Kanto REN Powered Loudspeaker Review

Kanto Ren Introduction

I was very pleasantly surprised by how good Kanto’s ORA speakers turned out to be when I received them for review, so I was curious about what happened when Kanto scaled their design up a bit from a desktop system. I asked Kanto about larger models, and they suggested the REN for that purpose, and that brings us to today’s review. The Kanto REN is intended as an alternative to a soundbar, among other roles, since it has the ease of installation of a soundbar but more flexibility as a sound system. It is a self-powered system with a plethora of inputs, including HDMI ARC, much like many soundbars, and it is not a large speaker system, so it could fit in many domestic situations. Much like soundbars, these speakers are aimed at fitting in tight spaces.

  

The big advantage is that a system like the RENs could have real stereo imaging, unlike most soundbars. Most soundbars are essentially mono-aural systems since they squeeze all the channels so close to each other relative to the listener. There can be no sound coming from a left or right direction if there is no significant distance between left and right from the listener’s perspective. For this reason, soundbars have never really been considered high-fidelity devices. There are perhaps very large soundbars that solve this problem, but the idea of a large soundbar defeats its own purpose. The RENs can be spaced far apart, thereby allowing a real stereo soundfield. Given the ease of installation along with minimal space accommodation, the RENs look positioned to accomplish their mission nicely — on paper. But how do they perform in actuality? Are the RENs just a better alternative to a soundbar, or do they strive to be a seriously good high-fidelity solution? Let’s dig in to find out…

Kanto Ren Appearance

The Kanto Ren speakers come in a good selection of colors. Most speakers only have two or three finishes available, but the Rens have five. They can be had in matte white, black, blue, orange, and grey. I received the blue. Kanto calls it a matte finish, but it has enough of a sheen that if they called it a satin finish, I would not argue. The finish is very nicely applied. Stylistically speaking, the Rens are fairly simple — a good idea so they can fit in a wider variety of decors. The lengthwise edges are rounded to lend a somewhat streamlined look. The drivers are sunken into the cabinet which gives the tweeter a built-in waveguide. The driver diaphragms are simple, uniform surfaces that are ringed by a small surround. The drivers can be hidden by a black fabric grille which simplifies the appearance of the speaker even more. The grille does leave the status LEDs and control knob on the master speaker exposed. The front LED brightness can be changed, and there are five different brightness levels. There is not much else to say about the appearance of the Ren speakers. They look nice with a minimalism that shouldn’t have any aesthetic collision with nearly any room they would go in, so long as the color is a good pick.

Kanto Ren Design Analysis

The Ren speakers are tasked with delivering high-fidelity sound from a modest-sized package while accommodating a variety of sources; so how does it go about accomplishing that task? The Rens use a very common 2-way design type: a 1” dome tweeter mated with a 5.25” woofer, and it shouldn’t be too hard to pull a good speaker out of such a popular design archetype. Let’s start our discussion of its design at the top with the tweeter. The Rens use a 1” silk dome tweeter mounted in a small waveguide. Silk dome tweeters are some of the best-understood and most reliably good performers around. The waveguide should help to control the tweeter’s directivity to narrow dispersion at the bottom of its bandwidth and possibly broaden it at the top of the bandwidth. The woofer is a 5.25” aluminum cone with an inverted surround. Given the beveling of the waveguide around the cone, Kanto must have had to use an inverted surround so that the driver would fit. It shouldn’t compromise performance at all. A rear-mounted, flared port produces the lowest octave.

   

The drivers are powered by a system total 100-watt RMS amplifier. That should be plenty of wattage for speakers like these. The amp is a class D design, which should make these speakers very energy-efficient. Only one speaker of the pair has the amp built-in; it powers both speakers and uses a simple 10’ speaker cable to power the passive speaker. While one speaker unit powers both speakers, there isn’t a dedicated right or left unit since the channels can be swapped by the remote control (just hold down the “next track” button for five seconds until you see the speaker’s front LED blink twice). The crossover circuits are passive, but since DSP is used, there should be equalization by Kanto to fit a target response, so the crossover circuit isn’t likely to be much more than simple bandwidth filters.

