All-in-One Audio
KANTO IS A Canadian firm barely a decade old that specializes in powered loudspeakers. The company has established substantial cred for its active desktop and bookshelf speaker lines, both of which deliver high value and widely noted performance. Now, with a new model called TUK, the company is moving up-range in market-segment, size, and price. Also, utility: TUK is an all-in-one powered-speaker solution, with a phono-preamp, an asynchronous USB DAC, a headphone amp, preamp controls, a subwoofer crossover, and amplification all built right in. Ultimately, this means that, with access to streamed music services plus a turntable and vinyl collection, the TUK's modest $799 price can be the cost of admission to some pretty serious sound.
Readers may recall that I am a proponent of active speakers, which provide engineering advantages through matching amplifiers, drivers, and cabinets. They also eliminate the always troublesome passive crossover network and zap the need for a whole ‘nuther chassis (amp or receiver) plus speaker cables. Kanto’s TUK only leverages some of these benefits, however. Like many entry-level active designs, it crams all the electronics and physical controls into one speaker (which
