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Vintage Canton Speaker Pecking Order

Shug451

Shug451

Sansui Low-Powered Amp Guy
I've been looking at Canton speakers for a number of months, as they do come up occasionally in my area. I'm pretty confused as to the pecking order of the vintage models, however. There's the CT, Karat, and Quinto that I believe were all produced in the '80s. Then there's the newer Plus, Ergo, Fonum and CD lines. I'm particularly interested in how the CT, Quinto, and Karat models compare.

Thanks for any and all guidance.
-- Shug
 
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I will try to give a bit of perspective. Some of it will overlap.
HiFi Wiki is a pretty useful site for gaining an overview. It's in German but numbers are numbers and any reasonably educated English speaking audiophile should still be able get a basic understanding of what is there.
https://www.hifi-wiki.de/index.php/Canton_Lautsprecher

Very early on there was the LE series on top, and one lower level series whose name escapes me. From '72 to '75 the LE 600 was the top speaker, from '75 to '78 the larger LE 900 was top dog.

In 1978 the GLE 1st series replaced the LE's.

In1980 the Quinto line was started, replacing the early GLE series (note that there was/is a later GLE series that are completely different than the early ones) and ran until 1985.
The Quintos's were replaced with the Karat series starting in 1986 and subsequent models run until this day.
The GLE (1st), Quintos and Karats seem to have been the upper middle class but I'm not sure about what stood at TOTL from 1978 until the CT appeared. These series are all solid good performers.

In 1984 to 1986 the CT 1st series first appeared and was as far as I can tell 2nd tier TOTL. They ran until 1987/1990 depending on the specific model.
The CT 2nd series appeared starting in 1987, again there was some overlap.
The CT speakers are all high quality, similar to the Quinto and Karat but with better components (higher quality drivers and better crossover components).

On the other hand, there was/is the Ergo series. Aside from a single "Ergo" active speaker that was made in 1980-81 the Ergo replaced the CT models starting around 1990 as the TOTL speakers.

Sometime in the (late?) '80s(?) there were 2 Reference models, the 3000 and 6000. There is almost no information available about them but they have nothing to do with the later Reference series. A friend has a pair of the Reference 6000's and they are a fine little 2.5 way speaker (1x 25mm dome tweeter + 2x 6.5" mid/midbass).

The quality very small/satellite+sub sized speaker segment were covered with the GL lines starting in 1980. They were replaced with the Plus speakers starting in 1991.

The above are imho the best that Canton had to offer into the early 1990's. After the early 1990's I am actually not all that well educated about what was going on in the Canton world.

The Fonum series started in 1980 and was the entry/budget level of "full sized" bookshelf (and later on, floorstanding) speakers. These are reasonably good speakers but not up to the same quality level of the Quinto/Karat series.

The Nestor series speakers fit in there somewhere, but I am not at all educated about them, except to say that the very first Nestor active speaker appears to have been a TTOTL statement piece and only a handful of them were made.

I think that pretty much all of the other series cover budget, PC, small home theater market segments, at least until the early '90s, but there can easily be some little jewel that I have missed.

I hope that this is sufficiently confusing. We now return you to your regular programming.
James
 
Bratwurst7s said:
Forgot to mention, the sound is very good, at least for the better models. And even the lesser models are not crap.

Cheers,
James
Click to expand...

Wow, thanks so much for this, James. So as I understand it, in the '80s, the CT line was top dog. The Quinto line was 2nd tier during the first half of the decade and then the Karat line replaced them. So of the three, CT > Karat > Quinto? Sound about right?
 
Shug451 said:
Wow, thanks so much for this, James. So as I understand it, in the '80s, the CT line was top dog. The Quinto line was 2nd tier during the first half of the decade and then the Karat line replaced them. So of the three, CT > Karat > Quinto? Sound about right?
Click to expand...

Yep. Except that I would say that there is only a very small difference between the Quinto series and the 1st of the Karat's (100/200/300). You could call that 1st Karat lineup "product improved Quintos", mainly slightly larger cabinets and/or modified crossover points. With the Karat 20/30/40/60 lines they took a jump and are close to the 1st CT line. They are all good speakers.

The 2nd series CT's are much different than the 1st series, being all floorstanders. Of the 1st series CT only the CT 2000 is a floorstander, the 800 and 1000 are large bookshelf cabinets.

