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Canton Karat 300

B

Ben Rosser

New Member
I'm brand new to audiokarma and also relatively new to the hifi world. But.. I currently own a rotel ra-12 amp and golden ear triton 3's and a pair of Spendor sp3-1r2's. BUT I just picked up a pair of Canton Karat 300's from a yardsale and my first impression was that they sound AMAZING. I first listened to them with a friends Rega brio 3 but the detail and speed was astounding to me.

I can find very little about these online - has anyone had any experience with these speakers? Do you love them... or not love them? I'm excited about this find but don't really know anything about these or where they stand in Canton's lineup.

Thanks everyone. First post on AK
 
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Welcome to AK!
I don't know much about their lineup, I own a pair of Fonum 200 (or maybe their 2000, can't remember) that sound quite amazing, they're one of the few non-infinity speakers I use every day.

speed, power, 'neutrality' are all their high points.
 
I had a pair of 300's they sounded just as you described. Very good detail but not great bass.
 
Canton supposedly does not know how to make a bad speaker, they are considered high-endish as I understand and are very popular in Germany, where they come from, not so much in the rest of Europe where the English are market leaders by a mile.

I recently traded out a surround package from the Karat series composed of the S8 DC floorstanders, de S1 surround backs and the center CS4. All of them add outstanding build quality, great minimalist looks with very high WAF (which is always a plus) and they did sound good, maybe not as good as they could because they were being fed by an entry-level Sony STR-DH550 A/V receiver which I don't think add enough muscle to do so.
 
lifer70 said:
I had a pair of 300's they sounded just as you described. Very good detail but not great bass.
Click to expand...

Interesting..! I thought they had a surprising amount of bass given their size.. but I did hear that they have a small hump in the low end which can give the illusion of having more bass than they actually do.

My current setup is the Goldenear Triton3/Rotel ra12... am I crazy to think that the brio 3/canton setup sounded better??? In comparison the goldenears sound muddled and a little flat and less interesting. Maybe it's the amp.
 
My fonums do not lack anything in the bass department, a big ol' 12" woofer in acoustic suspension, and they have a midrange dome that's brilliant.
I'm currently driving them with a lepai 100 wpc chipamp, the 7498.
 
jazzmans said:
My fonums do not lack anything in the bass department, a big ol' 12" woofer in acoustic suspension, and they have a midrange dome that's brilliant.
I'm currently driving them with a lepai 100 wpc chipamp, the 7498.
Click to expand...

Never heard that amp. So far I like the speakers a lot. Haven't had a chance to directly compare my Spendors and the Cantons.. I'm very interested to hear where these two stand together.
 
Hi Ben, Welcome to AK.

The Karat 300 was preceded by the Quinto 530 and followed by the Karat 60. I have some Quinto 510's, 520's, Karat 200's and Karat 60's, so I can at least give you some impressions from all around your 300's. First...(translated from HiFi Wiki)...

General
  • Manufacturer: Canton
  • Model: Karat 300
  • Production Years: 1986 - 1987
  • Produced in: Deutschland
  • Color: Black, White, Walnut
  • Measurements: 310 x 500 x 290 mm (WxHxD)
  • Weight: 13,8 kg
  • New Price ca.: 1300,- DM (MSRP, Pair) (considering inflation, probably at least 1200€ [my opinion])

Technical Data
  • Form: 3-Way closed, Compact loudspreaker (aka Bookshelf speaker)
  • Chassis:
    • Woofer: 260 mm Cone
    • Midrange: 38 mm Dome
    • Tweeter: 20 mm Dome
  • Loading: 90/130 W (RMS/Peak)
  • Sensitivity: 91,2 dB
  • Frequency Response: 25 - 30.000 Hz
  • Crossover points: 850 / 4.200 Hz
  • Impedence: 8 Ohm

I know that the Karat 100 & 200 were produced in both 4 and 8 ohm, I'm not sure about the 300. If so, and you ever need to look for replacement drivers on the bay, watch out for the difference and be sure to check the part number sticker on the driver magnet before buying. I know that the Quinto series uses the same tweeters and mids for the 510/520/530 (the 540 has a different mid). I'm not sure about these Karats except that the 4 ohm 100's and 200's use the same mids and tweeters. My 4 ohm 200's have a 2532 tweeter and a 2533 mid.

