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Review 1 of 1
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After a few days of listening to the Canton 403's, I've decided that these are keepers. I've read the reviews about the Canton's as well as the pro reviews. And I just cant see how anybody can say that these speakers don't have sparkle as a few have suggested. These are $700 book shelves that I got discounted because they upgraded the soft dome tweets, so the 403's went out of production and came back the following year as the 430 model. Like I said the 430's have a new modified tweeter. But the 403's are a great speaker. It is no means a slouch.
I've listen to some great speakers over the years and I can tell you these are in the same class as your Dynaudio's, Dali's, Revel's, Paradigm's, B&W's, Monitor Audio's, Axioms, Aperion audio's and all the likes, and at a cheaper price. And they don't give you some cheap vinyl like some of the others at this price point. Theses are real wood...mine are cherry wood that look wonderful. They have a nice soft dome tweeter that did sound very bright before the break in period. But after the break in like all good speakers, they get primed for how they where engineered to sound. After I hooked them up to my Rotel Rb 1080 200 watt amp and RC 1090 control amp and RCC 1055 CDP and Marantz SACD, the speakers where not as warm as lead to believe. While they are in no way as bright as my Paradigms (which I would not say are bright at all) they are not as laid back as some say. They have a lively silk dome tweeter. I think they are a little bit more alive than the Dynaudio 140 tweeters if you ever had a chance to listen to those. The woofers where a little boomy, but they too settled down and became a nice bottom. They are ported in the rear and have a Frequency response of 38...30.000 Hz and crossed over at 3.000 Hz. And if you are using these in a two channel system as I am you can get by without a sub. The woofer/mid drivers are aluminum and look very distinctive, while the tweets are black soft dome silk. The face of the speaker is made to match the woofer...they are a nice looking speaker. They are not bi-wireable at this price point, but neither are Dynaudio 140's, or Aperion audio, and like the Dynaudio 140's Canton used better internal wiring claiming therefore bi-wiring is not needed at this price point.
THE Rotel seem to bring out the best in the way these speakers sound. They are rated at 140 watts and the instruction manual says to run power to them greater that 140 is recommended. I played a variety of music including jazz, and classical, and gospel. The highs are sweet, the mids great in a speaker of this size and the bottom end was nice and smooth...very surprising for a speaker of this size. Not as boomy as the Monitor Audio rs1, but still a nice bottom. Billy Higgins drums on the album "the Prophet speaks" by Milt Jackson are Cristal clear...you can hear every stroke as it was meant to sound...and that goes for the nice bass that John Clayton plays as well on that CD..you could hear his fingers slide across his stand up bass as he plucked each string. And Milt Jackson's vibraphone was just ringing through these speakers just as they would sound live.These are some of the clearest and most transparent speakers I have heard at this price point. And when I say transparent, I mean they will expose a bad recording...make you think something is wrong with your gear when its just a bad recording. Thats how transparent they are. Diana Kralls SACD The "look of love" is a wonder to hear through these speakers. Her voice is so clear as you hear her take a breath as the next beautiful note rolls from her lips. I mean these clear speakers reveal SACD as just that...a super and transparent sound field.
I am overall pleased with these little book shelves. They are 14 inches high, 7 and 1/2 inches wide and 10 inches deep. The tweeters are 1 inch silk dome and the mid-woofer is 7 inches aluminum. They have real wood in your choice of Cherry, Walnut, Beech, Mocca, Silver and Black ash They listed at $700 a pair before they upgraded the tweets and now you may find them at a local dealer or online at just under $400. Many of the pro reviews said they where a bargan at the $700 price tag, sounding like a speaker that cost much more...and I would have to agree. So if you are interested in a nice real wood book shelf speaker that transparent clear speaker that has great detail, put the Canton 403's or 430's on your list...you will be surprised by sound.
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