One of the major advantages of the Ren speakers is their HDMI ARC connectivity. That makes it extremely easy to integrate into the signal chain of a television: just plug an HDMI cable from the TV into the Ren speaker. You may need to configure the television’s audio options to set it to two-channel sound. Other types of connectivity that the Ren can accommodate are Bluetooth, USB Audio, analog RCA, analog 3.5mm, and optical TOSLINK. This is a wide variety of connectivity that will allow the Rens to be easily integrated into nearly any type of sound system. Furthermore, it has a subwoofer output, so adding a sub for deep bass is a cinch as well. When the subwoofer output is connected, the Ren speakers will sense it and then automatically high-pass filter out frequencies below 80Hz, so it has some level of built-in bass management. The Ren speakers even have a USB charger built into the back panel intended to charge things like smart home devices or network streamers, but I suppose you could use it to charge your smartphone as well.

The Ren speaker has two alternate sound modes outside of the default sound: Vocal Boost and Night Mode. Vocal Boost simply boosts some midrange frequencies in order to increase dialogue intelligibility. Night Mode employs a high-pass filter to reduce bass output and also engages a compressor to reduce high amplitude peaks so the sound level doesn’t become abruptly loud.

The Ren comes with a remote control unit that has some functions not available on the speaker itself. The remote can interact with Bluetooth playback by playing, pausing, reversing, and forwarding tracks. It can also adjust the LED status light brightness to five different brightness levels. The remote can engage an automatic power-up and automatic power-down mode. If no signal has been detected for 15 minutes, it will enter a standby mode but will be able to power up if a signal is detected again. The remote has a mute function and also a “mute subwoofer only” function. The remote also has tone controls in the form of treble and bass buttons that can lower or raise treble or bass. 

The enclosures are made from ½” MDF panels with the front baffle having a greater thickness. The rear-mounted port is approximately 5” long with a 1 ⅞” diameter, and is only flared in the outer end. The speakers do not come with feet, but Kanto provides some adhesive pads that users can stick to the bottom to prevent the finish from getting scuffed by being placed on hard surfaces. The grille uses magnetic adhesion for a cleaner front baffle appearance, but the grille frame probably will cause some diffraction effects, so for the best sound, leave the grille off (though the difference isn’t likely to be great).

The ingredients are there to accomplish the mission of the speaker, but how well they all work together is what matters, and we can't know anything until we give it some real-world trials, so let’s now hear what it can do in practice…

Kanto Ren Listening Sessions

In my 24’ by 13’ (approximately) listening room, I set up the speakers a few feet off the back and side walls, and with an equal distance between the speakers and the listening position. I angled the speakers to face the listening position. The listening distance from the speakers was about 9 feet. No room correction equalization was used. Processing was done by a Marantz 7705. A MartinLogan Dynamo 12 subwoofer was used when indicated.

Music Listening

Steve Reich has been a fixture in avant-garde music for well over 50 years. But can you still be classed as avant-garde when your influence is so extensive that it can be felt in mainstream instrumental music within your lifetime? I don’t know the answer, but I don’t think the answer matters as long as the music is consistently good, and output never becomes stale. Reich, now nearly 90, has a new release from his home label Nonesuch titled Jacob’s Ladder/ Traveler’s Prayer, two compositions written in 2020 and 2023, respectively. The style may be familiar to Reich fans, but the subject matter is new. The pieces in this album make for a compelling listen, and I think they will be viewed as a highlight in Reich’s output, despite coming out so late in his life. I streamed this album from Qobuz in a 96kHz/24-bit resolution.

Supposedly, the “Jacob’s Ladder” segment of this album was recorded at the premiere performance of this work at David Geffen Hall at the Lincoln Center in New York City. However, it didn’t sound like a concert hall performance. The sound engineering made it sound like the listener was situated at a front-row seat. Instruments and vocalists imaged very clearly to far left and right positions, much like what would be heard at close proximity to the performers. It sounded like a studio recording, and the Kanto Ren speakers explicitly conveyed that intent by the recording engineers. The speakers brought the performers into my listening room for a “they are here” rather than a “you are there” effect. The soundstage was much more exacting than a typical symphonic hall recording, a characteristic nicely captured by the speakers. The instruments and vocalists all sounded natural and tonally balanced. In the “Traveler’s Prayer” track, the piano was given prominence, and while the Kanto Ren speakers could reproduce it fine, the lower notes were better represented when I added a subwoofer. The Ren speakers could mostly reproduce the piano’s lower notes without the sub, but the subwoofer made them sound a lot more authoritative, even when level matched with the speakers. Reich’s music is an acquired taste, and even then, one must be in a certain mood, but when that mood strikes, it ought to be heard with a high-quality sound system. After hearing Jacob’s Ladder/ Traveler’s Prayer on the Ren speakers, I think that Kanto has provided just that in this case.

  

A new release that I found on Qobuz is Marc Broussard’s Time is a Thief, a blues album with a heavy dose of funk and rock. While I only knew of Broussard’s work in passing, I finally decided to give him some real attention with this new release, and I have to say I am pleasantly surprised. This is fairly high-energy blues with terrific instrumental accompaniment. This sound mix really lets each instrument breathe, and the mix turns out a clean recording of a genre that more often opts for a grungy “live” sound. The album sounds great, so I decided to see how it sounded in the Ren speakers.

Broussard’s voice imaged nicely in the center of the soundstage. Brass instruments flanked him on both sides, with percussion also occupying a broad center since it was clearly recorded with a close mic. The bass drum and bass guitar had some real vigor, unexpectedly so for a small speaker. The third track, “Cold-Blooded,” had a crunchy bass guitar that the Rens gave some meat to, not on the level of a subwoofer or full-range tower speaker, but very good for some smaller bookshelf speakers. The bass in this music sounded good on the speakers by themselves, although I wasn’t listening to this album at a high loudness level. All the instruments sounded natural and tonally balanced. Broussard’s rich voice was given a detailed and proportionate presentation by the speakers, and a great example of this was on the track “Give You the World,” which gave his voice some space from the instruments. He sounded terrific, as did his instrumental accompaniment. I am not sure what else can be asked from some lower-cost powered stand-mount speakers for this album. Time is a Thief was a very enjoyable listening experience on the Rens. More expensive speakers might have delivered more immediacy or wider dynamics, but I think anyone who gives these speakers a chance with this album would be seriously impressed.

To see how these small speakers could handle a big sound, I threw on Michael Stearns’s score for the epic Samsara, a 2011 wordless documentary filmed in 70mm and intended for Imax-type presentations. Stearns has been a major figure in the “space” subgenre of new-age music since the early ‘80s, and, outside of the scores he has made for special exhibition movies such as Samsara and Baraka, he is known for planetarium-style music that feels like a narrative for a space journey. Samsara would bring in a host of other musical elements alongside Stearns’s spacey synths, such as vocals by Lisa Gerrard, and especially musical instrumentation from Southeast Asia, courtesy of Marcello de Francisci. It’s a monumental score, but does it need monumental speakers to do it justice?

The soundtrack opens with one of the most iconic scores from the film, “Bali Girls,” which features female vocals over a gamelan. The Ren speakers placed the vocals dead-center while spreading the gamelan over the width of the soundstage, and it was a good presentation of a lovely piece of music. Track 3, “Modern Life,” was largely percussion-based, using non-Western percussion instruments along with bells and electronic atmospherics. The various drums had well-defined imaging over the soundstage, whether it be center, slight left, hard right, and so on. The speakers did not allow for confusion over the position of the instrument. Track 6, “Villages and Freeways,” is more typical of the kind of stuff Michael Stearns is known for: cosmic synths. The Ren speakers gave this track a wide, enveloping soundstage, befitting of its IMAX presentation origins. I did bring in the subwoofer for this track since it skirts some deeper bass, and while the speakers handled the lower frequencies well, the subwoofer certainly added more depth to the sound.