The 100/200/300's were produced in 2 series, the early ones have spring-push-type connectors and the second series with much better screw terminals with plastic caps. I don't know if the 2 series had any changes to the crossovers (a lot of the 80's - 90's models had running changes to the crossovers). The baffle cutouts for the tweeters and mids on the 100/200/300 are the same so it's easy to mirror the speakers if you want, I think that they have a little better imaging that way.

Canton bought their electrolytic capacitors from 2 firms made to custom (sometimes non-standard) specs. And the Wego caps used in a lot of their crossovers are only labelled with a part number and voltage spec. I've been trying to find the specs for a number of the caps that they used with only partial success so far. I wrote Canton Germany 3 weeks ago with a wish list of caps to find specs for and have never gotten an answer. So I'll be writing Canton USA in the near future to try my luck with them. If you open up your speakers let me know the part numbers on the caps and if I have the values I'll pass them on to you. The 200 at least has a MKT foil cap on the tweeter so that won't need to be replaced, hopefully the 300 is the same.

Afaik all of these '80s Cantons used long-throw woofers that did more work than their sizes alone would indicate. I also have some GL 260's and LE 600's and ALL of these different Cantons have much better bass than one would think considering their box size. And all have the wonderful Canton signature house sound: Very clear and clean, great imaging and great bass. Enjoy your speakers.

Cheers,
James
 
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I have a little pair of Plus S sitting on my desk at work and I really like them. Have never heard any of Canton's larger speakers but I'd like to.
 
N8Nagel said:
I have a little pair of Plus S sitting on my desk at work and I really like them. Have never heard any of Canton's larger speakers but I'd like to.
Click to expand...

Afaik the Plus S and Plus D are the follow on to the GL 210 and Gl 260 respectively. I have several pairs of GL 260's and love them. Great near field speakers.

Also, to Ben: Considering your earlier question, The Karat line was/is somewhat upscale, but not totl. The CT line was a little better, and the Ergo line sits up on top. The GLE line is a step down, with the Fonum in the entry level. That's my (relatively light) understanding of (some of) Canton's '80s - '90s lines.

Cheers,
James
 
Bratwurst7s said:
Afaik the Plus S and Plus D are the follow on to the GL 210 and Gl 260 respectively. I have several pairs of GL 260's and love them. Great near field speakers.

Also, to Ben: Considering your earlier question, The Karat line was/is somewhat upscale, but not totl. The CT line was a little better, and the Ergo line sits up on top. The GLE line is a step down, with the Fonum in the entry level. That's my (relatively light) understanding of (some of) Canton's '80s - '90s lines.

Cheers,
James
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AH interesting. Thanks James. I wasn't able to find any info online about these speakers so thanks for this.
 
Bratwurst7s said:
Afaik the Plus S and Plus D are the follow on to the GL 210 and Gl 260 respectively. I have several pairs of GL 260's and love them. Great near field speakers.

Also, to Ben: Considering your earlier question, The Karat line was/is somewhat upscale, but not totl. The CT line was a little better, and the Ergo line sits up on top. The GLE line is a step down, with the Fonum in the entry level. That's my (relatively light) understanding of (some of) Canton's '80s - '90s lines.

Cheers,
James
Click to expand...

Hey James, one more thing. Have you heard the Karat's next to the CT or Ergo similarly sized speakers? On the other hand I guess I should be happy with them given I paid $50 at a yard sale and they're in perfect shape...
 
Hi Ben, sorry for taking so long to reply, we had to put my wife in the hospital this week and I haven't had the time to be active here.

