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We were invited to take a look at the Kanto Audio suite at CES by their PR firm, and the brand itself has been on my mind for a while now- offering good quality powered monitor speakers at various price points. This year they are bringing out their new high-end TUK powered speakers, which were first shown off last year, and the entire spec sheet reads like a must-have for many audio enthusiasts, including yours truly. The TUK comes in white or black color schemes, is rated at 130 W RMS for the pair, and features AMT tweeters with 5.25" aluminium concave cone drivers coupled with an on-board DSP and a Class D amp.
I/O includes Bluetooth 4.2 with Qualcoom AptX HD and AAC codec support for those who need it, but most will end up using one of the several wired options encompassing optical TOSLINK, RCA and Phone inputs, a USB DAC for us PC users, subwoofer out, and a headphone jack. So if you fancy connecting a turntable to it to play some old vinyls, go for it! Oh, it also has a USB charger to use with portable media players as well. Read past the break for more on the TUK and other Kanto Audio products we saw this past week.
The demo station had the TUK monitor speakers on either side of their previous flagship YU6 monitors in the center, with the former on their SP 32" stands and the latter on their SP 26" stands that are sold separately at $130/120 respectively. The YU6 priced at $399 sound really good, but the TUK somehow managed to make them sound average by comparison. To be clear, these are not studio monitors and instead tuned to allow for a wide soundstage, if you will, to "produce sparkling highs and rich bass" in their own words. The TUK will cost $799 when it is available for purchase early 2019, however, so it needed to do that much better to justify the price tag. We suspect many will still feel the TUK punches above its weight class and competes with 4-digit priced speakers in general, and recommend listening to them at a retail store if you get a chance.
Kanto also showed off a new subwoofer design that they are working on, and initially in the demo I was nearly convinced the subwoofer was connected and running alongside the TUK. It was thus all the more pleasantly surprising and commendable that the TUK was able to achieve the sound signature it did by itself. The rest of their suite had examples of their other powered and desktop speakers, as well as the recently announced SYD Bluetooth speakers.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site
I/O includes Bluetooth 4.2 with Qualcoom AptX HD and AAC codec support for those who need it, but most will end up using one of the several wired options encompassing optical TOSLINK, RCA and Phone inputs, a USB DAC for us PC users, subwoofer out, and a headphone jack. So if you fancy connecting a turntable to it to play some old vinyls, go for it! Oh, it also has a USB charger to use with portable media players as well. Read past the break for more on the TUK and other Kanto Audio products we saw this past week.
The demo station had the TUK monitor speakers on either side of their previous flagship YU6 monitors in the center, with the former on their SP 32" stands and the latter on their SP 26" stands that are sold separately at $130/120 respectively. The YU6 priced at $399 sound really good, but the TUK somehow managed to make them sound average by comparison. To be clear, these are not studio monitors and instead tuned to allow for a wide soundstage, if you will, to "produce sparkling highs and rich bass" in their own words. The TUK will cost $799 when it is available for purchase early 2019, however, so it needed to do that much better to justify the price tag. We suspect many will still feel the TUK punches above its weight class and competes with 4-digit priced speakers in general, and recommend listening to them at a retail store if you get a chance.
Kanto also showed off a new subwoofer design that they are working on, and initially in the demo I was nearly convinced the subwoofer was connected and running alongside the TUK. It was thus all the more pleasantly surprising and commendable that the TUK was able to achieve the sound signature it did by itself. The rest of their suite had examples of their other powered and desktop speakers, as well as the recently announced SYD Bluetooth speakers.
View at TechPowerUp Main Site
