{"product_id":"kanto-yu-passive-5-25-bookshelf-speakers-pair-17b7dx","title":"Kanto YU Passive 5.25\" Bookshelf Speakers - Pair","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"col_one_sixth\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"col_two_third\"\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eAbout the Kanto YU Passive 5.25\" Bookshelf Speakers\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePackaging, Design \u0026amp; Build Quality\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIn the box, two protective bags cover and protect the speakers. Also included is a user manual and eight self-adhesive rubber feet that attach to the bottom of each speaker cabinet to help absorb resonances.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe YU Passive series is available in two color options. Our test units arrived in matte vinyl black finish— but a vinyl white finish is also available. When we removed them from their protective bags, we noticed the simple, modern look of the YU Passives. Both models feature rounded corners — there are no logos, branding, or insignia on the speakers — giving the YU Passive series an understated, minimalistic look that will blend in with any room’s style and decor. In fact, they could actually disappear entirely into the background if you really wanted them to.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe build quality is quite impressive, especially at these price points. Designed in Kanto’s Coquitlam, British Columbia headquarters in a suburb of Vancouver, the YU Passive series is constructed from solid MDF cabinets that feel sturdy, and well-braced. Each YU Passive 5.25” speaker cabinet weighs almost 9 pounds. It features a bottom-mounted ¼-inch-20 threaded hole to securely bolt each cabinet to compatible Kanto speaker stands — and this will further reduce resonances through coupling.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhat sets the YU Passive 5.25” apart from the YU Passive 4” is the size, bass output, and price. Dimensionally, the YU Passive 5.25’s MDF cabinet stands almost 11-inches tall, about 7-inches wide and just a little over 8-inches deep. This is a little bit larger than the little brother — YU Passive 4”.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eGrilles do not attach to the front of the speaker cabinets, and this gives the YU Passive series a nice, clean professional studio monitor look with a view of the woofer and the tweeter. The YU Passive 5.25” consists of a 5 ¼-inch high-strength Kevlar® woofer (hence the name “Passive 5.25”). It also features a tuned bass port on the back of each cabinet to produce tight bass with low distortion, and high-quality Knurled speaker binding posts that connect with an integrated amplifier or a home theater receiver.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDue to their compact sizes, we see the YU Passive speakers working great on a desktop with a dedicated DAC\/amp combo or with a two-channel listening station and a turntable. You could even use the larger YU Passive 5.25” in a two-channel setup to enhance your TV’s sound by connecting them to an integrated amp.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eFeatures \u0026amp; Technology\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe YU Passive 5.25” is a pair of passive speakers, meaning they need an amplifier or a receiver to supply enough power to drive them. Since you are free to use any \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/home-audio\/components\/integrated-amp\"\u003eintegrated amplifier\u003c\/a\u003e or \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/home-theater\/home-theater-components\/home-theater-receivers\"\u003ereceiver\u003c\/a\u003e with enough power to drive them, a major advantage of passive speakers is the maximum flexibility they offer. Paired with a capable amplifier, both YU Passive models will present impressive sound for their size and their price-points — and this also minimizes the number of cables needed since you do not need to run power cables to each speaker — just a speaker cable. Passive speakers like the YU Passives allow you to tailor the sound by switching out amps. With passive speakers like the YU Passives, you can change out the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/home-audio\/components\/dacs\"\u003eDAC\/amplifier\u003c\/a\u003e to tailor the sound, since you are not tied to the amp inside a pair of powered speakers.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/wordpress2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/kanto-yu-passive-speakers.