December 2002 Reviewed by Anthony Di Marco	Canton Ergo Home-Theater Speaker System

Description Model: Ergo 900 DC speakers Price: $2000 USD per pair Dimensions: 40.4"H x 9.1"W x 12.1"D Weight: 56 pounds each Model: Ergo 300 DC surrounds Price: $1250 USD per pair Dimensions: 15.7"H x 8.7"W x 12.1"D Weight: 18 pounds each Model: Ergo CM 500 DC center-channel Price: $750 USD Dimensions: 22.0"H x 14.2"W x 17.6"D Weight: 28 pounds Model: Ergo AS 2 SC subwoofer Price: $1500 USD Dimensions: 16"H x 15"W x 14"D Weight: 69 pounds System price: $5500 USD Warranty: Five years parts and labor

Features SC technology (AS 2 SC) DC technology (900 DC, 300 DC, CM 500 DC) Aluminum-manganese alloy-dome tweeters, with integrated voice coil and former structure for high power handling and linearity (900 DC, 300 DC, CM 500 DC) High-excursion aluminum-manganese alloy midrange drivers (900 DC, 300 DC, CM 500 DC) Polypropylene woofers (900 DC) Polyester-reinforced 12" paper woofer (AS 2 SC) CE-certified gold-plated binding posts (will only accept bare wire) Biwire capable (900 DC and 300 DC) Wood veneers with solid, mortised corners Video shielding (900 DC, 300 DC, CM 500 DC)

Located in a suburb of Frankfurt, Germany, Canton operates one of the largest speaker-building operations in Europe. They design and produce all of their own drivers, crossovers, and cabinetry at their headquarters -- producing finished products that appear to be extremely well made and thoroughly designed. Canton regards the Ergo line as the most musically accurate speakers in their class -- a bold claim, and one that Home Theater & Sound had to investigate.

System and setup

The Ergo speakers feature a wood-veneer finish and rounded, solid mortised corners. These qualities, along with their perforated, black metal grilles, combine to form a very attractive loudspeaker system ($5500 USD). The company’s trademark grille gives the speaker a unique and upscale appearance while also serving as durable protection for the drivers. I did all my listening with the acoustically transparent grilles installed.

The Ergo 900 DC is a solidly built, three-way floorstanding loudspeaker sporting two 8" bass drivers, a single 7" midrange, and a 1" dome tweeter. While the bass drivers are made of polypropylene, the midrange and tweeter drivers are made of a very strong and rigid aluminum-manganese alloy. According to the company, this particular alloy is used to eliminate any "ringing" distortion the aluminum driver may produce. Bass tuning is done via a 3" flared front port, while connections are via single or biwired CE-certified binding posts. Also included are metal-cone footers in lieu of the typical rug-piercing spikes -- a nice touch for those who don’t like to make Swiss cheese out of their carpeting. Canton specifies the Ergo 900 DC’s frequency response as 42Hz to 23kHz (-3dB). Their sensitivity is reportedly 88.3dB at 1m with 1W of input.

The Ergo 900 DCs proved to be exceedingly easy to position. Crossing the AS 2 SC over at 80Hz allowed the 900 DCs to be placed closer to the rear wall without muddying the midrange or bass. Removing the AS 2 SC from the chain made it necessary to move the 900 DCs 3’ out from the wall, otherwise the midrange and bass lacked a bit of definition. Users should also be aware that Canton engineers their speakers to have flat off-axis frequency response. They can be a little bit bright if the speaker is toed-in to the listening position, therefore I did all my listening with the Cantons positioned so that they were parallel with the rear walls.

The two-way 300 DC compact speakers and the CM 500 DC center-channel use the same aluminum-manganese midrange and tweeter as the 900 DC -- which should guarantee seamless voicing across the stage. The CM 500 DC and 300 DC are ported in the rear, so care should be taken when placing them against room boundaries. Frequency response for the 300 DC is specified by Canton as 50Hz to 23kHz (-3dB), while their sensitivity is spec’d at 87dB. The CM 500 DC’s frequency response is rated at 49Hz to 23kHz (-3dB) with 88dB sensitivity.

All Canton’s measurements are derived from within an anechoic chamber. Actual in-room frequency response and sensitivity may differ depending on your room, as with all loudspeakers. For example, my informal measurements with a Radio Shack SPL meter showed the 900 DC’s bass response to be in the low-30Hz range. And though the Ergos are rated at 4 ohms, Canton states that they present a relatively easy load for an amplifier.