The CT lines evolved into the Ergo, which so far I have no experience with.

Cheers,
James
 
I have GLEs, Karats, CTs, Quintos, etc. The bass is much tighter in the Karats than the CTs. Although the CTs do dig deeper (not surprisingly). Interestingly I found my Quinto 530s brighter then my Karat 200s even though both use similar if not the same drivers. The must subtle variations is in CT-800, CT-1000, and CT-2000. I own all three in mahogany and these are my impressions. The CT-800 is the brightest of the three. Bass is not deep but its there and its strong. the CT-1000 is very midrange heavy with slightly better bass then the 800s. The 2000s are a whole different world. These have a large rear slot port. The driver barely moves yet produces enough bass to rumble my chair. Its a very balanced speaker but not as bright as the CT-800s (or CT-80s). As for cabinetry, Cantons came in Black, White, Black Ash, Oak, Walnut, flat mahogany, Glass Mahogany, and Gloss Black. the LE through Karat are all MDF unless they were ordered in Oak or Walnut. If they are painted, there is no veneer under the paint, just raw MDF. The CT and Ergo line will always have veneer under the finish regardless of if they are painted or stained. Keep this in mind if you ever want to refinish a set of Cantons. These are my thought on Cantons as I own many pairs. I've also restored a few. Happy to answer any questions.
 
Canton_kid said:
I have GLEs, Karats, CTs, Quintos, etc. The bass is much tighter in the Karats than the CTs. Although the CTs do dig deeper (not surprisingly). Interestingly I found my Quinto 530s brighter then my Karat 200s even though both use similar if not the same drivers. The must subtle variations is in CT-800, CT-1000, and CT-2000. I own all three in mahogany and these are my impressions. The CT-800 is the brightest of the three. Bass is not deep but its there and its strong. the CT-1000 is very midrange heavy with slightly better bass then the 800s. The 2000s are a whole different world. These have a large rear slot port. The driver barely moves yet produces enough bass to rumble my chair. Its a very balanced speaker but not as bright as the CT-800s (or CT-80s). As for cabinetry, Cantons came in Black, White, Black Ash, Oak, Walnut, flat mahogany, Glass Mahogany, and Gloss Black. the LE through Karat are all MDF unless they were ordered in Oak or Walnut. If they are painted, there is no veneer under the paint, just raw MDF. The CT and Ergo line will always have veneer under the finish regardless of if they are painted or stained. Keep this in mind if you ever want to refinish a set of Cantons. These are my thought on Cantons as I own many pairs. I've also restored a few. Happy to answer any questions.
Click to expand...
 
Canton_kid said:
I have GLEs, Karats, CTs, Quintos, etc. The bass is much tighter in the Karats than the CTs. Although the CTs do dig deeper (not surprisingly). Interestingly I found my Quinto 530s brighter then my Karat 200s even though both use similar if not the same drivers. The must subtle variations is in CT-800, CT-1000, and CT-2000. I own all three in mahogany and these are my impressions. The CT-800 is the brightest of the three. Bass is not deep but its there and its strong. the CT-1000 is very midrange heavy with slightly better bass then the 800s. The 2000s are a whole different world. These have a large rear slot port. The driver barely moves yet produces enough bass to rumble my chair. Its a very balanced speaker but not as bright as the CT-800s (or CT-80s). As for cabinetry, Cantons came in Black, White, Black Ash, Oak, Walnut, flat mahogany, Glass Mahogany, and Gloss Black. the LE through Karat are all MDF unless they were ordered in Oak or Walnut. If they are painted, there is no veneer under the paint, just raw MDF. The CT and Ergo line will always have veneer under the finish regardless of if they are painted or stained. Keep this in mind if you ever want to refinish a set of Cantons. These are my thought on Cantons as I own many pairs. I've also restored a few. Happy to answer any questions.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the info, Canton_kid. Certainly helps. Do you happen to own Quinto 540s? There's a pair for sale in my area, also a set of Karat 200s (4 ohm version), CT-1000s and a beat-up pair of CT-800s. Suddenly, it's raining Canton speakers. The Quinto 540s, Karat 200s, and CT800s are all around the same price. Would love to find some CT-2000s or CT-120s.

