Do you remember that famous photo of Picasso drawing with light in air? From the Light Drawings? Here, I’ll remind you:
Sometimes that’s exactly what it feels like when trying to describe the sound of a loudspeaker, especially so if we then imagine what that drawing in air would look like if different artists wielded that light—Pollack, Van Gogh, Beuys, Da Vinci, Dürer…Loudspeakers, you see, also make images in air, similarly fleeting images that light up our ears/mind/body and no sooner vanish into silence when the music’s over. Even after more than a half century of listening to music on the hifi there remains something magical and at times mystical about this experience and one thing reviewing has taught me over time is there’s no best way to make magic or art. There are in fact nearly as many ways as there are creators.
Germany’s Canton Elektronik was founded in 1972 by Günther Seitz, Achim Seitz, Oliver Hennel and Christoph Kraus where they set up shop in a former village school in Weilrod which remains the company headquarters and production facility along with component production facilities near Tachau in the Czech Republic. Canton employs about 120 people and offers 12 product lines which are exported to 53 countries around the world. When talking about Canton, we’re talking about a large, by hifi standards, company that comes with over 50 years of speaker building experience which remains a family-owned business.
The most striking thing, visually, about the Reference 2 under review is their curved cabinets which are “free from edges” as Canton describes them. While we’ve all seen curved cabinets before, these curves typically end at the more common use of a flat front baffle. The Reference 2 cabinets are made from a multi-layer laminate reinforced inside by “sophisticated damping and internal stiffening for low-resonance enclosures.” The review pair, which are finished in a lovely Walnut veneer, are very easy on the eyes and have an almost elegant and graceful appearance grounded by a black base that also houses a down-firing radiator with an opening around back.
The Reference 2 are a 3-way/4 driver bass reflex design with a driver compliment consisting of a 25mm aluminum ceramic oxyd tweeter, 174mm black ceramic tungsten midrange, and a pair of 219mm black ceramic tungsten woofers all told covering 19-40,000 Hz of the frequency range with an 88dB (2.83V/1m) sensitivity and 4-8 Ohm impedance according to Canton. These drivers live “in a 3-chamber system, offering perfectly sized volumes for each branch of the 3-way speaker design” and fit flush on the curved surface thanks to the use of Canton’s three-dimensional polyoxymethylene ASW (Asymetric Waveguide Ring) cover rings.
Around back you’ll see 2 sets of WBT Nextgen binding posts allowing for bi-wiring and bi-amping under two sets of level adjustments for the midrange and tweeter that raise or lower the associated output level in 1.5 decibel steps to suit room and taste. I’ll talk more about these very useful level adjustments shortly.
You may be wondering—why curves? And I’ll paraphrase Canton’s reasoning by saying, it’s the sound, silly. But the company claims these curves allow for optimized dispersion characteristics and I can say, based on listening, that the Reference 2s certainly offer a wider than normal sweet spot that extended beyond a single dead center position on the Barn’s A-Side Florence Knoll (knockoff) couch.
In terms of set up, I found that close attention to every aspect of speaker set up—distance to walls/boundaries, toe-in, and tweaking using those level adjustments—transformed the Reference 2’s performance from impressive to outstanding. The fact of the matter is this is the case for most if not all speakers and if you haven’t spent real time positioning your speakers in your room, where an inch can make a mile of difference, odds are you’re not hearing them at their best.
All that said, the Reference 2’s transformation was a bit more dramatic than the norm in part due to pumping up the tweeter level by 1.5dB by simple unscrewing the associated lugs, moving the connecting plate, and screwing the lugs back into place. Prior to that adjustment, and it’s worth noting Canton also refers to these level adjustments as Room Compensation, the Reference 2s initially sounded a bit dark for my taste. I will also note that I spent real time getting the distance to the front wall just right so the prodigious bass, and do mean prodigious!, was tight and clean as opposed to diffuse and boomy. The midrange sounded just right as delivered in the “0” position so no adjustment was necessary.
Which makes me wonder, out loud, about drawing conclusions when it comes to unfamiliar systems in unfamiliar rooms like at hifi shows where many a show goer, and reviewer, come to conclusions about speaker and component performance without the benefits of knowing what they’re really talking about since things like the room, speaker placement, associated gear, and music selection are what we’re actually hearing. I’ve heard the same gear in the same room go from bad to great by simply moving the speakers around.