The 300 DCs found a spot to the rear of my couch on a pair of Canton’s very heavy LS 60 stands. I placed the 300 DCs at a 45-degree angle with each corner to break up any bass distortion that their close proximity to the wall may cause.

The CM 500 DC came to rest on top of my widescreen television. I placed a .5"-thick piece of wood underneath the rear of the center-channel speaker to line up its drivers with my listening position.

Rather than polypropylene or aluminum alloy, the 250W (RMS) AS 2 SC sub uses a 12" paper-cone driver reinforced with polyester. Around back it has all the adjustments one would expect, including variable phase response, crossover point, and gain. It does not, however, have the adjustment flexibility of some lesser-expensive subwoofers I’ve tested. Connections are via speaker-level or line-level stereo RCA inputs and outputs. I used the line-level input exclusively.

The AS 2 DC has some nice fit’n’finish details including rubber-coated adjustment knobs that have a high-quality feel to them. Canton also includes dust covers for protecting the AS 2 DC’s RCA connections in the event that speaker-level inputs are used.

The AS 2 DC is a physically large sub, so it took some time to find a place where it would be out of the way but still blend well with the other speakers. I finally placed it in the 8‘-wide opening between my living and family room, and positioned it so that it was firing across the soundstage of the 900 DCs. The sub’s quoted frequency response is 30Hz to 200Hz, down 3dB at the extremes.

At the heart of the speakers’ design lies Canton’s proprietary DC (Displacement Control) circuit, which allegedly enables their speakers to reproduce extremely clean, articulate bass.

Canton’s 30 years of experience reasons that the majority of bass distortion is triggered by inaudible subsonic frequencies (those below 20Hz), which force a bass driver beyond its normal operating range. DC technology is said to preserve a bass driver’s linearity by filtering out these subsonic frequencies. Canton maintains that removing this distortion not only improves the speaker’s overall tonal balance and extension, but also its bass damping. Consequently the Ergos are less affected by an amplifier’s damping factor. An active version of this DC circuit, named SC technology, is used in the Ergo subwoofers.

Movies

If you’re used to the augmented bass of some speakers, it may take some time to adjust to the Cantons' apparent lack of coloration. These are very transparent speakers with very clean and well-defined bass. Unlike some speakers, heavy artillery and menacing low-frequency effects are not accentuated in the Canton’s lower-to-mid bass. As one should expect, these lower frequencies are mostly felt and not heard.

An example of this are chapters 16-18 of Saving Private Ryan. Tanks don’t "shake" the room per se. Instead, the low-frequency rumble is felt in the fabric of your clothes and the structure of the furniture. This tactile quality, coupled with the metallic creaks of the tanks’ rotating caterpillars, creates a penetrating atmosphere of tension.

The Cantons reproduce the overblown bass from the entertaining but not so scary Resident Evil very clearly and loudly. What was scary was how oblivious I was to how loud I was driving the Cantons. Unfortunately, my sleeping wife was more aware of the thunderous levels coming through the floor of our upstairs bedroom!

Solid bass laid the groundwork for a very open and slightly warm midrange and treble. But the Cantons are not what I would call sweet-sounding loudspeakers. What you get are well-integrated speakers possessing a great deal of snap and air. The steps of the Latin dancer in chapter 3 of Mission: Impossible 2 were sharply defined, with excellent transient response and weight compared to the slow, slightly bass-heavy or edgy reproduction of some speakers I’ve heard.

The surround image was also excellent. The shower-stall scene (chapter 8) in Monster’s Ball exhibited persistent ambiance through the 5.0 array. The echo and inflection of Billy Bob Thornton’s voice, along with the detailed sounds of fist hitting skin, gave the scene an engaging presence in my room. The ambient music throughout this film was equally seamless and nicely layered.

It never felt as though any of the Ergos were holding back or becoming overloaded -- no matter how loud and hectic a film was. The chaos and visceral power of chapter 15 in Gladiator and chapter 11 of the X-Files: Fight the Future proved that the Cantons could keep voices, bombastic sound effects, and testosterone-driven music clearly divided -- even at high volumes. These films also revealed another Canton virtue: a very wide, dynamic range. The Cantons made me jump numerous times as metallic objects collided with or moved against each other, but also made me smile when crescendos effortlessly touched the ceiling. They never made me wince.

Music

Canton’s 900 DCs do an excellent job playing less-than-perfect recordings without inducing listening fatigue. And their articulation permitted me to hear more inner detail within a recording. I spent many a late night struggling to stay awake, promising myself only one more song before retiring. I usually failed to keep the promise.

