Canton CT-1000/2 Three way Speakers

I heard a set of these at NEBO 14 (North East Bake Off #14) held in Hartlepool February 2024.

mik_rik of this parish had taken them and along with most of the audience, I was blown away by them.

They have sweet highs, fleshed out mids and deep bass, what's not to like.

Canton is not a make I was familiar with, thought they might be Chinese, but no, they are a family owned business in Germany, still going today.

The CT-1000 came in two editions as can be seen in this picture.

https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_09.jpg


The original series had the Mid-range and Tweeter drivers mounted side by side, the mid range had a rear vented chamber and the input terminals were spring loaded.

The second series had the tweeter mounted above the mid range and no vent at the rear. The spring terminals were replaced with proper binding posts.

Both used the same 12" bass driver in a sealed cabinet of the same volume.

Here are some pictures of my series two, though they don't do the finish justice, which for a roughly 1986 product, has been very well looked after. I was on tender hooks waiting for these to arrive, the German seller had no boxes and advertised them as collection only. I arranged for them to be picked up and packed for shipment to the UK and was concerned the finish may not survive the journey. With text book German efficiency, they arrived without a scratch.


https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_01.jpg


https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_02.jpg


https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_06.jpg


https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_03.jpg


https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_04.jpg


https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_05.jpg


https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_08.jpg

These were obviously aimed at competing with the Yamaha NS-1000m, a similar sized 3-Way speaker, using a 12" woofer in a sealed box.
Having both at my disposal, I would say, the Canton is the better of the two, certainly for home listening, a more relaxed presentation, yet just as dynamic and with a much deeper bass.

I did not realise you were going for some "old School" Canton speakers Ken but I must say looking at your mini review would suggest they deliver a very compelling performance. Nice to have 12" bass drivers so they must have a bit of guts in the bass department?

Interesting review. I had not heard of Canton, but if they can stand comparison with Yamaha NS-1000 speakers they must be pretty good.

How much do they go for Ken?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jimbo

I did not realise you were going for some "old School" Canton speakers Ken but I must say looking at your mini review would suggest they deliver a very compelling performance. Nice to have 12" bass drivers so they must have a bit of guts in the bass department?

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Hi James, yes roughly 1986, though they look like new. Bass is very good, nice detail and texture, can hit hard and goes very deep.
All round, it's a very, very good speaker and has slipped under the radar for some time, word is out now though.
Just waiting on a pair of Neurochrome 686 Monoblocks, which is a marriage made in heaven. Ali drove Micks Canton speakers with his 686 mono's and it was superb.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Barry

Interesting review. I had not heard of Canton, but if they can stand comparison with Yamaha NS-1000 speakers they must be pretty good.

How much do they go for Ken?

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Back in the 80's they retailed for about 2,000dm and the piano finish like mine for 2,500dm which converts roughly to Euros. So not a cheap model.
They are very rare in UK but are seen reasonably often in Germany (home market), the United States and strangely enough, old Iron Curtain countries.
I got a link to mine through hifishark.com
A Black or Satin wood finish go for £400/500, piano finish £600/700 in good condition. I've seen a couple of slightly tatty but fully functioning black pairs go for 285 and 300 Euro.
Like most large speakers (21kg each) they tend to be collection only and being the age they are, have no shipping cartons. I had to pay for collection in Germany, the company (MBE) arrived by car, wrapped the speakers in blankets, put them in the boot and took them back to their depot for packing. Fedex then brought them to my address in the UK. This process, cost nearly as much as the speakers, but the examples I have are mint and well worth the money in my view.
They are cheaper than NS-1000m but for domestic listening, I think they are better. Not as forward at the top end, so more amp tolerant and that deep bass which is lacking in the Yams.

They look very tidy Ken - well worth the money.

When I hooked up Mik's ones at NEBO (they had been hidden over by the bar under a pile of empty boxes) I thought they might be decent, but they turned out to be a lot better than decent.

I was googling to see if there were any more up for sale in the UK almost right away!

There's a few threads about them on Audiokarma if anyone wants to know more.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Macca

They look very tidy Ken - well worth the money.

When I hooked up Mik's ones at NEBO (they had been hidden over by the bar under a pile of empty boxes) I thought they might be decent, but they turned out to be a lot better than decent.

I was googling to see if there were any more up for sale in the UK almost right away!

There's a few threads about them on Audiokarma if anyone wants to know more.

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Yeh, I saw some some of the threads there, about re capping the crossover etc. There is also Canton owners club on AVS forum covering the older models.

I'll keep my eyes open, let you know if any come up for sale in the UK.

They look brand new! Nice score Ken, very nice sounding speakers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ali Tait

They look brand new! Nice score Ken, very nice sounding speakers.