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003ePerformance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe YU Passive 5.25” has an impedance of 6 Ohms. You will get the most out of it when you use an integrated amp or receiver in the 30-90 watt per channel range. For a dedicated vinyl setup or Bluetooth streaming station, the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/sony-str-dh190-2-channel-stereo-receiver\"\u003eSony STR-DH190 2-Channel Stereo Receiver\u003c\/a\u003e is a great inexpensive option to consider — or, step it up to the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/cambridge-audio-axa35-35w-integrated-amplifier\"\u003eCambridge Audio AXA35 Integrated Amplifier\u003c\/a\u003e with Built-In Phono Stage for better performance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you want to enhance your two-channel listening experience with movies and TV shows, you will need a receiver with an optical input or ARC connectivity to pair up either model to your TV. We think the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/shop-by-brand\/sony\/sony-str-dh590-5-2-multi-channel-4k-hdr-av-receiver\"\u003eSony STR-DH590 Multi-Channel Receiver\u003c\/a\u003e is an excellent match for the YU Passive’s price point.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe room where we tested the YU Passive series was a typical living room space with an open floor plan — about 12-feet wide, 16-feet deep, and 9-feet high ceilings. We let the speakers break in with some white noise, first. After that, we were on our way watching movies with an Apple TV, and streaming music from the Sony STR-DH590. We also connected up a \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/videos-reviews\/pro-ject-debut-carbon-evo-turntable-review\"\u003ePro-ject Debut Carbon EVO turntable\u003c\/a\u003e to our integrated amplifier to playback a collection of vinyl records.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe coupled the YU Passive 5.25” cabinets to \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/home-audio\/speakers\/speaker-stands?brand=239\"\u003eKanto speaker stands\u003c\/a\u003e to stabilize their positions and this improved the sound of the bass as well. To get the best results in your room, you’ll want to try and form an equilateral triangle with the \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/videos-reviews\/home-theater-speaker-layout-options\/\"\u003espeakers equally spaced apart\u003c\/a\u003e so that you’re also sitting at an equal distance from the speakers. If you do not have a good way to position them, Kanto speaker stands will help the imaging by raising them up high enough to remove the potential of furniture or other boundaries from interfering with the sound quality. You should play around with the angle of the speakers until the dialogue and vocals sound like they are in the middle.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDuring our movie-watching session, we were impressed by how good the YU Passive 5.25” was at reproducing low-end with a decent amount of impact that actually enhanced the level of immersion to some degree — especially on special effects. Both models have the same high-performance tweeter, so the treble response goes up to 20 kHz. With the YU Passive 5.25”, the 1-inch silk dome tweeters produced smooth, natural treble that was pretty good for binge-watching movies back-to-back without fatiguing our ears.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/wordpress2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/kanto-yu-passive-movie.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe larger 5 ¼-inch Kevlar woofer in the YU Passive 5.25” specs out with a slightly deeper bottom-end weight down to 50 Hz. Dialogue was presented clearly and the sound of ocean waves crashing in the background and other sound effects were more three-dimensional — creating the feeling that we were really there in the scene on beachfront property.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWith the YU Passive 5.25”, the bottom-end weight was not chest-punching, and definitely not bone-crushing, however, the improvements were better than we expected and a noticeable upgrade compared to the speakers built into our TV. We always recommend using a good \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/home-audio\/speakers\/subwoofers\"\u003esubwoofer\u003c\/a\u003e for the best bass performance, but even without Dolby Atmos or a sub, we were really impressed with the sound that came out of these small, compact bookshelf speakers on movies and TV shows. Of course, these do have limitations, so if you are looking for better cinematic performance for your two-channel experience on movies, there are better passive speakers to consider from \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/shop-by-brand\/klipsch\"\u003eKlipsch\u003c\/a\u003e, \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/shop-by-brand\/paradigm\"\u003eParadigm\u003c\/a\u003e, and \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/shop-by-brand\/bowers-wilkins\"\u003eBowers \u0026amp; Wilkins\u003c\/a\u003e, and more.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNext, we knew we had to demo some music! We played a lot of different genres, and while everything we played filled the room with good sound, we noticed modern recordings really shined on these passive speakers. One of the tracks that stood out was “The Less I Know The Better,” released in 2015 by the Australian Indie Rock band, Tame Impala, for their third studio album, “Currents.