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The Short Form
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| $3,046 (as tested) / CANTONUSA.COM |
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Snapshot
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| An impressive, reasonably priced system that combines outstanding build quality with superbly accurate sound |
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Plus
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| • Highly accurate sound • Top-notch construction • Tasteful Euro styling • Good value |
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Minus
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| • Surrounds could use a little more heft • Subwoofer’s small size and low amplifier power limit output |
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Key Features
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• GLE 490 ($1,399/pair) 1-in soft-dome tweeter, 7-in cone midrange, two 8-in cone woofers; 41 ¼ in high, 42 ¼ lb • GLE 455 ($499) 1-in soft-dome tweeter, two 6 ¼-inch cone midrange/woofers; 18 in wide, 15 1⁄2 lb • GLE 420 ($549/pair) 1-in soft-dome tweeter, 6 ¼-inch cone midrange/woofer; 11 ½ in high, 10 lb • AS 85 SC ($599) 9-in woofer, 150-watt amplifier; 10 x 17 ¾ x 14 ½ in, 26 ½ lb |
My review system comprised a pair of GLE 490 floor-standing towers, a GLE 455 center speaker, a pair of GLE 420 surrounds, and an AS 85 SC powered subwoofer. All of the satellites share similar drivers — a good thing, since it helps ensure that the tonality will match all around. The 1-inch soft-dome tweeter found in all the speakers employs a fabric dome, but this new-and-improved version also uses a finer silk material, as well as revised driver geometry, magnet structure, and front plate. And the satellites’ midrange/bass drivers use the same aluminum cone material found in Canton’s high-end speakers. Finally, the speakers sport a very gently curved front baffle that’s said to improve both frequency-response linearity and driver efficiency in the crossover-frequency range.
The GLE speakers all feature attractive punched-metal grilles. And each cabinet’s back panel is finished as nicely as the sides. These are particularly handsome-looking speakers — with their aluminum cones clearly visible behind the silvery metal grilles, they’ll fit in with the décor of any contemporary listening room.
The GLE 490s — which take me back to the day when men were men, speakers were speakers, and no one had ever heard of an iPod — are classic three-way bass-reflex towers with a tweeter, a 7-inch midrange driver, and two 8-inch woofers. The GLE 420 compact speaker I used for surrounds, meanwhile, sports one tweeter and a single 61⁄4-inch midrange/bass driver. Since the 420’s port is located around back, there’s no built-in provision for wall mounting.
The GLE 455 center speaker uses a sealed cabinet with a tweeter and two 61⁄4-inch midrange drivers. Unlike with some center speakers, there’s no way to adjust the cabinet’s vertical tilt. The 455 can be used as a horizontal center speaker (which is what I did) or flipped around for use as a front-L/R or rear-channel speaker.
The AS 85 SC powered subwoofer is small by contemporary standards, both in its size (less than 20 inches high) and power (Canton claims 150 watts of “music power”). But it does sport a front-firing 9-inch driver along with a front port. The rear panel has controls to adjust volume, crossover, and phase. You’ll also find jacks for stereo/mono line input and stereo line output, as well as speaker-level inputs and outputs. A “normal/narrow” switch compensates for room size by altering the crossover’s response (see Test Bench for details).
SETUP
Unless I someday move my comfy chair, the designated speaker locations in my listening room are as rigidly defined as Newtonian physics. I placed the towers along my front narrow wall, about 8 feet apart, and the center speaker beneath my TV. I put the surrounds on my own trusty stands behind my chair and along each side wall. Finally, I placed the sub along my front wall in the spot where experience has shown that I’ll get optimal bass response at my listening position.
MOVIE & MUSIC PERFORMANCE
I started my listening duties with stereo playback on the GLE 490 pair alone. On the purest of music, such as Yo-Yo Ma’s performance of Bach’s Six Unaccompanied Cello Suites, the pair proved to be extremely transparent. Although I usually prefer dark sonic textures, I soon appreciated these towers’ crisp sense of air. Some speakers just sound too bright to me. The GLE 490s’ high end, by contrast, helps bring a terrific presence to recordings. Intimate bowing details were clearly enunciated, but didn’t sound unnatural or forced. If anything, Yo-Yo Ma’s inherently warm cello tones might have come off too dark on overly warm-sounding speakers; here, they were just right.
Moving on to something completely different, I listened to Old Crow Medicine Show’s Tennessee Pusher. This band has a unique bluegrass sound that’s not easily reproduced. Its percussive string playing can sometimes come across as raw, and a speaker should neither hide that fact nor accentuate it. On songs such as “Highway Halo,” the GLE 490 towers sounded as Americana as apple pie, with just the right twang on the guitar, a properly soulful harmonica, and upfront lead vocals. I especially liked the sound of the backup vocals on “Hotel in Memphis.” Some speakers can make backup singers sound pancake-flat in a mix, but these added a sense of 3-D to the stereo panorama, with the vocals properly spaced behind the lead.
I next added the subwoofer and turned to heftier music. Nickelback’s Dark Horse is kick-ass rock & roll, and the sub responded appropriately with bass that was tight, punchy, and modestly powerful. On “Burn It to the Ground,” the skins on the floor toms and kick drum sounded as stiff as inch-thick plywood, the snare as persuasive as a slam-dunk, and the hi-hat as hard as glass. The aggressive, snarly bass guitar was spot-on, and its punch didn’t get lost in the crossover region between the sub and the towers. All in all, this is a terrific system for stereo listening, particularly with the addition of the AS 85 SC sub.