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Thanks Ali, Yeh they don't come up very often in this kind of condition. It was worth the effort involved in arranging a third party collection and packing service.
I will be taking these to the Maverick Show (Ex WAM) in October.

Won’t be there, but next NEBO maybe?

Well I will hope to be at NEBO 15 as well.
I've been to every one bar the first one, as I didn't know about it until I saw a write up on here.
Joe will be well on with my Monoblocks, looking forward to that pairing.

Yes they sounded very good together.

Looks like you've done ok there Ken

Let me know if you rebuild the xovers,do not know to do mine or leave well enough alone ,they are almost 40yrs old but they still sound good, especially with my 10w el84 mono's

cheers Mick

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mik_rik

Looks like you've done ok there Ken

Let me know if you rebuild the xovers,do not know to do mine or leave well enough alone ,they are almost 40yrs old but they still sound good, especially with my 10w el84 mono's

cheers Mick

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Hi Mick,
Well they're very shiny!
They sound good to, so like you I am tempted to leave the crossovers alone.

I noticed the binding posts are just white metal and the internal hook up wire is just single strand bell wire, those are likely candidates for improvement, without harm.

There are a few variations around for the crossover, I don't know which I have as yet. One type has a separate protection circuit PCB mounted in one corner of the XO board.
The Tweeter series Cap, is a basic MKT Polyester Film Cap on most pictures and schematics I've seen. A decent Film cap here, or even a Foil, should not adversely affect the voicing, but should smooth and clean up the top end, not that its poor to start with.
The resistors are basic items, Jantzen Superes or mills MRA could replace these without upsetting things and maybe take a smidge of grain out.
The inductors seem fine and I would be tempted to leave the other Electro Caps alone.

These are only thoughts at present, till I get the Monoblocks and have a good listen, I'm not sure what, if anything, I'll do.
I might just pull the XO's and draw up the circuit I have installed. Maybe measure some of the parts, I can measure ESR on the Electro Caps at 3 set frequencies, using DATS (Dayton Audio Test system). Might be worth doing, in case they ever fail or go off spec and need replacing (presuming they are still in spec).
I can measure the inductors for wire gauge, inductance and DCR.
Or I might just leave well alone, it's early days, I'm not rushing in on these.

Gots ta say, i was blown away by these at NEBO bt these muthaz.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Floyddroid

Gots ta say, i was blown away by these at NEBO bt these muthaz.

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I think we were all surprised by them Steve, hence the lengths I went to, to secure a pair.
Mick (mik-rik) keeps surprising us that way, wonder what he'll bring next time. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Qwin

I think we were all surprised by them Steve, hence the lengths I went to, to secure a pair.
Mick (mik-rik) keeps surprising us that way, wonder what he'll bring next time. :D

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Hi Ken
trying to get the wife to come - I like rock music , but her choices will definately blow the cobwebs away,and Im not joking:)

Look forward to the next one. :-)

Hi Ken.

The Cantons look fantastic! My sort of speaker ... I guess they work nicely close to a wall?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mik_rik

Hi Ken
trying to get the wife to come - I like rock music , but her choices will definately blow the cobwebs away,and Im not joking:)

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Well that would make a refreshing change, not enough rock played in my opinion.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by petrat

Hi Ken.

The Cantons look fantastic! My sort of speaker ... I guess they work nicely close to a wall?

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Yes Peter, like all closed box speakers, they work well close to walls, but a bit of space helps.

Well, I've been missing from the hifi scene for a while, but getting back on track.
I've made some stands for the Canton Speakers, which allow the Neurochrome Monoblocks to sit underneath.
So sorted for NEBO 15.

This is how they work with the Amps:

https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_10.jpg





And this is how they turned out, freshly painted this morning:

https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_15.jpg
.
.
.
.
.
https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_16.jpg

One of the speakers on its stand, with the 600mm Atlas Hyper Bi-Wire speaker cable I made up to suit.



https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_17.jpg

My Neurochrome 686 Monoblocks sit between the legs of the stands and they look well together, I need to get some hours on this set up as the Amps and leads have less than 10 hours use. The four caps in each power supply total 188,000uF and will need a bit of running in.


My full Canton story can be found Here: https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/CT_01.html

How are the Cantons working out for you then Ken?

Hi Martin
I've been away from home for 3 months so not heard them.
When I get the stands in place I get to hear them for only the third time since they arrived.
Will report back in due course.

Okey doke.

They look smart enough to be shop bought, and an interesting design. What are they made of?

