KANTO YU6 review and B2 distortion issues

[Peter Roat]

A few days ago I promised Paul I’d post how I was getting on with my newly purchased YU6 speakers and the B2. This purchase was prompted by my having more time on my hands being retired, and actually listening to the music rather than having it on in the background. I was becoming dissatisfied with the sound quality of the B2 played direct through my old Mission bookshelf speakers. Basically inadequate bass and mid range, and distortion of the sound when using the B2 graphic equaliser. Hence this long post in two sections.

1. YU6. You can search the specifications of these online so I won’t give great detail. Briefly these are powered speakers with their own 100 watt per channel amp. There’s a remote with volume and bass/treble controls. I wanted powered speakers because I’ve restricted space in my bookcase and nowhere to put a separate amp. Initially I considered the cheaper Ruark MR1 MK2, which are highly regarded, but decided these were too small as I sit some distance from the speaker positions. So I looked at Kanto; they do two smaller models, YU2 and YU4, but I went for the biggest in the range, cost around £350. Basically the best audio decision I’ve ever made (apart from B2 purchase of course!) Wonderful sound, well rounded, clean and clear with good bass. And powerful enough to really fill our room with sound. The sound quality is great and I’m hearing instruments and nuances I’ve never heard before in tunes I thought I knew well. They’re getting run in now with a few days use and the sound gets better and better. I can wholeheartedly recommend them. There is a matching sub. I haven’t got this, I might get tempted as I quite like the deep bass produced by the sub on my TV sound bar, but it’s certainly not essential. The remote is easy to use, distance limited to around 4 metres. The connection to the B2 is by Bluetooth, for reasons in paragraph 2. I’ve had no problems with pairing or playing. For clarity I have the older B2 with the external SD card. The Bluetooth dongle is next to the speakers, if anyone is considering buying the speakers and having them at distance from the B2 I’ll happily test the range.
2. As I’ve said one of the reasons I bought the YU6 was distortion when using the B2 amp with speakers connected direct, and trying to get a sound satisfactory to me with the graphic equaliser. Initially I tried connecting the YU6 to the B2 with an optical cable. Although Jack Sense isolates the B2 amp I still found a degree of distortion with the YU6. I experimented with flatting the equaliser and then putting all sliders at minimum, also varying the volume level on the B2, but still no improvement. This may of course point to a problem with my B2 only, however it’s not been much used until now, never at high output levels, and my old Missions were a match at 8 ohms. I only mention all this to explain my use of the Bluetooth connection. I know Bluetooth is considered by some to produce inferior sound quality; I couldn’t say if optical connection would make any appreciable difference due to my distortion issues. However I’m very happy with Bluetooth sound.

So, that’s about it, I’ll happily answer any questions relating to my set up. If anyone has experienced similar distortion problems with optical connection into powered speakers and has overcome them I’d like to know.

Peter

[PMB]

Hi Peter,

Thank you for the update.

You may find you don't need the B2's equaliser, if the tone controls on the YU6's are adequate and can disable it.

BTW - I have found that the B2's 'graphic equaliser' works on the digital (optical) output but haven't tried Bluetooth yet.

Paul

Brennan Support.

[Jasper Warwick]

If you are using digital out then there should be no distortion from the B2 since the analogue components of the B2 DAC and amp are completely bypassed. The optical input to the speakers will give you the most reliable sound from the B2 but since the YU6 speakers are providing the functions of DAC, amp, and speakers in a single package any distortion you hear I would have though is down to them not the B2. As I understand it Bluetooth does compress the digital signal (I don't believe that the optical link uses compression) which might reduce the quality a little although whether that is noticeable is debatable.

[Peter Roat]

Update

I've still got the speakers connected via Bluetooth, as I find this does, for whatever reason, give the best quality sound. I've no idea why, but I'm not bothered as the connection via Bluetooth doesn't drop out at all.

Pushed out the boat and bought a Kanto Sub8 sub to go with the speakers. I was happy before, but now I'm on cloud nine, wonderful overall sound quality, after some adjustment the bass sound is entirely natural but more pronounced on varied music genres (jazz, pop, rock, folk, classical etc), and when I'm in a mind to, I push up the bass on a rap track to vibrate the house a bit.

[PMB]

Hi Pete,

Glad to hear you are enjoying your B2 and YU6 + Sub speakers.

Paul

Brennan Support.