Ascilab C8C Active Speaker Review

[Arthur Edwards]

Are these SB Ceramic cone midwoofers and tweeter or variant made for Rebel.
The DSP unit is a blast - all the possible connections one might wish, other than I2S, and USB C to stay with current standards.

The SB tweeter has the same diffraction bump seen in the Revel speakers introduced in 2013. The bump remained in the Revel BE versions with the beryllium tweeter in 2019. I would have expected that SB would have fixed the diffraction bump by now.

 

[TurtlePaul]

Looooooots of discussion about heat dissipation and so on….

So this raises the question: Will we ever see a passive C6C or C8C or a passive A8C or A6C or a passive S6C or S8C?

No. The low crossover frequency requires active crossovers (steep slopes). The cardioid response requires active crossovers (time delay tricks).

 

[totti1965]

You mean you want a speaker with passive cardioid response?

Yes, but above all and most important with the tweeter in the middle between the midrange drivers (Quasi D‘Appolito Configuration).
EUR 4.000,— for a pair of passive C6C or such would be perfect.

 

[totti1965]

No. The low crossover frequency requires active crossovers (steep slopes). The cardioid response requires active crossovers (time delay tricks).

And what about a two way design? A bigger version of the C6A with double the square inches and better efficiency?

 

[Bwaslo]

The C6B has a 1100Hz passive crossover. Works great, no sign of stress.

 

[Universal Cereal Bus]

There might be a vocabulary issue. The insides are necessarily hotter than the plate itself by necessity, that's how heat transfer works. It would be more accurate too say that the insides do not exceed the temperatures at which they were designed to operate.

You're assuming T_ambient < T_jmax. Another reason active speaker users should fear climate change. /s

 

[totti1965]

The C6B has a 1100Hz passive crossover. Works great, no sign of stress.

No. The problem @TurtlePaul is speaking of occurs in 3 way speakers, not 2 way designs.
For 150 Hz or 200 Hz crossover frequency also extremely large coils are needed.
Sometimes active is the cheaper solution.
But imho to much (electronic) complexity in a speaker is something which is better avoided.

 

[levimax]

But imho to much (electronic) complexity in a speaker is something which is better avoided.

Why? Digital filters and DSP are well understood, reliable, and cheap and can do things that are not pracitcal for analog electronics.

 

[staticV3]

I simply love quasi D‘Appolito speaker-designs: The stable acoustic center is a big benefit,

I don't think I've ever seen a floorstander with that layout and stable acoustic center.

Directivity is usually a shit show on these:


This is what one might call a stable acoustic center:

 

[Jiraya369]

I just set up my C8C. My chain is WiiM Ultra (Tidal) → RME ADI-2 Pro FS R → AES into the C8C. No EQ yet.

I’m honestly ecstatic. I lived with the Kii Three for about seven years and was very happy with them, but I wanted deeper bass extension without going down a crazy-expensive rabbit hole. The C8C + BX8C felt like a natural upgrade for me, and the BX8C should arrive in a few weeks.
First impressions: I couldn’t be happier. I’m not a die-hard audiophile and I don’t plan to endlessly tweak things, but I have to say I’m a bit blown away by what I’m hearing.
There are two reference tracks I’ve probably listened to a thousand times on the Kii Three over the years. This obviously isn’t an A/B comparison, but hearing those same tracks on the C8C brought them to an entirely new level of enjoyment. I can’t fully explain why, but even my wife noticed it immediately — something special is going on here.
If I had to put a word on it, maybe it’s clarity?

I’ve been drinking (mostly good) wine for about three decades. If you pour me a Cos d’Estournel, I’ll recognize it almost instantly. Same with Clos Rougeard — no introduction needed. After enough exposure, certain sensory signatures just stick with you.
That’s the closest comparison I can make here. I’ve lived with those tracks on the Kii Three for years, so I know them very well. And hearing them now on the C8C, I can only say that I’m extremely happy with this acquisition - I do feel it's a step up and so does my wife.

curious, why didnt you just buy subwoofers?