Thanks Steve,
They are just 45 x 70mm softwood (Wickes), pinned at the top joints, with 12 mm dowels.
25mm dowels for cross rails.
No fixings just glued and clamped.
Finished in Ebony Black stain, followed by Satin Black Acrylic paint, applied with a brush and roller.
Some pictures of the build on my blog, linked at the bottom of my post #22.
There will be four neoprene rubber discs stuck to the top bars for the speakers to sit on.

I like the idea of close coupling the speakers with the amplifier for each channel, so as to minimise speaker cable length

It is the arrangement I use. In fact the speaker cables could be as short as 6", but I keep them all at 1 metre long.

Lovely job you have made of the speaker stands. Well done!

Thanks Barry
Yes short speaker leads seemed a good idea, mine are 600mm in length.
I gave the stands a second coat of paint this morning. There is know less tonal difference between the end grain and planed faces of the timber. So harder to see the join etc.

I need to make some transport cases now, to protect that piano gloss finish on the speaker cabinets, when traveling to bake offs etc.

Couple of extra pictures of the speakers on their stands added to post #22.

Just seen your added pictures Ken, and they look great, nice and compact. A good idea well executed. Look forward to seeing and hearing these at the next NEBO.

Nice work guvenor!

Thanks Steve
I should be giving them an airing at the Maverick Show (Ex WigWam) on Sunday Oct 27th as well.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Firebottle

Nice work guvenor!

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:thumbsup:

Managed to make some transit cases for the speakers.


https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_19.jpg


https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_20.jpg

That's the foam lining fitted, with one speaker in place, phew they fit :)

If anyone is going, I'll be showing the Cantons and my Neurochrome 686 Monoblocks etc at the Maverick Show (Ex WigWam) on Sunday Oct 27th in Room 231.

Its free for visitors this year!

Location: Holiday Inn - Dodworth (Barnsley) S75 3JT.
Just off the M1 J37.

If I can remember the room number I’ll see you and have a listen .. they look cracking and certainly sounded good at NEBO

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Swann36

If I can remember the room number I’ll see you and have a listen .. they look cracking and certainly sounded good at NEBO

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:thumbsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Swann36

If I can remember the room number I’ll see you and have a listen .. they look cracking and certainly sounded good at NEBO

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You could always check the room/kit listing you should be able to get from reception, or try and visit every room!

Sent from my HEY2-W09 using Tapatalk

Hello Ken,

I would like to thank you for introducing the Canton CT1000. I did some research and decided to get them. There is some Canton stuff on local sales sites every week (in Finland).
But the CT1000 took almost two months.
Found a white pair of CT1000/2. Had to drive 460 km tp get them. Price was reasonable 280 euros.

Happy with them. But having problems with mids. One mid driver has bad coil rub. I could have both mids repaired later.
Now using Dayton Audio SIG120-4 mid drivers. They fit well, even two original screws align. Compared to original mids these have more modern mid sound and technology.

Crossovers
Started recapping. Canton prints their own parts numbers on the circuit board. There is a big list on Audiokarma on respective caps and their parts numbers. My speakers have sequential serial numbers,
but different brand of caps. Ordered new caps from German Visaton.

Speaker terminals
I replaced the original terminals with ones that take banana plugs. The plastic holder comes loose with heat gun. It is glued on the bottom of the routed hole. Some woodwork is needed to fit new terminals.

Are these better than NS1000?? Time will tell. Anyway fun speakers with fantastic bass.
I am a long time active NS1000 user...

Listening equipment:
Daphile streamer on mini-itx old Celeron processor
USB to Sp/dif converter Douk Audio U2
RME ADI-2 dac (the first ADI-2 from 2010)
Electrocompaniet EC4 pre
Genelec 1067A AB amplifier from about 1980.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Juha

Hello Ken,

I would like to thank you for introducing the Canton CT1000. I did some research and decided to get them. There is some Canton stuff on local sales sites every week (in Finland).
But the CT1000 took almost two months.
Found a white pair of CT1000/2. Had to drive 460 km tp get them. Price was reasonable 280 euros.

Happy with them. But having problems with mids. One mid driver has bad coil rub. I could have both mids repaired later.
Now using Dayton Audio SIG120-4 mid drivers. They fit well, even two original screws align. Compared to original mids these have more modern mid sound and technology.

Crossovers
Started recapping. Canton prints their own parts numbers on the circuit board. There is a big list on Audiokarma on respective caps and their parts numbers. My speakers have sequential serial numbers,
but different brand of caps. Ordered new caps from German Visaton.

Speaker terminals
I replaced the original terminals with ones that take banana plugs. The plastic holder comes loose with heat gun. It is glued on the bottom of the routed hole. Some woodwork is needed to fit new terminals.

Are these better than NS1000?? Time will tell. Anyway fun speakers with fantastic bass.
I am a long time active NS1000 user...

