Review: Jamie Biesemans

Situated squarely in the middle of Canton’s five-strong set of floorstanders, is the Reference 3 the sweet spot?

First seen at High End Munich in 2023, Canton’s Reference range brought a major renewal to the flagship offering of Germany’s largest loudspeaker brand. Introducing a new design aesthetic, with a rounded lute-shape cabinet profile made popular by Sonus faber many years ago, and integrating new drivers, it heralded a major course change from the previous Reference K generation [HFN May & Aug ’22]. Yet Canton’s penchant for sprawling ranges has not changed, so the Reference series contains no fewer than eight models – and that’s not counting the exclusive GS edition, nor the two Alpha models revealed at Munich in 2024.

Described as ‘contemporary classics’, the six-strong, sixth generation Gold series spans, you guessed it, six models!

After the renewal of the Silver in 2021 and the Platinum range at the tail end of 2022, it was only logical the intermediate Gold line would reappear, now in 6th generation (6G) guise. The Gold 300 6G is the smaller floorstanding model in the new range, and in many households will be the sensible choice. The three-way design and two 150mm woofers promise performance, while its living room friendly footprint makes choosing between the £4000 Gold 300 6G and the Gold 100 6G standmount (£3000 plus £550 for the ST-2 stands) just that bit more difficult. Its design chops, both when it comes to looks and acoustics, made it an obvious candidate for the EISA members to pin an EISA Award on its lapel this summer.

Sean Kim, the Marketing/Sales Executive Director at HiFi Rose, has stated that the brand wants to ‘liven up the hi-fi market and have it embrace new technology faster’. That’s quite an ambition, and, to be fair, the South Korean company has already proven itself to be a successful disruptor – a case in point being the buzz generated by its ‘steampunk’ RA180 amplifier [HFN Jul ’22], and its network streamers sporting massive, customisable touchscreens [HFN Jun ’21 and Mar ’22].

Instantly recognisable, Switzerland’s Piega has produced its ‘ribbon’ loudspeakers for nearly four decades. Building on the company founded by Leo Greiner (the other founder, Kurt Scheuch, brought technical chops to the table), it’s a manufacturer that takes pride in its family ownership. Greiner’s sons Alex and Manuel still manage the business from Horgen on the shores of Lake Zurich, where production is situated.