Turning next to movies, I checked out 3:10 to Yuma, a gritty Western remake that, while satisfying, falls short of the classic pasta morality plays. When watching this movie, you’ll notice that the center channel has to deliver about 6 million gunshots along with dialogue and ambient effects. The GLE 455 handled it all very well, with precise tonality and off-axis response that I judged to be better than average. Russell Crowe and Christian Bale — apparently trying to out-Eastwood each other — deliver most of their dialogue in whispers and growls. Again, the GLE 455 hit the mark, providing high intelligibility on every syllable.
During the movie’s finale, the surround speakers are tasked with delivering wind, breaking glass, splintering wood, and gunshots galore. The gunshots in particular sounded realistic over the GLE 420s, triggering my head-ducking instinct when the shooters were behind Crowe and Bale. The surrounds sounded as clean as the towers, although they could have used a little more low-frequency punch. Obviously, direct-radiating surrounds like these lack the dispersion of dipoles, but I was still satisfied with the resulting sound field.
Although the AS 85 SC subwoofer impressed me by providing sufficient heft in scenes with a charging stagecoach, dynamite explosions, and a collapsing tunnel, it was limited by its size and its amplifier power. It hit the lowest frequencies, but when I cranked things up during action sequences with the Narrow setting selected, soundtrack peaks produced an overstressed “tupping” sound and some port noise. If you have a big room, or if you want enough bass to risk structural damage to your home’s foundation, you’ll need a bigger sub. For normal listening in a normal-size room, the AS 85 SC will be adequate.
BOTTOM LINE
I am genetically inclined toward lugubrious-sounding speakers. But even given that bias, I can truthfully report that I greatly admired this system’s genuinely accurate, full-frequency sound, which was characterized by firm bass, a transparent midrange, and clear treble. I’m impressed that Canton managed to deliver extremely good performance here at an affordable price. Who knows — after enjoying these Canton speakers in my listening room, the experience might just transform me into a full-frequency listener.
TEST BENCH
Sensitivity (SPL at 1 meter with 2.8 volts of pink-noise input)
Fromt Left/Right: 91 dB
Center: 90 dB
Surround: 88 dB
Impedance (minimum/nominal)
Front Left/Right: 3.2/6 ohms
Center: 4.2/6 ohms
Surround: 3.6/6 ohms
Bass limits (lowest frequency and maximum SPL with limit of 10% distortion at 2 meters in a large room)
Left/Right: 32 Hz at 70 dB
Center: 80 Hz at 84 dB
Surround: 62 Hz at 70 dB
Subwoofer: 25 Hz at 76 dB SPL
93 dB average SPL from 25 to 62 Hz
104 dB maximum SPL at 62 Hz
Bandwidth uniformity 89%
All of the curves in the frequency-response graph are weighted to reflect how sound arrives at a listener’s ears with normal speaker placement. The curve for the left/right front channels reflects response of the GLE 490 with the speaker standing on the floor averaged over a ±30° window. The center-channel curve reflects response of the GLE 455 averaged over ±45°, with double weight directly on-axis of the primary listener. The surround-channel curve shows the response of the GLE 420 averaged over ±60°.
Because the GLE 490 will always be used on a floor, measurements were taken with the speaker positioned thusly. Both the center and surround channel speakers were measured on a 6-foot stand, which gives anechoic results to approximately 200 Hz. All speaker measurements, subwoofer excepted, are taken at a full 2 meters, which emulates a typical listening distance, allows larger speakers to fully integrate acoustically, and, unlike near-field measurements, fully includes front-panel reflections and cabinet diffraction.
The GLE 490 has a basically flat bass-to-treble balance, with narrowband irregularities, including a 2.7-dB floor bounce, centered at 247 Hz, and +/- 2.5-dB peak/dips between 650 to 850 Hz. The GLE 455 has a small 2.5-kHz dip that deepens as the microphone is moved past ±22° off-axis. Otherwise, the speaker’s response is characterized by narrow peaking at 4.4 kHz, 6 kHz, and 14 kHz. The GLE 420 surround channel also displays several narrow peaks at 5.5 kHz, 8.9 kHz, 14.2 kHz, and 17.4 kHz, along with a mild 2.5-dB elevation between 600 Hz and 2 kHz.
The AS 85 SC Subwoofer’s bass limits were measured with it set to maximum bandwidth and placed in the optimal corner of a 7,500-cubic-foot room. In a smaller room users can expect 2 to 3 Hz deeper extension and up to 3 dB higher sound-pressure level (SPL). The subwoofer has limited dynamic capability, with SPL falling off at 17 dB per octave below 62 Hz. And its maximal clean SPL capability is limited by port “grunting” triggered at lower frequencies.
Although the sub does not have a specified upper bandwidth (the output is -3 dB at 123 Hz when the crossover dial is set to 150 and 200 Hz), the actual turnover frequencies tend to match the dial markings over the rest of the range, and there is no level interaction except at the very lowest crossover settings. Along with the general absence of level/crossover interaction, a click-stop crossover dial makes establishing and resetting crossover settings more convenient. The sub’s “Narrow” Room Compensation setting cuts output by roughly 5 dB below 55 Hz and simultaneously increases output by just under 2 dB above 55 Hz.