The Cantons spent the majority of their Barn time powered by the review Pathos InPol Heritage MKII Integrated Amplifier (more info) as well as the Soulution 331 Integrated Amplifier (more info) that offer 80 Watts into 8 Ohms and 120 Watts into 8 Ohms and double that in to 4 respectively. I think it’s safe to say that the Reference 2 benefit from stable high quality relatively high power amplification. SETs need not apply. Front end duties went to the Barn resident Grimm MU1 (review)/totaldac d1-unity (review) combo with all AudioQuest cabling tying everything together including their ThunderBird Zero speaker cables (see full system and barn details).
Having studied fine art for years, I received a BA in studio art from Bennington College, and still study and practice most days, there’s no doubt that the more we know about the history of art and the context within which a work was created the more there is to appreciate in the experiencing. I would say something similar when it comes to hifi where experience can better inform the appreciation of difference. As opposed to a never ending quest for the best. To my mind and in this context, writing a review is more like visiting a museum than shopping.
The Modern Lovers self titled debut arrived in 1976 on Beserkley Records and contains the song “Pablo Picasso” which begins with these lyrics…
Some people try to pick up girls and get called assholes
This never happened to Pablo Picasso
He could walk down your street and girls could not resist to stare, and so
Pablo Picasso was never called an asshole
..flung out over jangly guitar by singer, songwriter, and guitarist Jonathan Richman accompanied by Ernie Brooks (bass guitar, backing vocals), Jerry Harrison (piano, organ, backing vocals), and David Robinson (drums, backing vocals). “Pablo Picasso” was covered some 18 times, according to Roon’s metadata, by an interesting list of rock royalty including David Bowie and Iggy Pop solo live playing with only 4 strings on his guitar while adding his own lyrics. The Modern Lovers is a beautiful simple slice of proto-punk kinda dumb (like a fox) goodness, dissecting rock ’n roll into its most basic bits and listening through the album through the Canton Reference 2s begged me to hit on one of their many strengths hard—they love to play loud. While some loudspeakers sound more like quietspeakers, the Reference 2s get better as they play louder, never sounding forced or harsh, and even this not so great sounding record blasted in Barn was pure head bobbing bliss.
The Reference 2’s also do a wonderful job with deeper largely acoustic music and with them properly situated on the Barn’s A-Side with their aluminum ceramic oxyd tweeter tweaked up a notch, ØXN’s 2023 album CYRM was earthy, deep, and darkly delightful. ØXN [pron. ox-en] includes Lankum’s Radie Peat and producer John “Spud” Murphy, singer/keyboardist/guitarist Katie Kim, and drummer Eleanor Myler of experimental rock band Percolato.
From the liner notes:
Try to imagine the missing link between Enya, Ennio Morricone, Richard Dawson and Neu! And then add a pinch of something you never thought of and you’ll start to have a sense of this gloriously unique sonic universe which ØXN inhabit.
I’ve written about my love for Lankum before, including their self-titled debut (link) and 2023’s Flase Lankum (link) and Radie Peat’s voice and the band’s “sense of heaviness and just that crushing, apocalyptic drone” and while ØXN adds more flavors, heaviness is still key here and the Reference 2s do heavy particularly well with physicality, deep rich bass, and live-like sparkle. This is the kind of music you want to be enveloped within so you feel as if you’re breathing in its space and place and the Reference 2 do a commanding job of throwing out a huge solid sound image that easily and convincingly escapes well free of the speaker’s physical form.
I admit it took me a little time to relax into the Reference 2’s presentation because it is unusual in the way they release energy into the room (or Barn) which is more detached from the speaker than typical box speakers without lacking energy, focus, or physicality. This gets me back to my earlier comment about the References 2’s wider than normal sweet spot which also translates into a greater sense of music emanating from the space around the speaker than from the speaker itself than I’m used to. And this is in no way a negative, rather it just took a little time to ease into and once I did, it was enjoyment all the way down. Nice.
I can’t seem to get enough of the deep groove found in Jeff Parker’s latest The Way Out of Easy and it tickles my brain and body with its fresh playful funk no matter how many times I listen through. Featuring guitarist Jeff Parker, alto saxophonist Josh Johnson, bassist Anna Butterss, and drummer Jay Bellerose, Easy was recorded live on January 2nd, 2023 at ETA in Los Angeles where this ‘IVtet’ had been playing together for 7 years and it shows. Care was also taken in the recording by Bryce Gonzales which also shows in the album’s superb sound. Here interplay, delicacy, time, and timing are essential ingredients and the Canton Reference 2s proved more than up to the task.
