, QED, Unison Research, and Audia Flight.
Fidelity Imports brought so many rooms to Chicago that Stereophile’s show reporters had to draw straws to divide them up. I landed in Fidelity Imports’ Room 1210, which held an AVM Rotation R 5.3 MK2 turntable ($8999) and three off-camera…