Let’s face it, only a miniscule number of us are going to own hyper-expensive audio components. Sure, we can hear them at audio shows and in dealer’s showrooms, or read about them here, but that’s not the same as living with a system. My mandate from TAS is to find and review moderately priced gear that delivers high-end musical satisfaction without totally depleting your bank account.
When I first started writing about audio for TAS in 1980 this task would have been impossible; the gap between entry-level components and state-of-the-art gear was somewhat akin to the distance between the Earth and the Crab Nebula. But in the past five years this disparity has diminished to the point where the best “affordable” audio gear delivers more than merely a taste of high-end Nirvana—it can deliver your neighborhood grill’s filet mignon, but perhaps not Peter Lugar’s Kyoto aged steak. But too much beef isn’t good for you anyway…
Monday’s Blue-Plate Special
My search for inexpensive near-perfection led me to the Canton Chrono 502 speakers. Canton has been around since 1973 and fields an extensive range of stylish speakers aimed at both the high-performance and the lifestyle audio markets. I’ve never lived with or reviewed any Canton products in the past, so I had no previously formed opinions.
The Chrono 502’s basic design won’t grab your attention from a hundred yards away, or even ten yards away. It’s simply another smallish two-way bass-reflex box speaker—a design that’s been around since the early 1960s. What makes the 502 special is Canton’s choice of materials and execution. Based on the technology Canton developed for its high-end Ergo line, the Chrono speakers share much of the same know-how but cost 30% less due to more cost-efficient cabinet-design-and-manufacturing methods. The Chrono speakers use the same flared front plate as the Ergo, allowing the speakers to deliver excellent high-frequency dispersion and off-axis linearity.
The Chrono 502 employs a proprietary ADT-25 aluminum-manganese dome tweeter. Canton has used this tweeter design for many years, and with each new iteration Canton improves and refines it. The 502’s 7″ aluminum midrange/woofer is also an exclusive Canton component. The 502’s wave systems (cone, dust cap, and surround) in the midrange/woofer driver is based on the technology developed for the company’s flagship speaker, including the sinusoidal surround and improved spider that provides a 30–40% increase in excursion, and a 3dB increase in output compared to previous designs.
You have a choice of three different cabinet finishes—black ash, maple, and satin silver-tone. However, anyone planning on using the Chrono line of speakers for a home-theater system should carefully consider the large quantity of shiny metal sported by these speakers. Even with the grilles in place the Canton 502’s drivers reflect light very efficiently. If you have a front-projector- based home theater, it’s hard not to notice the light bouncing off the 502’s cones. Maybe Canton will offer a “home-theater” version of the Chrono series in a satin-black metal finish. On the back of the 502s you’ll find rhodium-plated “five-way” binding posts that accept spade lugs, bare wires, or banana plugs. Be forewarned that the banana plugholes are slightly oversized so the plugs don’t stay in securely (at high volume levels the banana plugs can actually rattle out of place).
Test Methodologies
My home setup provides me with two different environments in which to review small speakers such as the Canton Chrono 502. First I listen in a near-field system where the speakers are less than two feet from my ears, then I move them to a room-based system where the speakers sit between six and seven feet from my listening position.
My nearfield system has CD and DVD sources courtesy of the EAD 8000 Pro DVDMaster player and transport, iTunes from a MacPro, and 96/24 sources from a Marantz 671 high-resolution recorder. The Marantz tracks are also downsampled in the MacPro to 44.1kHz resolution via a Spark ME recording program. Computer music files come out of the computer via USB and are translated to TosLink (to eliminate possible noise pollution and ground-loop issues from the computer) by a Trends UD-10 converter. All digital sources go to a Meridian 518 where they are de-jittered and upsampled to 24 bits before going to a Meridian 561 processor. From the Meridian 561 signals go via balanced analog outputs to a Bel Canto S-300 stereo power amplifier. My reference speakers in this setup include the ATC SC-7, Ariel Acoustic Model 5, and Role Kayak. All audio AC power goes through a PS Audio Quintet power conditioner.
