I’ve had many pairs of Kanto speakers. I love the convenience of self-powered speakers and the beautiful sound the speakers make. However, the one thing that’s been common through 4/5 pairs of Kanto speakers I’ve had is that they malfunction. So far Kanto’s customer support has been excellent in replacing broken units, but after another pair (YU6) broke this weekend (number 3 below) I’m growing weary. It seems that I can’t get a pair that lasts longer than 18 months. Here’s a rundown of my sets of speakers- what happened to them => what replaced them.
YU5- Intermittent static sound => YU6
YU2- LED burned out (I’m not going to complain about this too much because the LED was too bright anyways and they still work otherwise)
YUMI- Channel imbalance & passive speaker cutting out => YU6- now broken, main power died. waiting to hear from support.
I’m sorry that you’ve had so many issues using our speakers - that is a bad track record. Nice to hear that our support team has been solving your issues, but multiple defective speakers are not what we want our long-term customers to experience.
While managing Support I interacted with a lot of Kanto fans like yourself who have had several sets of our speakers. Being the Support Department, we obviously dealt with product issues and I’m happy that we built up a good enough track record that customers like yourself stuck with us even when they were on their second issue – so thank you for that.
I never felt as though there were any systemic or recurring issues with our overall product line, but every product has some sort of weak point that is discovered once they reach customers. We have a pipeline that goes from the Support Department directly to Engineering so they can research and, hopefully, resolve problems behind the scenes – unfortunately, faulty products still end up in customers’ homes.
I don’t have the confidence to say that this is a rare and unfortunate set of circumstances, as that would be minimizing your experience with our products, but I can say we still have a lot of happy customers with legacy products that are still working as intended. I’m really hoping that after this one you’ll be problem free for a long time.
I’ll forward this thread to our Support team so that they understand the situation with your most recent YU6 failure, and as usual we’ll get you the support you need. Please keep in touch with me if there’s anything more that I can do.
Update: Support seemingly won’t replace the faulty speakers because the warranty goes on the original purchase date. So even though my speakers are only 22 months old, they are a replacement for a pair that I bought 3.5 years ago.
I’ve purchased 5 Kanto Audio products in the past- speakers and stands- and I’ve recommended them on several different occasions in different forums. I don’t think I ever will again.
Just to mention my Favorite speaker Brand, Genelec.
I have had like +13 pairs of different Genelec speakers and subs. Only 1 unit had i minor amp issue.
Warranty replaced the amp, no cost’s with this case.
Big ones have been running 5 years no issues. Rest are near 3 years and newest ones 1 year.
My frieds still own, 7 units of my old speakers. So they like 8 years old. Zero issues.
For new speakers.
You have 2 years of factory warranty + by registration another 3 years. So that’s 5y / 60m warranty.
Plus the product lifes are long, so repairs can be made later on as well.
Professional products and with Studio series. All the toys to make sound great in any environment, neutral, transparent sound and ability to adapt to your room.
Perfect blend of unrivalled technical performance and stunning looks.
It’s just music!
If it’s too neutral and detailed, too full of sound so that might be issue. I have had that as feed back on my system. Price… yes. Well you get what you pay and more.
I sent this thread to the Support team so they were in the loop. It was escalated to the CS manager which isn’t too common as the Support team has quite a bit of autonomy in how they handle issues. Sadly I wasn’t able to sway the decision in favour of @wolf_math. Crappy situation but ultimately I have to respect whatever decision was made.
I know we sometimes get creative with how we approach out-of-warranty issues like offering friends and family pricing, or finding a used speaker as a replacement, but COVID has really messed with our supply chain and we can’t do much if we don’t have stock. We’ve, sadly, been a lot less “dynamic” when it comes to fixing customer problems in the past 9+ months.
When everything was working I had 3 sets of speakers, a sub-woofer, and speaker stands- all from Kanto. It’s not just that it’s a crappy situation, I feel snubbed as someone who’s been a fan and spent money on these products. I’m annoyed that the speakers are broken, but so is my trust in the company. If I got a replacement pair I’d only wonder when they were going to break. I really hope that this was a fluke and that the rest of my Kanto gear continues to work properly and that nobody else has the same problems that I do.
hey wolf…three in a row seems unusual, but the odds aren’t as crazy as you think. I had seven monitors, in a row, different s/n, all have the same issue. that was NUTZ!
Damn I’ve been waiting for my kanto yu2’s I ordered from B&H over a month ago. Have the yu2’s had any other issues other than the LED burning out and how long have you had them? I might considering cancelling.
I got my YU2’s a little over a year ago. The LED burned out maybe 6 months later. I never bothered doing anything about it because- like I said above- they (seem to) work fine otherwise. I’m using them on my computer now as a replacement to my broken YU6’s.
So I ripped the guts out of the active speaker- turning it into a passive speaker. This way I’ll be able to continue using it with an amp (which I don’t have because I didn’t count on this happening). I also took apart all of the electronic components.
I’m no expert on this stuff, but it’s not hard to figure out what each component does. The power-amp is attached to a metal plate which acts as a separator to another component. When I removed the power-amp from this plate I saw a small scorch mark on the back. Lo and behold there was a burnt out connection on the PCB.
I don’t know what this connection does. Again, when this happened I was listening at low volume, as per usual since it’s in a small room. I couldn’t fix this even if I wanted to because it would be impossible to figure out how everything gets put back together, not o mention I cut some wiring.
For resistors to blow up like fuses, there needs to be loads of current.
Impossible to tell what went wrong because of the silicone hidding the components (the silicone is good! Keeps components from vibrating off the board)
My Kanto YU5 started buzzing in 1 speake after 8 months , they were a gift. Kanto customer Support Keeps asking questions about proof of purhase instead of fixing the problem. If not fixed soon I will replace with speakers from Klipsch they have excellent support
This usually is a standard procedure with every company. Does not matter if it’s a gift or any other purchase and what the product is.
After you can show proof of purchase they usually help you with warranty and other issues.
I sent them the online receipt and they just hassle me. I just know Polk and Klipsch have always taken care of problems. I guess Kanto is a smaller company and it seems they have a lot of problems with their speakers now that i research them.
There is a bit of confirmation bias when looking online.
It is rare for people to post positive reviews and keep harping on and on about how great the experience is, that mostly happens when stuff is not working as expected.
That said: After providing prove of purchase and a description of the problem, expecting help is a reasonable. Just keep in mind we are still in the middle of a global pandemic slowing things down.