Looks like the CT-1000s are the older version, with the three drivers stacked.
Cheers,
Shug
 
Shug451 said:
Thanks for the info, Canton_kid. Certainly helps. Do you happen to own Quinto 540s? There's a pair for sale in my area, also a set of Karat 200s (4 ohm version), CT-1000s and a beat-up pair of CT-800s. Suddenly, it's raining Canton speakers. The Quinto 540s, Karat 200s, and CT800s are all around the same price. Would love to find some CT-2000s or CT-120s.

Looks like the CT-1000s are the older version, with the three drivers stacked.
Cheers,
Shug
Click to expand...
I own Quinto 530s and Karat 200s. Both 4 ohms. My CT-1000s are the 2nd version with the mid and tweeter side by side and the opening in the back for the midrange. CT-100s or CT-120s are next on my list. But finding the mahogany 2000s took years so I doubt ill find 100s or 120s any time soon. I should add that Mahogany, especially the gloss mahogany was a premium finish then. It was made to order on certain models. So finding Cantons in flat or glass (gloss) mahogany is rare as not many could afford the $ the finish required. On the 1000s and 2000s it was a 1,000$ option. So if you find any in mahogany, grab em. I wish it was raining Cantons here. Been pretty dull. Currently looking at some IQ Technik speakers and Magnats but thats about it. If you like Canton, I would encourage you to look at some of the others from the "Taunus family" such as Braun, Heco/Visonik, TSM, MB-Quart, WHD, etc. If you can post pics of the speakers in question (not the price) I can help you decide which ones have the best restoration potential. But based on the bunch you named, I would be focusing on the CT-1000s or 800s. The 1000s were my first cantons 4 years ago. I, just like James, have been hooked since. Lastly, here is a fastinating read on Canton and its connection to some of the brands mentioned. http://www.hifimuseum.de/der-taunus-sound.html

You will see that many of these engineers moved between firms creating a destinct sound and visual style that many associate with German Hifi. I personally cannot get enough of it.

Best,
Oliver
 
Here are the three amigos lined up: CT-800, CT-1000, and CT-2000. On the far left are some Braun L-1030s. Also have some CT-80 V2s in the same finish. Those are voiced much brighter as many of the later Cantons were.
 

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Bratwurst7s said:
I will try to give a bit of perspective. Some of it will overlap.
HiFi Wiki is a pretty useful site for gaining an overview. It's in German but numbers are numbers and any reasonably educated English speaking audiophile should still be able get a basic understanding of what is there.
https://www.hifi-wiki.de/index.php/Canton_Lautsprecher

Very early on there was the LE series on top, and one lower level series whose name escapes me. From '72 to '75 the LE 600 was the top speaker, from '75 to '78 the larger LE 900 was top dog.

In 1978 the GLE 1st series replaced the LE's.

In1980 the Quinto line was started, replacing the early GLE series (note that there was/is a later GLE series that are completely different than the early ones) and ran until 1985.
The Quintos's were replaced with the Karat series starting in 1986 and subsequent models run until this day.
The GLE (1st), Quintos and Karats seem to have been the upper middle class but I'm not sure about what stood at TOTL from 1978 until the CT appeared. These series are all solid good performers.

In 1984 to 1986 the CT 1st series first appeared and was as far as I can tell 2nd tier TOTL. They ran until 1987/1990 depending on the specific model.
The CT 2nd series appeared starting in 1987, again there was some overlap.
The CT speakers are all high quality, similar to the Quinto and Karat but with better components (higher quality drivers and better crossover components).

On the other hand, there was/is the Ergo series. Aside from a single "Ergo" active speaker that was made in 1980-81 the Ergo replaced the CT models starting around 1990 as the TOTL speakers.

Sometime in the (late?) '80s(?) there were 2 Reference models, the 3000 and 6000. There is almost no information available about them but they have nothing to do with the later Reference series. A friend has a pair of the Reference 6000's and they are a fine little 2.5 way speaker (1x 25mm dome tweeter + 2x 6.5" mid/midbass).

The quality very small/satellite+sub sized speaker segment were covered with the GL lines starting in 1980. They were replaced with the Plus speakers starting in 1991.

The above are imho the best that Canton had to offer into the early 1990's. After the early 1990's I am actually not all that well educated about what was going on in the Canton world.

The Fonum series started in 1980 and was the entry/budget level of "full sized" bookshelf (and later on, floorstanding) speakers. These are reasonably good speakers but not up to the same quality level of the Quinto/Karat series.

