Kanto Ren Matte Grey (Type C Power Cable) Reference Speaker

CHECK BOTTOM FOR UPDATES I purchased these to replace my Klipsch The Fives in my living room. Those always had CEC issues with powering on/off, and now that I use an Apple TV in my living room, it got annoying needing to use 3 remotes to avoid the Fives refusing to produce sound after being turned off, and needing a hard reset, when the whole point of HDMI ARC was to use a single remote. Anyways, onto the Ren. The packaging is really nice, the presentation sets a good tone off the bat. The speakers are wrapped in both a cloth and plastic covering to keep them from scratching. They weigh about the same as the Fives, maybe a tiny bit lighter. The remote is a big improvement over the YU series from Kanto, in both build and feature set. The matte gray color was lighter in person than in the photos, but it worked out for me because it actually works better in my room that way. Hooking the speakers up was simple, and the speaker wire that runs between them has plenty of length. It was noticeably longer than the cable that came with the Fives. I do wish the power cable was longer though, it was just long enough to run through my speaker stands from where my outlet is. I paired these with my 10” Klipsch sub, and they sound great. May be placebo, but the phantom center seems stronger/more clear on these, but other than that they sound similar to my Fives and how I had them EQ’d. I have them about 6 feet apart on stands, toe’d in slightly towards the listening position. They have a threaded hole on the bottom to attach to stands if yours have that ability, which is nice. HDMI CEC so far has worked great. The speakers power off with my TV and Apple TV, however you will need audio to be playing for them to turn on. Just moving through the menu of your TV or streaming device will do this. I do wish it powered on immediately with the TV and Apple TV, so that by the time those are booted up, the speakers will be ready to receive sound. The speakers also don’t come with the complete manual, that is posted on Kantos site with a lot of useful information on the features on the remote, like night mode and speech boost. Overall I’m happy with them so far. They aren’t perfect, but the few things I don’t like are not even close to dealbreakers. They look good, sound good, and give off a quality feel in use. EDIT: I’ve started to notice split second audio drop outs/crackling sounds when watching content. This has happened over HDMI and optical, and on 2 different TVs and different HDMI cables. I never had these issues with my Fives or YU4s on either TV. I’m in contact with Kantos support, but will likely exchange these for a new pair and hope those don’t have the same issue. I would find it odd that both of my TVs just happen to not play nice with these speakers. They sound great, so hoping a second pair works better! FINAL EDIT: I’ve received the second pair, and the audio dropout issue still happens on this pair. I find it really hard to believe 2 sets of speakers would have this issue, but somehow 3 HDMI cables (including a new certified one I’ve picked up since the last pair), 2 TVs, and 2 optical cables all don't play nice with these. My Klipsch Fives don’t have any issues either. So this pair will be going back as well, as the Rens seemingly won’t get along with either TV I have. It’s a shame because they sound and look great, but won’t be considering another set of Kanto HDMI speakers unless they are updated. My Kanto YU4s are great, so this surprises me.

Heard these at Axpona and eventually bought them for my tv that originally had a soundbar. These blow the soundbar away. Incredible!

These speakers are great! I have had these for a few mo ths now and love these. I am hearing things i. Old movies or videos i watch from years ago have new sounds i never picked up before.

I’ve purchsed these to free up some space in my bedroom. I did my research & heard these. The sound quality iof the bass & highs is nice. I connected these to my Samsung tv and i add a SVS SB1000!. By adding a sub free’s up the low’s and you really hear the high’s on the Kanto’s. The REN’s are good for a bedroom or den. No complaints!!!