On the track “Dump/Igen,” spaced-out female vocals underpinned some deep bass synths, and while the Ren speakers reproduced the vocals beautifully, they did struggle with the sweeping bass on this track. I was hearing a shuddering sound, which I first thought might have been something loose on the amp panels, but further investigation revealed it was the ports overloading. I connected a subwoofer, and that took a big load off the ports and solved the problem. Port turbulence sounds are often masked by higher-frequency content on the recording, or by the speaker enclosure itself when the ports are located on the back panel. But the Ren ports had such a particular port turbulence sound that it was pretty audible anyway. However, aside from a bit of port misbehavior, which was eliminated with the inclusion of a subwoofer, the Ren speakers did a very nice job of reproducing the Samsara soundtrack. These small speakers did an otherwise great job of recreating a big score. 

  

To see how the Ren speakers would react to being pushed, I threw on some drum’n’bass music and cranked it hard. I found a killer new release from the 1985 Music label, by an artist named Napes. Shooters Hill EP is an EP of four tracks of hard-hitting drum’n’bass that has a retro vibe, but with modern production techniques. It sounds like someone gave modern production tools to a D’n’B artist from the ‘90s. The sound is fast and ferocious, and the bass is heavy; this music demands to be played loud. How loud could the Rens get without falling apart?

Again, the Ren speakers could do bass better than expected, although there were moments when the ports struggled. However, I was deliberately pushing them to the edge of their performance, and they handled this abuse with more tenacity than I would have guessed, given their size and specs. When I threw in a sub, they opened up quite a bit and could get louder without struggling as much. Without a sub, their limits in bass became apparent fairly easily, even as well as its 5.25” woofers could move. Track 2, “Deja Vu 93.2,” had an old-school rolling bassline that the Ren speakers could give body to, but not a tremendous amount of force. The inclusion of a subwoofer obviously gave it much more potency, and allowed the Ren speakers to play to their strengths, which don’t include really deep bass. The star of this EP is the track “North Road,” with its stabby bassline and frenetic snares and hats. It’s a masterpiece of retro jungle music, and it sounded good on the Ren speakers. But it sounded great on the Ren speakers when a sub was included. Anyone who remembers old school D’n’B fondly absolutely needs to give this track a listen on a good sound system. The following track, “Tokyo Drifting,” is pretty epic too.

In the end, I do think the Ren speakers have sufficient dynamic range for their target buyers, especially when a subwoofer is added. At normal levels, its limitations in deep bass are not likely to become a problem. I don’t ever see it becoming a problem for those using these speakers for a desktop system. And for those who want to get a bit rowdy in a larger room, I do think the Rens can do that, but only with the assistance of a subwoofer.

Movie Watching

To see what the Ren speakers could do for a major Hollywood movie, I watched Netflix’s new science-fiction epic The Electric State. In this movie, a girl teams up with a robot and a smuggler to go on a journey to find her lost brother in an alternate 1997, where humanity wages war against a race of robotic beings. This 300-million-dollar movie was met with mixed critical reception, but its sound mix should be as good as money can buy with such a colossal production budget. 

The Electric State turned out to be a charming if somewhat formulaic movie, and I don’t understand why it was trashed so badly by critics. I do think that Netflix originals get judged more harshly by critics, and I think the reason is that they see the medium as more disposable than old-fashioned studio releases. Regardless of the critical opinion of the movie, its sound mix was fun and lively, and it sounded very good with the Ren speakers. The most distinctive aspect of the sound mix was the multitude of odd noises made by the robot characters. The whirring and whizzing of motorized motions and distorted mechanical voices added up to some vividly-realized robotic characters, and the Ren speakers helped to make their creation an aural reality. The action scenes had lots of large-scale destruction, and the speakers gave all of the crashes and explosions a spirited presentation, for their size. Larger speakers with wider dynamics probably would have had a lot more slam, but the Ren speakers are not attempting to be dedicated home theater fronts. Those looking at the Rens as an alternative to a soundbar would surely be pleased with the punch these things can pack. They would also surely be pleased with the excellent level of dialogue intelligibility; I didn’t have any problems following conversations within the movie. I did watch this movie with a sub, as I do think the low end would have been a bit taxing for the Ren speakers at a higher loudness level. The Ren speakers probably would have sounded OK without a subwoofer, but the sub gave them a larger sound, which certainly befits a movie such as this.