Listening equipment:
Daphile streamer on mini-itx old Celeron processor
USB to Sp/dif converter Douk Audio U2
RME ADI-2 dac (the first ADI-2 from 2010)
Electrocompaniet EC4 pre
Genelec 1067A AB amplifier from about 1980.

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I hope you like them?
There are some variants in crossover design and component brands. I've noticed this on posted pictures by owners.
I still haven't opened mine up yet. When I do, I'll do a circuit diagram and measure the values if not stated on the parts. I'll check these against Canton parts lists and part numbers.
The tweeter series caps don't look anything special on the photographs I've seen and is listed as a Polyester on one parts list. A good Polypropylene film or even a foil cap might do better here. Upgrade the internal wire as well while you have them appart.
Cheers

Canton CT1000 crossover recap done. Original caps were pretty decent 120 was 131, 15 was 17, 47 was 51 and mkt 4.7 was 4.8. My multimeter does not do ESR. Replaced all of them with Visaton crossover caps. A full set for two speakers was 30 eur.
Difficult to say if this made any difference. Fun fact: bass is in normal phase, mid and tweeter are reverse phase.
Measured with computer and REW. Looking good from 50hz to 18k. Line goes within 3-5 db corridor. My Dayton Audio mid is 3 db too quiet. Tweeter starts to climb after 10k, This is ok, since I cant hear anything above 14k anyway.

Yes, these are nice and interesting speakers. I like tinkering with amps and eq systems.

Update

I eventually opened up the Cantons and did a refresh of some, nearly 40 year old parts.

I mapped the circuit and made this diagram, its a slight variation on earlier versions.

https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_22.jpg


This was the x-over fitted.

https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_21.jpg


And this was the x-over with the new parts installed.

https://www.jkwynn.co.uk/CT_1000/Pics/CT_25.jpg

I went for "like for like" replacements. There was only one film cap fitted, in series with the tweeter, I put a better quality one there and replaced the ceramic resistor on the tweeter with a mills MRA05. The main upgrade was that I used parts that were closer to the target values as can be seen in my measurements below.

Measured Caps and Resistor Values
(Right hand speaker)

(Target) Old New

C1 (120uF) 145.9 120.7 Mundorf ECap Raw Electrolytic 35V
C2 (47uF) 51.72 47.45 Mundorf ECap Plain Electrolytic 70V
C3 (15uF) 16.22 15.00 Mundorf ECap Plain Electrolytic 70V
C4 (4.7uF) 4.601 4.776 Obbligato Copper Series Poypropylene 630V

R1 (1.5ohm) 1.479 1.501 Jantzen 10W Superes
R2 (47ohm) 46.17 46.84 Jantzen 10W Superes
R3 (1.8ohm) 1.759 1.784 Mills MRA 12W
R4 (0.27ohm) 0.2547 0.2672 Mills MRA 05W

The basic White metal binding posts where changed, to Laboratory grade Hirschmann 35Amp banana sockets.
The internal wiring has also been improved. I fitted Atlas Hyper 2.0 speaker cable, from the posts to X-Over and from X-Over to Bass Driver. The Midrange and Tweeter drivers were connected with Atlas Hyper 1.5. These cables use high purity copper wrapped in Teflon and are my go-to speaker cables, I use the same cable inside the cabinet as I do from amp to speaker, I just scale down the thickness slightly for these short internal runs.

That's it for the speakers, nothing fancy in the refresh and they sound great.
The like for like refresh didn't change the basic sound signature, just a little bit more separation and slightly cleaner top end, but very small changes, they sounded good in the first place. These will probably see me out now, definitely my keepers.

I guess C1 being 20 percent out could well matter. The rest seem pretty close for 40 years old!

I still remember listening to 'Ruby Baby' off The Nightfly on these at NEBO, extraordinarily good. Canton really did get them just exactly right.

I like the NS1000M a lot but I agree with you I would take these over them for the same reasons.

I had nothing new to bring this year,could take mine next year.Checked and they are mk2's also.Could fetch my Verdik Q10 valve amps I use with them also.
Mick

Quote:

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Originally Posted by mik_rik

I had nothing new to bring this year,could take mine next year.Checked and they are mk2's also.Could fetch my Verdik Q10 valve amps I use with them also.
Mick

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:thumbsup:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Macca

I guess C1 being 20 percent out could well matter. The rest seem pretty close for 40 years old!

I still remember listening to 'Ruby Baby' off The Nightfly on these at NEBO, extraordinarily good. Canton really did get them just exactly right.

I like the NS1000M a lot but I agree with you I would take these over them for the same reasons.

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:thumbsup: