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View Full Version : Canton breaks 30+ year relationship with Group Madsen, terminates all US reps.



2ndRick
08-29-2012, 06:33 PM
Canton Germany has broken off it's 30 year relationship with importer/distributor Group Madsen of Minneapolis, MN.
In addition, all US reps have been terminated.

It is not clear at this time what their go-to-market strategy will be for the US.

funkyweasel
08-29-2012, 08:06 PM
Glad I got my order in yesterday.

2ndRick
08-29-2012, 08:14 PM
It's not clear yet how Group Madsen's inventory is going to be handled.
I know he stocked quite a bit of product. Usually the importer/distributor is just stuck with the inventory and will have to liquidate it, but I can recall at least one time where the mfg took it all back.

I would assume outstanding orders would be filled.

Honestly, this is a total shock to me.

casperspooks
08-30-2012, 02:32 AM
Really sucks. One of the more elegant speakers around. Made it easier to meet designers' and clients' aesthetic needs.

J.Azaria
08-30-2012, 10:13 AM
Yeah that sucks. Canton's a great sounding brand with good looks. Like Gaspar said..

Rick, pls update this thread if/when you know more. Would like to know what options there are for Canton going forward (once something develops of course).

I have Canton spec'd into 2 bids right now. Can you see me forcing a smile? :mad:

Thx Rick,

vwpower44
09-01-2012, 07:01 AM
So I assume this means that Capital no longer distributes them? I am going to need some in about 4 weeks. Hopefully they figure this out.

J.Azaria
09-06-2012, 02:04 PM
Figures..

I now have a dead sub on a Canton HTiB (MX-120 or 125) at a clients. Unit is either just in or just out of warranty (assuming warranty is 3yrs iirc and system is just about 3yrs old.)

Contact number for US on Canton's site apparently goes to Madsen offices.
Any thoughts on who to contact Rick? I'm leaning towards a repair if possible since I don't wanna rip out the whole HTiB. Not even sure what I'd replace it with if I had no choice.

fwiw, the sub turns on (LED comes on in red), seems to sense audio present on the line-level input (LED goes green from red when power set to AUTO) but get no sound from the sub. Swapping in the sub from the MBed's MX-80 system got it back up and running but that's just temporary fix.
Based on comments from end user this may have been a gradual dying out of the sub, over the course of about 6 mos., as opposed to one day it just gave up.


Thoughts?


Thanks,

Ghost
09-06-2012, 03:20 PM
fwiw, the sub turns on (LED comes on in red), seems to sense audio present on the line-level input (LED goes green from red when power set to AUTO) but get no sound from the sub. Swapping in the sub from the MBed's MX-80 system got it back up and running but that's just temporary fix.
Based on comments from end user this may have been a gradual dying out of the sub, over the course of about 6 mos., as opposed to one day it just gave up.

Thoughts?

The first quick down & dirty thing I do to test a powered sub is:
Unplug the inputs to it, plug in a short RCA cable to the input, turn the sub on, turn the gain down. Next, remember how you were told to test a 9V battery when you were little (stick tongue on terminals), well do the same thing with the RCA end (only you won't get a jolt - I promise). Keep touching your tongue to it every second or two (off & on), slowly turn the gain up. If you get to the point you have turned the gain all the way up and have not heard a single sound come from the sub, then either the amp is blown or the speaker is blown. If you do get a sound (thumping, thudding, etc...), then it's not the sub you have no signal - work back from thier to find the issue.

J.Azaria
09-06-2012, 04:26 PM
The first quick down & dirty thing I do to test a powered sub is:
Unplug the inputs to it, plug in a short RCA cable to the input, turn the sub on, turn the gain down. Next, remember how you were told to test a 9V battery when you were little (stick tongue on terminals), well do the same thing with the RCA end (only you won't get a jolt - I promise). Keep touching your tongue to it every second or two (off & on), slowly turn the gain up. If you get to the point you have turned the gain all the way up and have not heard a single sound come from the sub, then either the amp is blown or the speaker is blown. If you do get a sound (thumping, thudding, etc...), then it's not the sub you have no signal - work back from thier to find the issue.


Thanks Ghost, appreciate the reply.

I know it's not a signal issue because it all works when I swap in another sub ('stolen' from MBed). As far as if it's an amp issue or a voice coil issue I couldn't say, didn't test that deep but I'd say normally you get a similar effect to the tongue trick just shorting the rca (tip to ring) with your fingers and hands, and in this case there was none of that when we were moving things around. It was one of the things that made me think the sub was culprit in the first place. I did not however follow your empirical testing procedures ;)


In any case I really just wanna know how to proceed for client
a) if it IS in warranty or
b) how to get an auth'd repair if it's not

Appreciate the thoughts on troubleshooting and hope I won't soon have to draw from them.

Thanks.

Ghost
09-06-2012, 06:11 PM
If it is out-of-warranty or can't be repaired anymore, you can still fix it yourself.
1st find out if it's the woofer or the amp. Take the woofer out and do the battery test to it, to see if it's bad or not. If it's the woofer, there are plenty of places to get a woofer that will work in the enclosure (Parts Express, Madison, etc...). Have to know how to calculate QTC, etc... to get a matching woofer that will work well.
If it's the amp, same places have amps that you can retrofit in as well (a little cutting is usually involved).
In the end, what you get is usually a little better performing than the original (if you've used good parts, etc...).

However, if was a cheap sub to begin with (not familiar with the Canton line), then it would hardly be worth it.

casperspooks
12-03-2012, 10:03 PM
...
I also got a message back from Canton headquarters in Germany to arrange a call. So I will have the scoop on their plans in the US (I know that's not CEDIA news, but it's still news that is important to some of you who have been using their products).
...


Rick what's the update on this?

funkyweasel
12-03-2012, 11:35 PM
There's a new US distributor, I forget who. Tandem Marketing is still our local rep. I needed a pair of speakers a few weeks back and started the paperwork, but then found out there was a 6 week lead time on the new model so I switched gears and haven't followed through with the new credit app. I'll get around to it eventually.

casperspooks
02-06-2013, 12:09 PM
Found this out a few weeks ago:

"American Audio & Video, the consumer electronics division of American Music and Sound LLC, has announced that it will distribute the loudspeaker brand Canton as of October 1, 2012."

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