Bookshelf Speakers — Kanto Audio YU4

The YU4 sits between the compact YU2 and the larger YU6 in the Kanto line of powered speakers, which the company designs in Canada and builds in China. It adds wireless streaming and a turntable input to a pair sized for a desk or shelf, and it was priced at USD 419.99. As in other YU models, the left speaker contains all of the electronics and drives the passive right-hand speaker over ordinary speaker cable.

Key specs that matter

Every box carries a 1 inch silk dome tweeter above a 4 inch Kevlar mid/woofer, split by a 2-way crossover at 2.0 kHz. Kanto rates the Class D amplifier at 140 W peak into 4 ohm, equal to 70 W total RMS for the pair. Response is quoted as 60 Hz to 20 kHz, input sensitivity as 560 mV and harmonic distortion as under 0.25 percent. Each enclosure is 140 mm wide, 220 mm high and 190 mm deep. Net weight is 3.2 kg for the powered speaker and 2.5 kg for the passive one, and the boxed pair weighs 7.5 kg.

Engineering and use context

Five sources can be connected - RCA L/R, a 3.5 mm mini-jack, two Toslink optical ports and Bluetooth 4.0 with Qualcomm aptX. The optical inputs run into a DAC that handles up to 24-bit/96 kHz, and a source feeding them must be set to plain stereo PCM rather than Dolby, DTS or 5.1. A rear Phono/Line switch turns the RCA pair into a phono input, with a ground post next to it. The front knob adjusts volume, cycles through inputs on a push and enters or leaves standby on a long press, and an LED changes colour to show playback, standby, mute or Bluetooth pairing. After 15 minutes without signal the amplifier drops into standby, drawing under 0.5 W, and wakes when audio returns on the same input. A 5 V 1.0 A USB port stays live in both playback and standby. The included remote handles input choice, volume, bass, treble, balance, mute and Bluetooth track control, and a 1/4-20 threaded hole in each cabinet accepts a mount.

Pairing

A turntable without its own preamp connects straight to the RCA jacks with the switch set to Phono, while a deck with an internal stage uses Line. A computer or TV can use an optical port, and Kanto advises staying within 10 m of a Bluetooth source. The mono subwoofer output feeds a powered sub. Supplied items are about 5 m of speaker wire, a 2 m mini-jack cable and eight rubber feet, and matching accessories include S4 desktop stands with 16 degrees of tilt and SP floor stands.

Alternatives

The Kanto YU6 moves up to 5.25 inch Kevlar woofers and a 200 W peak amplifier in a larger cabinet.