Canton and AVM: a Match Made in Audiophile Heaven

When you’re buying your first home audio system, it’s easy to pick up a “home theater in a box” for a few hundred dollars which contains speakers, a receiver, and a subwoofer all designed to – more or less – work together. When you’re buying a high-end system – first, you’re going to need a much bigger box – and second, matching the components, power, and actually getting synergy from the whole system can be a big challenge. It’s very possible to spend tens of thousands of dollars on the very best power amps, preamps, media players, and speakers, and find that when you put it all together, your setup is less than the sum of its parts.

Bloom Audio recently partnered with two legendary German brands, AVM and Canton, that make two channel system components and loudspeakers respectively, to help simplify the process of building a world class audio setup, and save you from great gear that just doesn't synergize. Both brands bring a focus on creating a balance between accuracy and the joy of musical expression, and when you bring them together, the results are incredible. This guide is designed to help you match the right components and speakers together for a HiFi experience that meets your needs and budget, while completely blowing your mind.

Keep it Simple: Canton “Smart” Series Speakers

While we’ve found Canton and AVM to deliver incredible synergy in our office, Canton offers a number of “Smart” systems that combine wireless connectivity, amplification, and their top-notch driver and cabinet design into one package. Canton’s Smart Townus 8 can use an analog connection directly from a media player or stream from a portable device to give you the core Canton experience with the simplest possible setup.

Canton Smart Vento 9 S2 upgrades the drivers and cabinet to provide a level of sound quality that rivals Canton’s top of the line Reference series, but with built in amplification and wireless capabilities. In the Smart Vento line you can also find bookshelf and center channel options that either stand alone, or seamlessly connect with the rest of your Smart Vento speakers for quite possibly the best wireless home theater experience in the world.

The Basics: Floorstanding Speakers and an All-In-One DAC/Streamer/Amp

If you want to keep things simple, but still maintain a 100% wired, component based system, each piece in AVM’s Compact Streamer (CS) series gives you incredible power and versatility. The AVM CS 5.3 combines WiFi Streaming, a CD Player, 350W per channel output, and a tube line stage into a surprisingly compact, yet incredibly powerful package. It’s the perfect pairing for the Canton Townus 90, which is aimed at providing a more discrete profile than Canton’s massive – and massively powerfully – Reference series. Or if “discrete profiles” aren’t your thing, you can match it with the Reference 7K for a bigger, bolder, more powerful sound.

If you need the simplicity of an All-In-One, but with zero compromises on sound, the AVM CS 8.3 upgrades CS 5.3’s components, and brings the power up to 500W per channel. With 500W per channel, and AVM’s preamp and DAC design, you can easily bring out both the crystal clear imaging and the deep bass rumble AVM’s Reference 5K or Reference 3K provides.

A Straightforward Component System: AVM 30.3

For their 30th anniversary, AVM created the 30.3 series: a set of components with everything you need to build a complete analog or digital system – or a digital and analog system. 30.3 provides options for a turntable, phono stage, media player, DAC/Preamp, Integrated Amp, and Mono Blocks (not currently available), giving you an amazing setup that could be your endgame, or could be the starting point of a world class system.

While the A 30.3 integrated amplifier can drive a pretty wide range of speakers, it isn’t quite up to the task with Canton’s top of the line Reference series. The Vento 80 provides a great floorstanding option to deliver power through simplicity with the 30.3 series.

Keeping it Old School: Canton and AVM with Turntables

Some would argue that while digital audio has improved by leaps and bounds over the last twenty years, the ultimate home audio experience will always be analog. If you want to experience the elegance of an all-analog system, AVM offers turntables, along with the components like preamps and phono stages that you need to bring vinyl into a two channel setup.

With the Rotation R 2.3 Turntable as your starting point, you can add the PH 30.3 Phono Stage and A 30.3 Integrated Amplifier for a simple  analog component setup that delivers exquisite sound. The 100W output is perfect for bookshelves like the Canton Vento 20 and Reference 9K – or even the Vento 80 floorstanding, but you can switch out the A 30.3 for any AVM’s more powerful amplifiers – like the A 6.2 Master Edition – to deliver the power you need for bigger speakers.

Choosing your components wisely

We tried to narrow things down just a bit for you, but that’s still a lot of options. The two biggest pieces are your source and your space. If your main source is a vinyl collection, then you’re almost certainly going to start with the turntable and go from there, and it’s the same with CDs, TIDAL, or a hard drive full of DSD files. When it comes to your space, it’s really just a matter of getting loudspeaker performance that will fill your space, without your space becoming a limiting factor on the speakers. Once you have pieces figured out – along with your budget – we’ve hopefully provided everything you need to take your next step in two channel audio with Canton and AVM.

If you’re looking for more resources on building your system, we have a guide for choosing your speakers, and another one for getting the right cables to connect your DAC, audio source, and amp or preamp.