Vandersteen Kento Carbon Loudspeaker Review

**Dre_J** · January 26, 2021, 10:08 PM

Vandersteen Audio Kento Carbon Loudspeaker
- Extraordinary Cohesiveness!

Equipment report
by Andre Jennings

My TAS Equipment Report of the Vandersteen Audio Kento Carbon Loudspeaker is now online here:
Vandersteen Audio Kento Carbon Loudspeaker - The Absolute Sound

"Vandersteen Audio says "that early measurements and listening show this speaker's performance will equal a good part of the Model Seven Mk II's, and [that it is] a significant step forward with its new proprietary technological features.""

"The sound of the Kento Carbon is, first and foremost, extraordinarily cohesive--completely of-a-piece. It takes little effort to be convinced you are listening to realistically reproduced music."

Vandersteen Audio Kento Carbon Loudspeaker - The Absolute Sound

Enjoy,
Dre

**joeinid** · January 26, 2021, 10:37 PM

Great review Dre! Must be great speakers.

**Dre_J** · January 27, 2021, 09:15 AM

Originally Posted by joeinid

Great review Dre! Must be great speakers.

Thanks Joe.

The new subwoofer arrangement and new proprietary extended low-frequency adjustability should prove to be a really significant step forward with room integration for lucky owners.

Dre

**Alpinist** · January 27, 2021, 11:17 AM

Originally Posted by Dre_J

Thanks Joe.

The new subwoofer arrangement and new proprietary extended low-frequency adjustability should prove to be a really significant step forward with room integration for lucky owners.

Dre

Hi Dre.

Are you planning on purchasing a pair of Kento Carbon’s? A very nice step up from the former 5A Carbon’s.

Ken

**Ritmo** · January 27, 2021, 04:21 PM

Nice and thorough review Dre! Do you see the Kento’s as a potential replacement for your 3As?

**Dre_J** · January 27, 2021, 06:31 PM

Originally Posted by Alpinist

Hi Dre.

Are you planning on purchasing a pair of Kento Carbon’s? A very nice step up from the former 5A Carbon’s.

Ken

Hello Ken,

We'll see what the future holds. There are other source component items I've been exploring the past several months that have priority.

The Kento Carbons are excellent speakers as described in my review. They are a nice advancement and have the greatest amount flexibility with bass/midrange/room integration for any single pair of Vandersteen speakers: and that's what the upper tier of Vandersteen loudspeakers has done well for many years.

Originally Posted by Ritmo

Nice and thorough review Dre! Do you see the Kento’s as a potential replacement for your 3As?

Thanks Mike.

It helps that I'm familiar with the engineering design philosophy of Vandersteen Audio and understand their approach to reproducing music. Regarding replacement, I have a few audio projects (source components) ahead of that consideration for now.

-------

It is most probable that anyone who has the opportunity to listen to a properly setup pair of Kento Carbons, will come away respecting the speaker's performance and will most likely be highly impressed: especially if they are sensitive to time-and-phase-accuracy.

Dre

**Alpinist** · January 27, 2021, 07:41 PM

Originally Posted by Dre_J

Hello Ken,

We'll see what the future holds. There are other source component items I've been exploring the past several months that have priority.

The Kento Carbons are excellent speakers as described in my review. They are a nice advancement and have the greatest amount flexibility with bass/midrange/room integration for any single pair of Vandersteen speakers: and that's what the upper tier of Vandersteen loudspeakers has done well for many years.

Dre

Hi Dre,

I don’t think you will be disappointed if you decide to go with the Kento Carbon. I’ve owned the Vandersteen 7 Mk2 for four years and they integrate better into my listening room than all the high-end speakers I’ve owned before them. The adjustable 11-band bass equalization with adjustable overall gain and Q curve have enabled me for the first time to get the bass truly right in my room. This was accomplished in an ordinary living room without acoustic treatments. Additionally, the timbral purity and cohesiveness of the midrange and treble is just stunning.

Ken

**Dre_J** · January 27, 2021, 10:06 PM

Hi Ken,

If you have read the review, you may have noticed that I favorably (and honestly) described the performance of the Kento Carbon loudspeakers. The Kento Carbon is a speaker with extraordinary cohesiveness.

I'm not surprised with your observations. As you have mentioned with the success of your Model Seven Mk II, Vandersteen has the added feature advantage with the Quatro series, Model 5 series, and Model Seven series stand alone speakers when it comes to adjustable bass/room integration.

In the review, you may have also noticed I cover the new technical aspects of the Kento that allow for even more in-room adjustability of bass/room (up to 200Hz, if needed) integration than any single previous Vandersteen model for situations that need it or for additional owner sonic preferences.