Getting back to their larger center of energy presentation, this can be heard, especially when compared to the Gauder Akustik Capello 100 that are also here for review (more info), as a subtle softening of dynamic impact but the Capello 100s do dynamics as well as I’ve heard. But I need to be careful as the Canton’s do not sound soft or lacking, rather their impactfulness is less tied to the speaker because it seems to emanate from the surrounding space.
A quick run through my Favorite Speakers finds the similarly priced Vivid Audio Kaya K45 (review) and Volti Rival SE (review) and if you need any further proof that there as many ways as creators to make outstanding loudspeakers, I’m not sure we live in the same reality. The only way to know which of these speakers is best for you is to experience them for yourself.
When a system connects me to music in a direct and seamless manner, I tend to cue up the duets. Specifically vocal duets and there’s a bunch that saw repeated play through the Reference 2 during their stay. These included the worth-the-price-of-the-entire-album “Nature’s Child” by S.G. Goodman and Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy from Cardinals at the Window, “Bittersweet, Tennessee” by Kevin Morby with Erin Rae from More Photographs (A Continuum), and “The World is Dangerous” by Hurray for the Riff Raff with Coner Oberst from The Past is Still Alive. Here, all of the Reference 2s strengths ring out from their ability to create believable singers in space in a you are there or they are here kind of intimacy and engagement.
The Reference 2s also allowed the accompanying amplifier’s particular qualities to shine through, something I view as a major positive. The Pathos and Soulution are both wonderful sounding integrated amplifiers but they don’t sound the same and you can hear their differences through the Canton’s without the need for furrowed brow listening intensity. Of course I’ll talk about these amps in their own reviews so I’m not going to dig into comparing them here except to say that both drove the Reference 2s exceptionally well.
Maybe I’ve save the best for last. Engleskyts was recorded in the Abbey Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, Weissenau, Germany and released in 1994 on CD by Kirkelig Kulturverksted. Based on Norwegian folk songs, Anne-Lise Bernsten’s vocals and Nils Henrik Asheim’s improvisations on the 1787 Holzhey pipe organ are odd and otherworldly soaring into the heights of Abbey Church and reaching into the depths of the Holzhey pipe organ with a kind of folk meets free jazz vibe. I first heard this stunning music on NPR’s New Sounds with John Schaefer back when it was released and ordered the CD from Norway soon thereafter. Whoever hand wrote my address on the shipping label messed up and the CD was delivered to someone nearby, albeit a stranger that lived down a very long private dirt road who was kind enough to look me up (in the phone book) and call me (on a land line) to let me know they had my CD. When I drove over to pick it up, the person opened their front door just wide enough to slip the CD through and then promptly closed it without a word. Kinda perfect.
This is a very well recorded album that pairs soprano, church organ, and the space of the place and the Reference 2s sounded as if they were made to reproduce it, shaking the Barn’s loose bits with church organ-deep bass and the kind of clarity and richness that feels more real than reproduced while re-building a sound image with vaulted ceilings reaching into the heavens. Glorious.
The Canton Reference 2 made listening feel essential, physically convincing, and as moving and powerful as the music they expertly sculpted in space, even music that lives and dies by deep, deep bass, even when played as loud as loud can be. The Reference 2s are also beautifully made, graceful looking, and offer basic yet very effective level adjustment that helps mate them to room and taste. Couple these strengths with Canton’s 50+ year old family owned business history and we have another strong favorite and highly recommended speaker. Bravo!
Canton Reference 2 Floorstanding Speaker
Price: $22,000/pair
Company Website: Canton
North American Distributor Website: Bluebird Music
Specifications
Acoustic principle: 3-way Bass reflex system
Principle passive resonator: Bass reflex
Radiation direction resonator: Downfire
Tweeter quantity: 1
Tweeter size: 25 mm
Tweeter material: Aluminum ceramic oxyd
Midrange driver quantity: 1
Midrange driver size: 174 mm
Midrange driver material: Black ceramic tungsten (Wave surround)
Woofer quantity: 2
Woofer size: 219 mm
Woofer material: Black ceramic tungsten
Nominal load capacity: 370 watts
Music load capacity: 630 watts
Transmission range: 19…40.000 Hz
Crossover frequencies: 160 / 3.000 Hz
Impedance: 4…8 ohm
Level adjustment: yes
Efficiency 2.83V/1m: 88 db
