Kanto BENBLKGL 5-inch Passive Coaxial Speakers - Pair (Black Gloss)

So I bought these quite awhile ago and posted a review that i don't think I ever updated... which is good because since then Kanto had been great with following up with me in insuring I got top service.These little guys i have hooked up to a small stereo amp and a Pro-Ject Carbon turntable, and I'm extremely pleased with the sound. Obviously, they would be much better with a small sub to go along with them, but I find they are quite pleasing on their own and can handle an ample output. They come packaged extremely well and include small rubber feet if required. The binding posts are great, especially if you decide to use banana plugs. You don't usually see that on speakers this small.Best thing is that Kanto's customer service as exemplary. The listing is for a pair and I only received one. After a call to their office they shipped me the other speaker. About a year later, one of my kids decided to push the "shiny button" in the middle of the speaker (AKA the tweeter). I actually live in Vancouver, near their HQ and they told me to come in and swap it. I originally only asked where I could get a replacement tweeter for a DIY repair and they went above and beyond my expectations.I love the color of the blue, matches pretty close to the blue PJ carbon blue, except not glossy.

This speaker took a bit of experiementing for it to sound good. This speaker sounded very tilted toward the top with bright highs and thin midrange and no useful bass to speak off with almost all the amps I tried with, I tried 3-4 SIngle ended tube,4 push pull tubes amps, hybrid tube/mosfet, class A SS, many receivers mosfet,, bipolar based, etc. No matter what, it was thin and bright and when I used tone control of my receiver, bass became muffled and one noted. Then, Remarkably , they sounded by far the best and actually pretty darn good with a nobsound/monoprice hybrid tube amp with bit of tone control use. With this amp, it sounded better balanced with punchy upper/midbass and actually enjoyable .. as previous review noted, it is very open sounding with good/startling clarity for what it is. So in all, very amp dependent, but with right amp(actually only the monoprice worked for me), sounded better than expected to for its size and the price I got it for but with most other amps,almost unlistenable due to extreme brightness and fatigue. Most users without many Anps, to choose from, may be disappointed. And sound went form 1star to 4 pending amp pairing. Build quality is good, MDF construction, genuine piano finish, 5 element x over, carbon woofer and titanium dome. I got it on sale for a song inciting me to try it out as I thought I could use the cabinet, parts for other DIy projects.

Received single item, it should be a pair, that is my first disappointment.Looks really cool with red glossy color but the sound is awful. Yes bright sounding but without mid frequency and mid bass? That is my second complain.I returned right after I heard it not worth it even for discount price of 60 bucks. Check micca speakers if you want neutral sounding speakers.

It's a pity these are discontinued. For the price, they are definitely 5-star speakers. At first, I was a bit disappointed by an overall lack of clarity and presence. But after a week of playing pink noise through them at night, they really opened up. Vocals that once sounded hollow and trapped inside the speaker now project out in front of the speakers and have more clarity and balance. Both the treble and bass have improved. In fact, last night I was remarking how good the bass sounded with my subwoofer to complete the sound, then realized my subwoofer was unplugged, and all that bass was coming from these little Ben speakers. They didn't sound that good on the first day, but really sounded great after a break-in period. They will not rattle the floor, and you will need a subwoofer to get the very low end, but they do present a full sound once broken in. And you can drive them with a little class-d amplifier and use a relatively inexpensive powered subwoofer to complete a very affordable, very impressive system. It's great for my office. If you want full sound in a large living room, spend more. But for the price and size, they will really surprise you. Based on these, I would consider larger Kanto speakers for my next living room system, and that's quite a recommendation coming from a self-proclaimed "golden ear" audiophile snob.

Nicely built speakers. The sound okay, way too bright.

I have a few speakers that I listen to, mainly my Magnepan MMG's with modified crossovers. I'm an audio engineer and an audiophile and these are too sizzly bright. They are visual jewels but sadly they fail in the tonal balance, being to forward and bright. And yes I broke them in for a day before coming up with a review. Full range bookshelf speaker are better than these. From a manufacturers perspective, a 1 or even 2 ohm resistor in line with the tweeter could have solved this problem. Not worth the asking price, look elsewhere.

Just got these today and I'm very satisfied with their performance. I'm running my denon dp300f turn table through these. They are powered by an art dj pre phono preamp running though a Sony reciever also paired with a Sony subwoofer. They are just what I was looking for and sound great in my setup. They look sweet and have a beefy high quality feel and finish. Get these!!!!

I am currently using these with a topping TP 21 amplifier, as a pair of reference monitors. ( I'm not rich) The imaging is ok, and they force you to leave some space for the bass, as they are challenged in the low end. Anything slightly shrill, is more than obvious. They are at least good as some form of 'Reality check' monitors; and I do think that if I can can make my mainly acoustic music sound good on them, It will sound good on most setups. We shall see.

I just purchased the speakers yesterday, but only received one...I am very disappointed, I hope I can get the second one soon and I see that this is a re occurring issue looking at the user reviews...For the most part the one speaker does sound amazing and I hope I can get the second one soon

You need a subwoofer for these speakers. They do not produce any bass. They are very small though so this makes up for some of the lack of bass

They sound good and look good but you are only getting 1 when you order this. Kind of misleading when it says pair ....

The BENs sound great (zReviews on youtube did a good job testing them out). I have them up with the BENs using the Kanto mounting kits for them as Atmos overhead speakers pointed at the main listening position. The imaging is spot on, they are constructed solid. Very happy with them.