Professional-grade speakers don’t have to be low tech or oversized. There’s an idea that professional-quality speakers have to be wired and connected to a receiver or amplifier of some kind. Kanto Audio, however, is changing that with the new Kanto Audio ORA4 desktop speakers, which are built for a small footprint, high-quality audio, and modern connectivity.
The speakers may be small, but they’re built to deliver plenty of oomph. They’re designed specifically to push the boundaries of bass extension in a small form factor while maintaining the same great reference-quality sound.
Each speaker has two 1/4″-20 threaded inserts at the bottom to allow them to be mounted to compatible speaker mounts or brackets. This will help ensure that you can place them exactly where you want them on your desk.
To be clear, Kanto Audio can’t get around physics; the smaller speakers won’t be able to push out certain low frequencies that simply require larger drivers. As speakers designed for professional settings, they feature a sub out port that allows you to connect them to a subwoofer while still maintaining the small footprint on your actual desktop. That should help the speakers deliver a fuller frequency response overall, and the speakers have an automatic 80Hz crossover that helps them work with a subwoofer with minimal fuss. And, of course, Kanto sells its own sub in the form of the Kanto Audio Sub8.
Each speaker offers a 20W tweeter and a 23W woofer, making for a combined output of 70W when using two speakers. Sure, that’s not huge, but these speakers are designed for smaller spaces, which is important to keep in mind.
The speakers have other touches that help them integrate into a modern environment, unlike most studio monitors. Notably, they have Bluetooth 5.0 connectivity for wireless audio and a USB-C input that supports audio at up to 24-bit/96kHz.
The Kanto Audio ORA4 desktop speakers are now available in matte white or matte black for $399 for a stereo pair via kantoaudio.com.