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.qobuz.com\/track\/54918575?lang=en\u0026amp;zone=us-en\" width=\"300\" height=\"90\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs usual with Kanto speakers, we were impressed with the YU Passive’s stereo imaging on this track. Drums in particular sounded fantastic on these little passive speakers! The kick and snare drums had a tuneful sense of timing that was very easy to get lost in. The YU Passive 5.25” presented a wide soundstage with more separation in the stereo image — however, some of that great “in-your-face” mid-range that really glued the dynamics in the song together opened up a little bit more and the music sounded just a little bit closer to the experience of a live concert. In particular, we could feel more of the rhythm and pacing coming from the electric bass guitar on this song and the bottom-end weight, overall, just came a little bit more alive on the YU Passive 5.25”.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNext, since the Cambridge Audio AXA35 Integrated Amplifier has a good moving magnet phono preamp built-in, we tested the YU Passives in our open room setting with a vinyl record player using the RCA connections on the back of the amplifier. The records we played on YU Passives had natural-sounding treble that allowed us to listen to them all day  — again, we noticed immediately the larger woofer reproduced more bottom-end, and the wider soundstage suited our larger room.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ciframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.qobuz.com\/track\/26172184?lang=en\u0026amp;zone=us-en\" width=\"300\" height=\"90\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you want to experience these improvements for yourself, we recommend checking out “Surrender” — recorded in 1978 by the Classic Rock group, Cheap Trick, for their studio album “Heaven Tonight.” There’s a deep rock ‘n roll electric bass guitar that just comes alive with a tuneful sense of timing and a rhythm and pacing on this one that is so much fun to listen to!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eOverall Recommendation\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs far as \u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/home-audio\/speakers\/bookshelf-speakers\"\u003ebookshelf speakers\u003c\/a\u003e go, everything we played on YU Passives sounded fantastic at these prices. For anyone with a hand-me-down AV receiver or an existing five-channel surround sound setup, we think the YU passive series are great entry points into enhanced sound for your TV or two-channel gear.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWe like the studio monitor look of the YU Passives. With an integrated amp, a turntable and even a TV positioned between a pair of YU Passive speakers, you will have a professional-looking studio monitor setup that will blend in well to complement any room’s aesthetic. They could even almost disappear into the background of the room if that’s what you are looking for.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBeing the larger model in the series, YU Passive 5.25” is the better bookshelf option if you have space and want to enhance your TV’s sound with louder output, deeper bass, and better stereo separation and dynamics.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cimg src=\"https:\/\/www.audioadvice.com\/wordpress2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/YUP6W_SP26PLW_SP32PLW_Reciever_Lifestyle.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"100%\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor audio enthusiasts who love finding the best bang-for-their-buck equipment or even seasoned music lovers with existing HiFi systems, we think YU Passives are a steal at these price points. While they are very inexpensive, they do have limitations, and there are better options to consider if you are looking for the best sound. But, when YU Passives are paired with a good integrated amp or a streaming station, they do a great job presenting good sound on a tabletop with a dedicated vinyl setup in smaller to medium-sized rooms. \u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIf you have any questions about which model is right for your two-channel listening setup, give us a call, chat with one of our audio experts and we’ll be happy to point you in the right direction!\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class=\"col_one_sixth col_last\"\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Kanto","offers":[{"title":"Black","offer_id":45320118796311,"sku":"KANTO:YUP6-BLK","price":33.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"White","offer_id":45320118829079,"sku":"KANTO:YUP6-WHT","price":33.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0806\/0639\/6439\/files\/12gyr7b8zncn_c935cd50-d025-4046-a72d-799ae9326d4c.jpg?v=1784658408","url":"https:\/\/audiodvice.shop\/products\/kanto-yu-passive-5-25-bookshelf-speakers-pair-17b7dx","provider":"Wild Fern Baby Essentials","version":"1.0","type":"link"}