Dre

**Alpinist** · January 28, 2021, 03:06 AM

Originally Posted by Dre_J

Hi Ken,

If you have read the review, you may have noticed that I favorably (and honestly) described the performance of the Kento Carbon loudspeakers. The Kento Carbon is a speaker with extraordinary cohesiveness.

I'm not surprised with your observations. As you have mentioned with the success of your Model Seven Mk II, Vandersteen has the added feature advantage with the Quatro series, Model 5 series, and Model Seven series stand alone speakers when it comes to adjustable bass/room integration.

In the review, you may have also noticed I cover the new technical aspects of the Kento that allow for even more in-room adjustability of bass/room (up to 200Hz, if needed) integration than any single previous Vandersteen model for situations that need it or for additional owner sonic preferences.

Dre

Hi Dre,

I did read the TAS review of the Kento Carbon, I just didn’t realize you had written it. Well done, it was an excellent review! Are you in the NYC area?

Ken

**Dre_J** · January 28, 2021, 10:00 AM

Originally Posted by Alpinist

Hi Dre,

I did read the TAS review of the Kento Carbon, I just didn’t realize you had written it. Well done, it was an excellent review! Are you in the NYC area?

Ken

Hello Ken,

Now that you've explained you didn't realize I was the author, things make sense. I'm glad you enjoyed the report. No, I'm not in the NYC area.

Dre

**mep** · January 28, 2021, 12:37 PM

Dre’s review of the Kento Carbon speakers is a model of how reviews should be written IMO. The review gives a very comprehensive oversight into both the capabilities of the Kento Carbon speakers as well as how those capabilities translate into the sound you will hear over a wide variety of music played with both analog and digital source material.

**Ritmo** · January 28, 2021, 04:37 PM

Originally Posted by mep

Dre’s review of the Kento Carbon speakers is a model of how reviews should be written IMO. The review gives a very comprehensive oversight into both the capabilities of the Kento Carbon speakers as well as how those capabilities translate into the sound you will hear over a wide variety of music played with both analog and digital source material.

+1... Wholeheartedly agree Mark.

**Kuoppis** · February 6, 2021, 01:18 AM

Thank you Andre for sharing the review. The Kento Carbon is an interesting concept.

What I find intriguing, is the use of the transmission line concept for the tweeter and mids. While it’s more commonly applied for low frequencies (e.g. several PMC models), giving the high frequency drivers more room to propagate their backward energy has been a standard in e.g. B&W speakers for decades. At least ever since Laurence Dickie designed the sculpturous Nautilus. And of course more lately in the Vivid designs. Also manufacturers like Magico have now adopted it.

Some argue, that sideways firing woofers would impact the coherence, but based on what I read in your review that appears not to be the case. What I was not sure about, did you use the Vandersteen MP5-HP external high pass filters in your test between the pre and power amps? I have yet to see the benefit of using separate cable products for high pass filtering, instead of doing it electronically in the amps, speakers or a separate cross-over (as e.g. JL are offering). Especially in otherwise balanced design systems. Also, using Class B amps instead of Class D for the woofers is also an interesting choice.

In many ways there are conceptual similarities with the Lansche 4.2 currently in my system.

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**Alpinist** · February 6, 2021, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by Kuoppis

What I was not sure about, did you use the Vandersteen MP5-HP external high pass filters in your test between the pre and power amps? I have yet to see the benefit of using separate cable products for high pass filtering, instead of doing it electronically in the amps, speakers or a separate cross-over (as e.g. JL are offering). Especially in otherwise balanced design systems.

Hi Kuoppis,

The M5-HP or M7-HP high pass filters are required on the Quatro Wood CT, Kento Carbon and Vandersteen 7 Mk2 unless you own the Vandersteen M5-HPA or M7-HPA, or Aesthetix Atlas amplifiers, which have this specific circuitry built in. The advantage of this configuration is the low frequency hand off to the speakers’ monoblock subwoofer amplifiers, taking a significant load off of the primary amplifiers.

Best,
Ken

**Kuoppis** · February 6, 2021, 09:24 AM

Originally Posted by Alpinist

Hi Kuoppis,

The M5-HP or M7-HP high pass filters are required on the Quatro Wood CT, Kento Carbon and Vandersteen 7 Mk2 unless you own the Vandersteen M5-HPA or M7-HPA, or Aesthetix Atlas amplifiers, which have this specific circuitry built in. The advantage of this configuration is the low frequency hand off to the speakers’ monoblocks subwoofer amplifiers, taking a significant load off of the primary amplifiers.

