Canton Reference 9k opinions

wassaicwill

Excellent description, but wouldn't you put Canton and focal on one side and sonus faber and usher on another regarding what speakers sound more similar? If the gent likes the Ushers now wouldn't he fint cantons a bit unforgiving? I appreciate the time you took in your post and probably agree, Usher speakers are very good on their own but while the cantons might sound more exciting in the short term would be less forgiving in the long term.

Thanks for the responses. To be honest I forgot about this thread and have been just listening to my Ushers and been pretty happy. If I could find a pre-owned pair of 9K's I would jump at the chance but they don't seem to come up very often. They have gone up a couple of hundred dollars since I started this post but still seem like a good deal for $3,700. I'm convinced these are really great speakers especially for the price. My only remaining concern is my room size. At 9 ft x 12 ft I really have no choice but to put the speakers against the long wall. I only have about one foot from the back of the speaker to the wall. Do you guys think it would still be a good match for my room? I wonder if the fact that my Ushers are front ported indicates I should stick with them rather than take a chance on something rear ported. If I were to buy them new testing them out is not a very good option considering restocking fees and shipping costs would be pretty high. All opinions will come of course

Sorry I missed this thread until now. I purchased a pair of Ref 9K with matching stands in Jan 2019 and have been very happily listening to them since. I started off with a new Accuphase E-280 integrated and after 3 solid-months (24/7) of break-in & listening I was not happy. So I listed both them both for sale and told myself I would keep whichever one did not sell first. The E-280 went very quickly. I then used a Bryston BP-25/4B-SST and was much, much happier. A good match. Several months later I decided to roll in my tube amp, and, voila, wonderful match with the Cary 20wpc Class A Rocket 88 amp & SLP-98P preamp. Stunningly good. Additional upgrades I made were, 1) filled the stands with sand & lead shot. A nice improvement in bass extension & overall clarity. 2) put Herbies large dots between the speakers & stands. 3) the biggest improvement - upgraded speaker cables to WW Silver Eclipse bi-wire - MSRP same as the speakers. This past May I rolled in a PASS Labs INT-25 (25wpc). While different, it is every bit as nice as the tube combo and adds a bit of additional solidity in the deep bass. I've owned this particular pair of speakers longer than I've owned any pair of speakers in the last 40yr of this hobby, so I guess you can say I've been pleased. I'm in the midst of deciding between totally new speakers or just adding one of the new, small DSP controlled powered subs. If new speakers, the Ref 8K is high on the list, though I've never been able to live with a floor standing speaker for long. No hurry. The Ref 9Ks provide terrific SQ with the classic jazz, class rock & classical music I listen to. Plus, the fit & finish of these speakers is as good as I've seen. Highly recommended.

Back, again. 
Sold the 9K's and tried Triangle Duetto II's, then Devore 0/93's and Magnepan 1.7i. All were nice, but I missed the 9K's. So, bought a pair of the new Reference 9 (no K) and, voila, happy again. Based on my aural memory (notably poor for all of us), the Ref 9's are a bit smoother than the 9K's. But with almost a year between them it is difficult to say. I've since added a JLA 10" sub and it was amazingly easy to integrate with the Ref 9's. 

gpdavis1 I also had an easy time adding two SVS sb1000 pro subs to the Cantons. They play seamlessly filling in the bottom, fantastic sounding to my old ears.