I'd say that for $50 in good condition you did quite well with your 300's.

Concerning the CT and Ergo, I haven't had any personal experience with them, but would like to. Our AK'er Autobahn has a pair of CT 1000 and would be a useful person to contact.
http://audiokarma.org/forums/index.php?threads/canton-ct-1000-recapping-refurbing.717364/

The CT's seem to have been made in 2 distinctly different forms. The CT 800, 1000, and 2000 are similar to the "bookshelf" form of the Karat 60 but larger and with upgrades. The CT 80, 90, 100 and 120 are a tower form with a front port. I have a friend that has a pair of 80's and he is very pleased with them.

Here are some links to HiFi Wiki's entries for the CT lines. The site is in German but anyone with an understanding of speaker specs should be able to extract the useful info from them.
http://www.hifi-wiki.de/index.php/Canton_CT_800
http://www.hifi-wiki.de/index.php/Canton_CT_80

Links to the rest of each of the 2 series are near the bottom of each page.

Now that you have had them for a little how do you like your 300's? Do consider pairing them with a Yamaha amp, they really compliment the clean and clear Canton sound.

Cheers,
James
 
Ben Rosser said:
I'm brand new to audiokarma and also relatively new to the hifi world. But.. I currently own a rotel ra-12 amp and golden ear triton 3's and a pair of Spendor sp3-1r2's. BUT I just picked up a pair of Canton Karat 300's from a yardsale and my first impression was that they sound AMAZING. I first listened to them with a friends Rega brio 3 but the detail and speed was astounding to me.

I can find very little about these online - has anyone had any experience with these speakers? Do you love them... or not love them? I'm excited about this find but don't really know anything about these or where they stand in Canton's lineup.

Thanks everyone. First post on AK
Click to expand...
Karat is the highest line of Canton from 80s. There are 3 sizes, 100, 200 and 300. I have 100 and 200 is on the way. I wander if i shoul go for 300. Amazing speakers. Very rare in Europe as well.
 
I got my sister and brother-in-law a NOS (still in the box with the tweeter protectors on them) pair of Canton Karat 30 two-way bookshelf speakers. They are superb. Not sure if they're earlier or later than the Karat x00 series.
 
cnolanh said:
I got my sister and brother-in-law a NOS (still in the box with the tweeter protectors on them) pair of Canton Karat 30 two-way bookshelf speakers. They are superb. Not sure if they're earlier or later than the Karat x00 series.
Click to expand...

The Karat 20/30/40/60 series was next in the line-up after the 100/200/300, produced from 1987-90. They were the first Karat's to feature metal dome tweeters, and after 1989 the first to be ported bass reflex rather than acoustic suspension.

Cheers,
James
 
Ben Rosser said:
I'm brand new to audiokarma and also relatively new to the hifi world. But.. I currently own a rotel ra-12 amp and golden ear triton 3's and a pair of Spendor sp3-1r2's. BUT I just picked up a pair of Canton Karat 300's from a yardsale and my first impression was that they sound AMAZING. I first listened to them with a friends Rega brio 3 but the detail and speed was astounding to me.

I can find very little about these online - has anyone had any experience with these speakers? Do you love them... or not love them? I'm excited about this find but don't really know anything about these or where they stand in Canton's lineup.

Thanks everyone. First post on AK
Click to expand...

Hey, I have a pair of these that I way overpaid for ($350 I believe) and after almost a year living with them, I know I would gladly have paid more. They're awesome. The only way I'm getting rid of them is if I get a chance to get some of the big floorstanders. CT-2000 I believe was the top Canton speaker of this era.
 
Love my Canton speakers AND subwoofer (currently > Plus S ~ GL-260 ~ AS85-SC).
Will always be on the search for more of this brand.
Very under-rated brand that flys under many folks radar.
Kinda hope it stays that way,LOL.

:thumbsup:

Bret P.
 
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