- High End Vienna brings even more speakers
- Kanto Tuk Grand brings premium, stand-mounted boxes in ‘burled’ wood
- Bowers & Wilkins goes for the formidable sci-fi look
I am convinced that there are two types of speaker, and all the pomp and ceremony of High End Vienna hasn’t convinced me otherwise. Two new high-profile, high-price announcements prove I’m right, too.
Type number 1: the box. Lots of speakers are essentially well-braced, driver-filled boxes that you put on your shelves or place on stands. There’s nothing wrong with that; it’s a simple look, and today it’s Kanto Audio that’s waving the cute, ever-so-slightly kooky cuboid flag with its new Grand Tuk.
This new $999.99 / £799.99 (about AU$1,600) speaker pair is due to go on sale at some point this summer. Don’t worry, we’ll spend more time with Kanto Audio in a moment, but we’ve someone else to meet.
On the other side of the scale is type number 2: the 70s sci-fi creature. We see all sorts of formidable towers of power-style speakers, which occasionally look inspired by the costume department of Doctor Who in the best way — and representing that team today is Bowers and Wilkin.
The brand’s new 800 Series Diamond D5 range of speakers has quite a few different products, headlined by the 801 D5 which we weren’t provided release or price information for. Some look like legally-distinct Daleks, others aerodynamic car spoilers, and they’ll all go on sale in September.
Bowers & Wilkins 800 Series Diamond D5
Let’s start with the big range, so I can share a picture of a Dalek to prove my point. The Diamond D5 series consists of the flagship which, as already pointed out, doesn’t have a price or release date, though that doesn’t specifically mean it won’t release; we’re just waiting on details. Instead you can buy a similar model, the 802 D5, which comes at “a more affordable price point”: $45,000 / £32,500 (about AU$66,000) for a pair.
Naturally, it’s a floor-stander, as are the 803 D5 (MSRP $35,000 / £25,500, which converts to roughly AU$52,000) and 804 D5 (MSRP $25,000 / £16,500, converting to around AU$37,000).
Also showing up to the party, just without a leg to stand on, is the 805 D5, $15,000 / £10,000 (roughly AU$10,000): a stand-mounted pair of speakers.
Rounding out the range are two three-way center channels for home theaters: the $15,000 / £10,000 (same conversion as before) HTM81 D5, and the $12,000 / £8,000 (about AU$16,000) HDM82 D5. These are both designed to be used alongside the main products: the HTM81 works with the 801 and 802, while the cheaper model goes with the ‘cheaper’ speakers.
So why are these things so expensive? Well, the big selling point is the use of Bowers & Wilkin’s Diamond Dome tweeter, which is that little microphone-looking flourish at the top. It’s designed to provide reference-quality sound in the higher ends.
They’ve all clearly been meticulously designed too — that’s why they look so unusual — and come with impressive (though varied) extra speakers. These are hands down professional-grade high-end audiophile pieces of kit, but there’s something for the rest of us at High End too…
Kanto Tuk Grand
Let’s move on to everyone’s favorite Star Wars character: Kanto Tuk Grand. This new bookshelf speaker offering goes for a cool $999.99 / £799.99 (about AU$1,600) per pair and after the Bowers & Wilkins, that looks cheap.
As I’ve mentioned before, it’s our more traditional example within this article, but there’s a reason audio companies return to this tried-and-true build. Kanto has, the company tells us, spent time refining this cabinet design, both to improve the sound and to “belong with” the space you put it in.
Specs-wise (because there’s only one product, we can actually talk about its specs without creating a massive list), you’ve got a 28mm x 35mm Air Motion Transformer tweeter, and a 6-inch aluminum cone. It hits a frequency response range of 40Hz-22kHz, and a power output of 160W.
There’s a nice range of connection options here: you can plug them in via 2x RCA cables or optical, as well as USB-C, and those latter two will bow allow 24 bit/96kHz playback. You can also pair via Bluetooth 5.4, with the Tuk Grand supporting atpX Adaptive, AAC and SBC.
Design-wise, it’s relatively basic compared to the Diamond boys, but simplicity is underrated (a lower price point is not underrated, though I still wouldn’t call the Kanto ‘cheap’).
The Kanto Tuk Grand was unveiled alongside three second-gen speakers from Kanto Audio, due out between summer and fall, but make no mistake: the Grand is the flagship product here.
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tom.bedford@hotmail.co.uk (Tom Bedford)