  

I was interested to see Longlegs, a critically acclaimed 2024 horror movie starring Maika Monroe and Nicholas Cage. It concerns an FBI agent who is tasked with investigating a serial killer involved in the occult, who turns out to have personal connections with her past. The plot sounds pretty generic, but the director, Osgood Perkins, has had a string of hits since his first film, the terrific The Blackcoat’s Daughter. He has proven himself to be an artist worth keeping an eye on, and with good word-of-mouth following Longlegs, I felt reasonably sure that it was going to be anything but generic.

Longlegs turned out to be a fairly creepy exercise with a sound mix full of subtle cues. The most notable element of the sound mix was the music, both the instrumental score and the diegetic music. The original music was done by Elvis Perkins, the director’s brother, who also scored some of his other films. It’s an atmospheric orchestral score with electronic elements, and it was given a sinister presence by the speakers on account of their wide soundstage. In-scene music included a few tracks from ‘70s glam rock band T-Rex, and on the Ren speakers, it had a nice amount of verve and energy. The movie’s sound mix on the whole was relatively quiet and not calamitous (as so many horror movies end up being), and it heightened the eeriness of the setting. The quietude also contrasted with the moments of abrupt shock for the few jump scares, although this movie’s horror is much more about story, tone, and style than jump scares. Dialogue intelligibility was good throughout, even with Nicholas Cage’s extremely bizarre performance and dialogue delivery. I did use a subwoofer in this movie to supplement deep bass, although I do think that the Ren speakers probably would have been fine for this sound mix, for the most part. Longlegs wasn’t a loud movie, but it was a very good one, and so deserves a good presentation. The Ren speakers helped to make it an enjoyable viewing experience, and I certainly would not trade them for any soundbar.

Kanto Ren Measurements and Analysis

The Kanto Ren speakers were measured in free air at a height of 7.5 feet at a 1-meter distance from the microphone, and the measurements were gated at an 11-millisecond delay. In this time window, some resolution is lost below 250 Hz, and accuracy is completely lost below 110 Hz. Measurements have been smoothed at a 1/24 octave resolution.

 

The above graph shows the direct-axis frequency response and other curves that describe the speaker’s amplitude response in a number of ways. For more information about the meaning of these curves, please refer to our article Understanding Loudspeaker Measurements Part 1. The response that we see from the Ren speakers is nicely well-controlled. There is a little bit of waviness going from 1kHz to 2kHz, but other than that, it’s very good. The on-axis response has some waviness in upper treble, but the most important curve here, the Listening Window, is quite neutral, especially in the tweeter’s bandwidth. The Listening Window holds to a pretty tight range, about +/-1.5dB out to 20kHz. Based on what we saw from Kanto’s Ora speakers, I was expecting the Rens to be good as well, and that is what we see here. The directivity indexes do have a few ripples in the tweeter’s bandwidth, so this isn’t a perfect set of measurements, but they are pretty darn good. The Rens prove themselves to be fairly accurate and linear loudspeakers.

 

 

The above graphs depict the speaker’s direct-axis and horizontal dispersion out to a 90-degree angle in five-degree increments. Information on how to interpret these graphs can be read in this article: Understanding Loudspeaker Review Measurements Part II.

As we can see from the above graphs, the on-axis responses are very neutral. Correspondence to off-axis responses does take a small hit in some areas, namely around 5kHz and above 12kHz. These are what caused dips in the directivity indexes. I wouldn’t expect them to have a serious impact on the sound of these speakers since they occur pretty far off-axis, and stuff above 12kHz is pretty rare and not easy for many listeners to even hear. These flaws are small and very minor. What these graphs tell us is that the Ren speakers have an accurate and well-balanced sound, much like what I heard while listening to them.

The above polar map shows the same information as the preceding graphs but depicts it in a way that can offer new insight regarding these speakers’ behavior. Instead of using individual raised lines to illustrate amplitude, polar maps use color to portray amplitude, and this allows the use of a purely angle/frequency axis perspective. The advantage of these graphs is that they can let us see broader trends of the speaker’s dispersion behavior more easily. More information about interpreting this graph can be read in this article: Understanding Loudspeaker Measurements Part II.