In my room-based system I use a CEC TL-2 CD transport and Lexicon TC-20 Universal player. Both transports are connected to a Lexicon MC-12B HD processor, which uses balanced analog connections to connect to Bel Canto Ref 1000 monoblock amplifiers. The primary speakers are a Genesis 6.1 surround system augmented by a pair of JL Audio F112 subwoofers.
Pictures at an Exhibition
How do the Canton Chrono 502 speakers stack up in the firmament of small satellite speakers? Better than Sputnik but worse than a manned space station. Upon first listen the Cantons had a slightly grainy texture which improved after the first 50 hours but never went away completely. Fortunately, in terms of overall harmonic balance the Cantons didn’t exhibit any seriously bad habits. Their upper bass isn’t pumped up, so with only a bit of work you can blend them seamlessly with a subwoofer. I noticed some extra emphasis in the upper midrange/lower treble that gives pop music a smidgen of extra you-are-there life. Acoustic guitars’ upper registers benefit from this added harmonic attention. At frequency extremes the Cantons take the easy way out—they roll off smoothly in the upper treble and on the bottom are out of the picture by 65Hz. Unlike small speakers of yore the Cantons do a good job avoiding “eee” or “ohhh” colorations in the midrange, and their cabinets are well behaved until you crank the 502s up to their upper dynamic limits, at which point their box begins to sing along with the midrange.
The Canton Chrono 502s do a fine job of preserving the life and macro-dynamic excitement of music. Even at low volume levels they never sound dull or dynamically reticent. At moderate listening levels (up to 88dB peaks in my room-based setup) the Cantons held together very nicely and preserved much of the music’s essential character. Naturally, when I pushed against the speaker’s upper volume limits, they began to get untidy, but the same can be said of most small-enclosure speakers.
Matched up against the ATC SC-7s ($1200 per pair), the Chrono 502s’ slightly rough textural edge added a pervasive grain, preventing the Cantons from successfully resolving inner details with the same finesse as the ATCs. The massed strings in my 96/24 recording of the Boulder Philharmonic performing Pictures at an Exhibition lost enough detail that they sounded like one massed mega-violin instead of many individual violins playing together. On iTunes selections from my MacPro these resolution differences were less pronounced, but even with medium-resolution sources the Chrono 502s’ lack of textural finesse lowers their overall definition when compared to the ATC SC-7s. The Canton Chrono 502s’ imaging and soundstaging are decent, but don’t have the precision of the ATC SC-7s.
This salient fact was driven unequivocally home when I listened to my Boulder Philharmonic rehearsal test recordings through both speaker systems. I recently upgraded from a Grace Designs Lunatec V-2 mic preamp to the new Grace Lunatec V-3 preamp with internal ADCs. Both units also have built-in M/S decoders. I had to run a series of tests with the new V-3 to determine levels for the M and S mics to get the right center focus and accurate depth on stage. The Cantons made all the settings sound the same, yet they obviously were not; I couldn’t hear any differences when 2dB was added or subtracted from the S microphone. With the ATCs the effects of this level adjustment were obvious not only in soundstage centerfill, but also in instrumental focus and depth.
In timbre the Cantons acquit themselves well when compared to the ATCs. Except for a bit of extra energy in the upper midrange/ lower treble, the Cantons’ overall tonal balance closely matches the ATCs. I was especially impressed by the Cantons’ ability to mimic the lower-midrange and upper-bass character of the ATCs, since the ATCs have a sealed cabinet while the Cantons have a rear-firing port. The ATCs have better dynamic contrasts, especially in the mezzo forte to triple forte region. Above a certain SPL level the Cantons react like 70s-vintage limiters— they don’t get any louder, only ruder.
Steak or Chopped Liver?
Contrary to popular belief, reviewers like to write gushingly positive reviews. It’s very satisfying to discover a new product that kicks the stuffing out of the competition. Unfortunately the Chrono 502 isn’t quite such a product. Don’t get me wrong. The Chrono 502 isn’t bad, but it’s not the brightest star in the heavens when it comes to small speakers around $1000 a pair. Personally I preferred the ATC SC-7 due to its higher resolution and superior image specificity. But I wouldn’t warn you off the Canton 502 completely; some listeners will thoroughly enjoy its sparkling character and modernist good looks, but I do advise you to look and listen before you leap.