Jesse Cook’s Gravity [ND-63037] contributed to this sleep deprivation. Cuts like "Gypsy" and the beautiful "Luna Llena" offered solid, palpable images across a relatively deep and wide soundstage. Jesse Cook’s guitar always remained solidly anchored, while demonstrating the right amount of texture and body. The decay of each note was controlled and natural without being abrasive. Played through the Cantons, Gravity drove me to tap my foot in sync with the music.

The same excellent sense of rhythm and separation continued with Peter Gabriel’s brilliant new Up [Geffen 493388]. The complex bass lines and vocal harmonies on "No Way Out" displayed solid imaging as well as an engaging sense of pace. Moreover, the cymbal hit during the intro to "Growing Up" was very open and crisp, with excellent decay. Canton’s tweeters may not have pulled every detail from the music, but they never disrespected it. Canton’s metal tweeters did not display any artificially sustained decay or smearing of detail. Treble and midrange information stopped and started in locked step with the 900 DC’s wonderfully tight bass.

As far as transparency was concerned, the 900 DCs revealed the dynamic compression used on Depeche Mode’s "In My Room" (Songs of Faith and Devotion [Sire 45243]) without killing the experience. By comparison, I heard little to no compression on their later effort Ultra [Reprise 46522].

I found that the Cantons were even more proficient reproducing orchestral music. Selections from Telarc’s 1980 recording of Stravinsky: The Rite of Spring [CD-80054] and Reference Recording’s HDCD recording of Strauss’s Don Juan (Eiji Oue/Minnesota Orchestra: Showcase [RR- 907DC]) were produced with great impact and broad dynamic swings. Brass instruments in particular had excellent "bite" without being harsh or blunted. At the same time, the recordings’ colossal bass emerged from the 900 DCs with excellent definition and room-filling power. Well-recorded, dynamic music never sounded compressed through the Cantons.

If any aspect of the Canton’s performance was slightly disappointing, it was the loudspeakers’ tendency to occasionally sound dry and sterile. This quality was not always easy to warm up to. And although the AS 2 SC did a nice job producing tight, musical bass, it did so with very little earth-shaking drama.

Comparison

At about half the price you have NHT's Super Audio series, which I reviewed in December of last year.

The NHTs have two choices of finish -- either a black or white high-gloss, high-quality lacquer. The Cantons come in black, silver metallic, or real-wood beech or cherry veneers. Both offer biwire connections on their three-way floorstanding models (Canton also offers them on their compact models). The Cantons will only accept bare wire.

Whether you believe in the benefits of biwiring or not, this is just a point of comparison: I did find that the Cantons had a more defined midrange biwired. Both systems also make use of metal tweeters.

The difference between the Canton and the NHT sound comes down to sophistication and temperament. On or off axis, the NHTs' upper midrange and treble sound a bit more pronounced, with punchier bass. And though they are very revealing at their price, their metal tweeters do tend to overemphasize decay, which can become splashy with a given source. The NHTs are also very unforgiving, with even mediocre recordings.

Although the Cantons are transparent, they do possess a smoother, more polished personality that made shrill productions, like those from the Cranberries, still enjoyable. Provided I listened to them off axis, the Cantons didn’t seem to accentuate any part of the frequency spectrum.

The Cantons also edge out the NHTs in dynamics and control. While the German speakers could play at obscenely loud levels, without strain, the NHT’s became uncomfortably edgy when pushed hard.

Two areas where the NHTs bettered the Cantons were in their resistance to tipping and subwoofer performance. My young son was able to topple one of the 900 DCs, whereas the NHTs ST4s were absolutely stable. I also felt that the NHT SubOne was a better value for ultimate impact and flexibility, when compared to the almost twice-as-expensive Canton AS 2 SC.

Finally, if your amplifier gets challenged driving tougher loads, the NHTs present a somewhat friendly 8-ohm load compared to the Ergo's 4-ohm load. It should be noted, though, that impedance does not reflect the sound quality; the impedance only tells you how hard the speaker is to drive.

Conclusion

Make no mistake, the Canton Ergos are audiophile speakers capable of reproducing beautiful music and movies with visceral impact, clarity, and intensity. Those accustomed to a forward, big-bass sound may find them a little laid-back at first. But surrendering to this apparent lack of boom would be a mistake. The Ergo system's bass quality is what gives them their splendid sense of balance and speed. And balance is why this Canton Ergo lineup represents an outstanding home-theater loudspeaker system.

Manufacturer contact information:

Canton Electronics Corporation USA
1723 Adams Street N.E.
Minneapolis MN 55413
Phone: (612) 706-9250
Fax: (612) 706-9255

E-mail: info@cantonusa.com
Website: www.cantonusa.com

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