Multitest bookshelf speakers – 2500 Euro – part 1

Aurum Cantus V2M

Aurum Cantus is a Chinese brand that focuses entirely on ribbon tweeters. The Aurum Cantus V2M also has a nice ribbon. Supplemented by a woofer, this speaker should achieve a reasonable frequency range. The build quality is remarkably good. The cabinet feels thick and solid and we hear very little cabinet resonances in the highly scientifically sound knock test. That’s a good first sign.

Now, implementing a ribbon tweeter is very tricky. The characteristics of a ribbon and dynamic unit are simply very different. But a number of brands have managed to do it successfully. Think Audiovector, DALI, Fink and certainly a handful of other manufacturers. We didn’t know Aurum Cantus yet, so we were particularly curious.

The construction of the speaker is traditional: 2-way, bass reflex. Your author is a fan of this, as there is fairly little that can go wrong, which mostly gives a purist result.

The sound

A lot goes right with the Aurum Cantus. Especially with the Nilai, it is a nice combination. On the Pass Labs it doesn’t really go well. There we do hear some restlessness and a bit of sharpness. The Nilai seems more forgiving in that area, which simply makes the overall impression better.

Still, we can’t ignore the fact that the 1,000 euro lower price puts this Aurum Cantus in a class below the rest. Let’s face it: that makes sense and is nothing to be ashamed of. However, it also shows that saving some extra money can pay off if you are looking for a little more sophistication. The 500 to 1000 euros extra also simply gives more performance in this field.

If we take the price into account for a moment, we hear that the price / quality is fine. Overall, the balance in the speaker is fine, we hear enough detail and the resolution on the piano in particular is very good. This is a fast speaker that can let you hear a lot. However, keep in mind the match: it is critical and makes or breaks this speaker.

Measurements Aurum Cantus V2M

The Aurum Cantus gives some crazy measurements. First of all, in the response measurement, a transition between the woofer and ribbon can be seen very clearly. Also in the distortion measurement. At least in the measurements, the woofer just performs better. The ribbon seems to break up. Where the woofer just sits around -60dB / 0.1% distortion, the ribbon swings around 0.5%. This shows that ribbons are not sacred. And difficult to implement.

The impedance also goes a bit messy. We see four peaks. Two from the bass reflex and two further down. However, that’s not such a big problem because the impedance doesn’t dip below 7.5 ohms. And that makes this an easy speaker to drive.

Specifications Aurum Cantus V2M