Scored BIG on Craig's List!

[senns&nonsense]

Anybody know anything about Canton CT-1000 speakers???

I picked these up locally today off of a Craig's List ad and they are fantastic! I know Canton has a stellar rep, but I have found very little on-line about these specific speakers. The guy I bought them from was really cool and was moving out of state and just wanted to get rid of them. I even made sure he knew what he was selling but he was fully aware and since they are somewhat cosmetically-challenged he didn't want to have to take time selling them to people. And since i bought the speakers he threw in an Onkyo receiver for free (which, btw, has a super hp jack) Incredible!

I have been intrigued of late with the idea of building a vintage set-up so that I could run speakers and maybe get a good hp jack in the bargain and also get my sources somewhat organized into one system. To that end I have purchased a vintage Nikko integrated amp which coincidentally arrived today as well. I have them hooked up with my iMod as source and I cannot believe what this sounds like even positioned ridiculously on the floor in my too-small office! Is Claude Bolling playing his piano IN MY OFFICE????

I have some questions as I know NOTHING about this stuff anymore.....

- What would you recommend for speaker wire that is not a fortune. The guy was using MonsterWire - is that sufficient?

- The speakers are somewhat dusty under the grills - how should i clean them?

- I will deoxit the obvious connections on the back of the speaker and amp, but the amp does have a little static when a couple knobs are turned (absolutely none while playing though!). How do I get at those knobs?

- Also, unlike the somewhat newer Onkyo, the hp jack on the Nikko is good, but not great (yet). It looks a little oxidized and I think from what I am hearing that may be the problem. How do I deoxit the hp jack safely?

- Finally, the cosmetic challenges are really not all that bad. The grills look great. No major dings anywhere. Just a lot of surface scratches in the thick wood cases that must have been gorgeous when new. How dumb would it be to try and refinish the wood? Could I just sand and refinish or does it need to be chemically stripped? Any on-line resources to help me out with this kind of wood work would be appreciated.

Anyway, a fantastic day for my ears. I haven't had a really good speaker set-up for a long while as my music has migrated to my computers. And the last few months I have fallen in love with the fidelity of headphones. But it is a fun change to sit here head-free and have the room filled with music at this level of quality and resolution and impact.

[senns&nonsense]

Bump for a completely re-written post....

[senns&nonsense]

Ok, I am posting to myself here but....

I was wrong about the hp jack on the Nikko. In my rush to try out everything I had pressed the loudness button before plugging in my K701s and, at least through the hp jack, is a very bad idea and fouled up the mids something awful.

But I got rid of the "loudness" and WHOA! I do not think I have evr heard the K701s sound so good. I am a little hyped up but it really does sound great - a big rich tubey warmth without the annoying tubey distortion. I ahven't had any high-end amps, but I have had several ranging around $300 and this AT LEAST competes with any of them. At a calmer moment I will revisit more analytically, but I am VERY impressed.

[choomanchoo]

Sounds like a great find, congrats,
For more info you might wanna check out the guys over at audiokarma, great forum, but not as cool as HeadFi,

I recently scored some Sonics AS277's at a local garage sale, but those turned out to be knockoff's of a more popular line,

[cbw]

Methinks its time i start looking at Craigslist a little more often.

[Gabe Logan]

Good to hear you got what you desired.I used to check craigslist but all too often only to never find anything.I had better luck here or audiogon.

[infinitesymphony]

Great job, OP. Deal-finding is fun. Are you located in a larger city?

No one ever sells decent equipment around here. All I see is stuff like, "Broken KLH bookshelf speaker - $200."

[senns&nonsense]

Yes, Miami. The seller was moving to LA and just wanted them sold.....

I actually spent the afternoon sanding the speakers with my kids and they look great now - practically new. I am going to attempt to stain them later this week.

They are a bit disty under the grill. Anyone know a safe way to refresh them? And is there anything to do to the materials to prolong their life - some sort of ArmourAll for speakers? They look fine and sound perfect, but they are somewhat old and I do not want them failing me anytime soon.......

This is probably the best "find" I have ever had on Craig's or elsewhere.

[zigo]

Originally Posted by senns&nonsense

Anybody know anything about Canton CT-1000 speakers???

Canton ct 1000 was produced in the mid '80 in Germany. They reproduce the typical "Taunus sound" that was typical in that period there. Even Heco, Braun and other german manufacturers produced loudspeakers and amplifiers with that sound. Crossovers was projected in a way that lows and highs was emphasized, a kind of "loudness", very loved in that period. It take an artificial sensation of "dynamics", pleasant if you use low power amplifiers, but anyway artificial.
It is not a case that if you push the loudness button too in the ampli the artificiosity results so much emphasized that, at the end, becomes unpleasant.
Anyway they are not bad in particular with cd roms or musical files with low dynamics, but we are far from a "flat" response

[senns&nonsense]

I do not know about the typical "Taunus" sound, but these continue to sound fantastic and I think they are quite a bit better than your post suggests. They do not sound at all artificial. And I am mostly an AKG guy, so if there were some kind of loudness response in these I doubt I would like them so much. Also, I have a pretty great pair of old Allisons that are relegated to a second set-up and do not come close to these in quality.

I did ultimately get a response by email from Canton. they had very little Substantive info, but did say these retailed for over $2K in 1985. I am sure there are even better speakers. I will likely never own them......