In this graph, we get a sense of how wide the dispersion of the Ren speakers is. Typically, 2-way speakers using a 5.25” woofer with a 1” dome tweeter have a very wide dispersion, especially at the low end, but then tighten up as we approach upper treble. The Ren speakers don’t quite follow that trend since the tweeter is mounted in a small waveguide. The waveguide tightens its dispersion at the lower end of its bandwidth but broadens it at the upper end. Since the Ren’s waveguide isn’t a particularly deep one, it isn’t hugely controlling of the dome’s dispersion, but its effects are very evident. The tweeter still starts to beam, but that only becomes significant above 13kHz or so, frequencies that are too high to really impact the sound character of the speaker. The Ren speakers are fairly wide-dispersion speakers on the whole, and maintain some real acoustic energy out past a 50-degree angle from a front-firing position. That means that it should offer good coverage to anyone within a reasonable angle in front of the speakers.

The above graph shows the Ren’s response behavior along its vertical axis where zero degrees is directly in front of the tweeter, negative degree values are below the tweeter, and positive degree values are above the tweeter. Any speaker where drivers are separated by distance, such as here, where the tweeter is mounted a short distance away from the woofer, will inevitably suffer phase conflicts on the axis where the separation occurs. Those phase conflicts typically manifest as nulls at off-axis angles. In this respect, what is unusual about the Ren speakers is just how asymmetrically these nulls occur relative to the on-axis angle. There is a very formidable null just below the on-axis angle, yet a good angle of solid response above the on-axis angle. What that means is that there will be a big gap in the sound if you are listening at an angle below the tweeter but not above the tweeter. To get a better sense of this, let’s look at a polar map of the vertical dispersion…

The black line marks the zero-degree angle, meaning that is the response that happens where the tweeter is aimed. Above that line is about 30 degrees of nice solid red, meaning that that sound will be consistent and full within that angle. Below that, however, we get a gap between about 1.5kHz to past 3kHz, just under 10 degrees. That is a pretty important frequency band, so users definitely do not want to be listening at that angle. What this all boils down to is that users should listen to the Ren speakers at or above the tweeter axis, not below.

The above graph shows the Ren’s low-frequency response captured using ground plane measurements (where the speaker and microphone are on the ground at a 2-meter distance in a wide-open area). The Ren has a bass tone control button on its remote control, and I have shown responses where the tone control is set to maximum, neutral, and minimum. The bass tone control can add or subtract about 5dB below about 300Hz. The Ren has a mostly flat low-frequency response that begins its roll-off at 90Hz. With room gain, I expect most users would get a solid response to just above 50Hz. Much like the rest of its frequency response, the bass response is admirably flat and well-controlled.

Kanto Ren Conclusion

Before bringing this review to a close, I will briefly go over the strengths and weaknesses of the product under evaluation, and, as usual, I will start with the weaknesses. What are the weaknesses of Kanto’s Ren speakers? There aren’t many, but one aspect that is a bit flawed is the way in which the port overloads. For some reason, when the Ren speakers are pushed hard and the ports become overloaded, the port turbulence is more pronounced than I have heard with other speakers that share similar specs. Of course, this is only a problem at very high drive levels — likely higher than many users would ever push the Rens. It also only occurs when a subwoofer is not in use, and I would guess that quite a few users will add a subwoofer to a Ren system, which automatically applies a high-pass filter (HPF) to reduce the bass load on the speakers. It probably isn’t a huge task to rework the port a bit, perhaps using an elliptical shape instead of a cylinder, as well as flaring both ends, so I am hoping that Kanto takes another look at the port.

 

Something else that I wish were a bit beefier is the cabinet. The cabinet construction is OK and in line with products of its class, but I think that Kanto could shore it up a bit. Kanto could add some bracing or make the panels thicker. That would be a simple matter and would go a long way towards making the Rens feel more premium and substantial.