Best,
Ken

Hi Ken, thank you for elaborating, appreciate it.

There’s little doubt about the benefit of bi-amping. I guess the difference is, that with the external high pass filters, not only is the low end powered by the inbuilt amps, but also the load on the main amp is reduced.

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**Kuoppis** · February 6, 2021, 01:48 PM

Another question to Dre, could please you post a picture of the Rossini vinyl cover you were referring to (the Fonè release)?

I did not find it anywhere.

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**Dre_J** · February 6, 2021, 04:54 PM

Originally Posted by Kuoppis

Thank you Andre for sharing the review. The Kento Carbon is an interesting concept.

...What I was not sure about, did you use the Vandersteen MP5-HP external high pass filters in your test between the pre and power amps?...

In the review I mentioned:

"the Kento Carbon requires a high-pass 6dB/octave crossover adjusted for 200Hz between the preamplifier output and the amplifier input—unless the amplifier has this 200Hz, high-pass, 6dB/octave crossover option built into its input (as do Vandersteen’s M5-HPA monoblock amplifiers)".

"The Kento Carbons were driven by the two amplifiers I had on hand during the evaluation (a pair of custom/modified monoblocks and Vandersteen Audio’s own M5-HPA monoblocks)."

- For my custom monoblocks, I used my M5-HPB crossovers (properly adjusted for the Kento requirements) between my preamp and amp.
- When I used the Vandersteen the M5-HPA monoblock amplifiers, No. The amplifier has the crossover built in.

Dre

**Dre_J** · February 6, 2021, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by Kuoppis

Another question to Dre, could please you post a picture of the Rossini vinyl cover you were referring to (the Fonè release)?

I did not find it anywhere.

You can see the cover here: Myung-Whun Chung OMAGGIO A ROMA - Fone Records Shop

It is out pf print. There are only 496 copies. You have to check resellers:
Orchestra dell'''Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Myung-Whun Chung – Omaggio A Roma (2007, 180 Gram, Vinyl) - Discogs

Dre

**Kuoppis** · February 6, 2021, 05:38 PM

Thank you, appreciate the clarifications.

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**Mike Lavigne** · February 6, 2021, 10:21 PM

Originally Posted by Dre_J

You can see the cover here: Myung-Whun Chung OMAGGIO A ROMA - Fone Records Shop

It is out pf print. There are only 496 copies. You have to check resellers:
Orchestra dell'''Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Myung-Whun Chung – Omaggio A Roma (2007, 180 Gram, Vinyl) - Discogs

Dre

got that one, it's very good and a 45 too. i'll have to pull it out and listen to it again.

**Kuoppis** · February 7, 2021, 10:50 AM

Also just ordered a copy

Vandersteen Kento Carbon Loudspeaker Review

.

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**Kuoppis** · February 11, 2021, 02:05 PM

Somehow I got interested in this album, probably because it was so hard to get

. Even to find a digital version to listen to. And I didn’t have anything from Rossini in my collection so far. But I found a still sealed copy.

Thank you for the recommendation. Great album, very good SQ. Little risk here, as it’s on the TAS Super LP list. And Fonè is renown for their high quality classical recordings.

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**Dre_J** · February 11, 2021, 03:20 PM

Originally Posted by Kuoppis

Somehow I got interested in this album, probably because it was so hard to get

. Even to find a digital version to listen to. And I didn’t have anything from Rossini in my collection so far. But I found a still sealed copy.

Thank you for the recommendation. Great album, very good SQ. Little risk here, as it’s on the TAS Super LP list. And Fonè is renown for their high quality classical recordings.

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I'm glad the Kento Carbon review sparked your interest in the album.

BTW: That photo of the LP you are showing looks like the 33RPM [Fonè 061] instead of the 45RPM [Fonè 016] pressing.

The Gioacchino Rossini - l'Italiana in Algeri, sinfonia on 33RPM disc [Fonè 061] is still good, just not quite as excellent as the 45RPM copy.

The 45RPM album [Fonè 016] is on the TAS Super LP list because I put it there.

Dre

**Kuoppis** · February 12, 2021, 08:56 AM

Originally Posted by Dre_J

I'm glad the Kento Carbon review sparked your interest in the album.

BTW: That photo of the LP you are showing looks like the 33RPM [Fonè 061] instead of the 45RPM [Fonè 016] pressing.

The Gioacchino Rossini - l'Italiana in Algeri, sinfonia on 33RPM disc [Fonè 061] is still good, just not quite as excellent as the 45RPM copy.

The 45RPM album [Fonè 016] is on the TAS Super LP list because I put it there.

Dre

Attaboy

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