The Nestor series speakers fit in there somewhere, but I am not at all educated about them, except to say that the very first Nestor active speaker appears to have been a TTOTL statement piece and only a handful of them were made.

I think that pretty much all of the other series cover budget, PC, small home theater market segments, at least until the early '90s, but there can easily be some little jewel that I have missed.

I hope that this is sufficiently confusing. We now return you to your regular programming.
James
Click to expand...
Canton_kid said:
Here are the three amigos lined up: CT-800, CT-1000, and CT-2000. On the far left are some Braun L-1030s. Also have some CT-80 V2s in the same finish. Those are voiced much brighter as many of the later Cantons were.
Click to expand...
Bratwurst7s said:
Yep. Except that I would say that there is only a very small difference between the Quinto series and the 1st of the Karat's (100/200/300). You could call that 1st Karat lineup "product improved Quintos", mainly slightly larger cabinets and/or modified crossover points. With the Karat 20/30/40/60 lines they took a jump and are close to the 1st CT line. They are all good speakers.

The 2nd series CT's are much different than the 1st series, being all floorstanders. Of the 1st series CT only the CT 2000 is a floorstander, the 800 and 1000 are large bookshelf cabinets.

The CT lines evolved into the Ergo, which so far I have no experience with.

Cheers,
James
Click to expand...
Hi Brat,
Do you have any info on the ergo year models from early to latest, big to small. Much appreciated.
 
Bratwurst7s said:
I will try to give a bit of perspective. Some of it will overlap.
HiFi Wiki is a pretty useful site for gaining an overview. It's in German but numbers are numbers and any reasonably educated English speaking audiophile should still be able get a basic understanding of what is there.
https://www.hifi-wiki.de/index.php/Canton_Lautsprecher

Very early on there was the LE series on top, and one lower level series whose name escapes me. From '72 to '75 the LE 600 was the top speaker, from '75 to '78 the larger LE 900 was top dog.

In 1978 the GLE 1st series replaced the LE's.

In1980 the Quinto line was started, replacing the early GLE series (note that there was/is a later GLE series that are completely different than the early ones) and ran until 1985.
The Quintos's were replaced with the Karat series starting in 1986 and subsequent models run until this day.
The GLE (1st), Quintos and Karats seem to have been the upper middle class but I'm not sure about what stood at TOTL from 1978 until the CT appeared. These series are all solid good performers.

In 1984 to 1986 the CT 1st series first appeared and was as far as I can tell 2nd tier TOTL. They ran until 1987/1990 depending on the specific model.
The CT 2nd series appeared starting in 1987, again there was some overlap.
The CT speakers are all high quality, similar to the Quinto and Karat but with better components (higher quality drivers and better crossover components).

On the other hand, there was/is the Ergo series. Aside from a single "Ergo" active speaker that was made in 1980-81 the Ergo replaced the CT models starting around 1990 as the TOTL speakers.

Sometime in the (late?) '80s(?) there were 2 Reference models, the 3000 and 6000. There is almost no information available about them but they have nothing to do with the later Reference series. A friend has a pair of the Reference 6000's and they are a fine little 2.5 way speaker (1x 25mm dome tweeter + 2x 6.5" mid/midbass).

The quality very small/satellite+sub sized speaker segment were covered with the GL lines starting in 1980. They were replaced with the Plus speakers starting in 1991.

The above are imho the best that Canton had to offer into the early 1990's. After the early 1990's I am actually not all that well educated about what was going on in the Canton world.

The Fonum series started in 1980 and was the entry/budget level of "full sized" bookshelf (and later on, floorstanding) speakers. These are reasonably good speakers but not up to the same quality level of the Quinto/Karat series.

The Nestor series speakers fit in there somewhere, but I am not at all educated about them, except to say that the very first Nestor active speaker appears to have been a TTOTL statement piece and only a handful of them were made.

I think that pretty much all of the other series cover budget, PC, small home theater market segments, at least until the early '90s, but there can easily be some little jewel that I have missed.

I hope that this is sufficiently confusing. We now return you to your regular programming.
James
Click to expand...

Perfect...thanks for the info...never owned any but my friend has a set of super clean LE 403s bookshelf he's offered to sell me....do these have 6-8 inch bass woofer?
 
I have some LE109 and really like them. According to that webpage your LE103 would have been made around the same time as my LE109.
 
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