With those two minor gripes out of the way, let’s now talk about the Ren’s strengths, the chief of which is the sound it can produce. The Ren’s sound is well-balanced and has no undue emphasis or deemphasis over any frequency band. Its projected sound is well controlled over a wide angle, so users don’t need these speakers to be precisely positioned to have a great sound. Just sit somewhere in front of them with your ears roughly level with the tweeter, and they will sound great. They image well and can create a vivid, well-realized soundstage. Bass extension is good for a smaller standmount speaker, and the ability to easily add a subwoofer lets users determine bass extension should they choose to do so. Dynamic range is likewise impressive for a loudspeaker of its size, especially with a subwoofer in play.

Next to the Ren’s sound quality, its major advantage is its connectivity suite, mainly HDMI ARC. That makes it easy to plug into a television and get a great sound right out of the box. HDMI ARC is what makes the Rens such a viable alternative to a soundbar. However, its optical S/PDIF input, USB Audio, Bluetooth, and RCA inputs make the Rens versatile speakers that can easily be integrated into a wide range of systems. The automatic high-pass filtering that occurs when a subwoofer is connected is also a major advantage. 

Of course, to be a viable alternative to a soundbar, it also has to look nice to fit into a living space, and Kanto’s sleek, minimalist design for the Rens accomplishes this very well. With a variety of colors to choose from, users could find something that allows it to fit into almost any interior decor. It’s a handsome speaker that I doubt many would object to.

Kanto Ren vs the Competition

Powered consumer speakers are becoming a crowded market, so what are the Ren speakers up against? Unfortunately, there isn’t much we have reviewed in this growing segment, but there are some similarly priced contenders that look worthwhile. One competing product is the Klipsch R50-PM. I would expect the R50-PM to have a wide dynamic range and well-controlled directivity, hallmarks of Klipsch design, but one edge that the Ren speakers have over the R50-PM is the inclusion of HDMI ARC connectivity. ELAC has the DCB41-DS (what a catchy name!) It does have HDMI ARC as well as a clean styling, but it isn’t likely to match the Kanto Ren’s dynamic range since it has a smaller woofer, smaller tweeter, and half the amplifier power. A manufacturer that has long inhabited this segment is Audioengine, and they have the HD6 Home Music System as well as other powered standmount speakers that compete with the Rens. Audioengine has a good reputation for high-quality audio, and the HD6 speakers do look nice, but it is missing HDMI connectivity. Similarly, acclaimed manufacturer PSB has the Alpha AM5, which looks nice but also lacks HDMI. One that does not lack HDMI is the recently-reviewed Fluance Ri71 speakers. This is a solid entry with a good sound, and it costs a couple of Fluance Ri71 hundred dollars less than the Ren speakers. It doesn’t have as clean of a look, and it lacks optical S/PDIF and USB Audio connectivity, but if you only plan on using HDMI as your sound source, the Ri71 speakers are certainly worth a look.

Much like the ORA speakers that I previously reviewed, the Ren speakers are a highly competent loudspeaker from Kanto. They are a very strong choice in their segment, and Kanto has done a great job with their design. Within their price class, it’s hard to say they aren’t the top choice for their combination of sound quality, features, and aesthetics. There are powered standmount speakers out there that can top the Rens, but they cost a lot more and can’t be considered direct competition since they are in a different price class. With that in mind, I would be interested in seeing what Kanto could do at higher price points: if they can put forward such a strong product in this class at $700/pair, what could they do at $1.5k or $3k? I would love to find out. 

The Score Card

The scoring below is based on each piece of equipment doing the duty it is designed for. The numbers are weighed heavily with respect to the individual cost of each unit, thus giving a rating roughly equal to:

Performance × Price Factor/Value = Rating

Audioholics.com note: The ratings indicated below are based on subjective listening and objective testing of the product in question. The rating scale is based on performance/value ratio. If you notice better performing products in future reviews that have lower numbers in certain areas, be aware that the value factor is most likely the culprit. Other Audioholics reviewers may rate products solely based on performance, and each reviewer has his/her own system for ratings.

Audioholics Rating Scale

• — Excellent
• — Very Good
• — Good
• — Fair
• — Poor

Metric	Rating
Build Quality
Appearance
Treble Extension
Treble Smoothness
Midrange Accuracy
Bass Extension
Bass Accuracy
Imaging
Dynamic Range
Fit and Finish
Performance
Value