 

[soundwave76]

Thats the best position and listening distance I got with the 8361a. Did not save others, but measurement was much worse at 2.5m. I really needed to be more nearfield in my listening space with the 8361a - this area has floating wood floor, sloping ceiling and glass on 3 sides! I have other spaces, but here I can listen loud and late without disturbing others.

The C8C is a starting point. Need to work on them a bit more, need to raise the stands a bit. I feel the improvement between 100-300Hz and the mids and top end is "cleaner" and more spacious, but that may be listening distance.

To answer your question, cardioid allows me to get pretty good sound at longer listening distances without completely sucumbing to room effects. I could not achieve this with non-cardioid in my listening space.

How do you compare C8C and 8361?

 

[pat355]

curious, why didnt you just buy subwoofers?

with the Kii Three you mean?
If that's your question --> because the Kiis have a 80-90ms delay (in Exact mode) which is a pain to deal with. Some people managed it with miniDSP and LOTS of tinkering but I was not interested enough to get on this adventure. I want to enjoy the music more than the gear.

 

[markstein]

@AsciLab Do the C8C come with front grilles for the two white mid woofers (my understanding: no, they were just included with the pre-order units), and can I buy them separately? Are the grilles the same as for the C6B or are they a special design?

 

[sqrl]

Sorry to ask again @AsciLab but I don’t think it’s covered in the manual, with the side firing woofers is there a minimum clearance from the side wall recommended?

0.5 metres

 

[Rick63]

These are out of my price range, but I just noticed the warranty on them is 3 years. At their price point I'd expect at least a 5 year warranty, especially since they're active.

That said, even though I said I wouldn't after the recent drama regarding getting them in the USA, I do plan on getting a pair of C6Bs if and when they are readily available here.

 

[Aldo]

I have a question for C8C owners:
- How stable is the speaker on its stand (which is quite heavy), given its slim and tall proportions?
- How is the underside structured? Are there screw holes for securing it? Would that be useful?
I plan to place an order in 2026, and I would like to anticipate everything so that I can properly accommodate and install it, particularly by choosing the ideal stand...
Thank you!

 

[Gomdor]

How is the underside structured?

k&m 26720

 

[Jiraya369]

with the Kii Three you mean?
If that's your question --> because the Kiis have a 80-90ms delay (in Exact mode) which is a pain to deal with. Some people managed it with miniDSP and LOTS of tinkering but I was not interested enough to get on this adventure. I want to enjoy the music more than the gear.

yikes bro that expensive of a speaker and just buying subwoofers is a pain

 

[Scrutable]

I have a question for C8C owners:
- How stable is the speaker on its stand (which is quite heavy), given its slim and tall proportions?
- How is the underside structured? Are there screw holes for securing it? Would that be useful?
I plan to place an order in 2026, and I would like to anticipate everything so that I can properly accommodate and install it, particularly by choosing the ideal stand...
Thank you!

It is very stable. Heavy! 66 pounds/30 kg.

Mine are on 20" Dayton Audio stands with ~15 lbs of steel shot in the hollow column. I was originally going to use thumbscrews to secure the speaker to the base but decided it wasn't necessary. It does not want to tip and requires more force than a jumping cat (my chosen benchmark for obvious reasons) to push it over. It also does not easily separate from the stand, i.e. if you push it with some force the entire assembly moves, not the speaker by itself.

Here are the stands I got. With these the tweeter is 32" from the floor which is about ear height when seated in my room. Amazon sells them also but PE ships them regardless.

https://www.parts-express.com/Dayton-Audio-SSWB20-20-Speaker-Stand-Pair-with-Wooden-Base-240-757

Apparently sand is the ballast of choice but thinking I needed more weight I bought this and filled the column with Ziploc bags to keep things organized (btw the sale price went up $5 since I got mine two weeks ago):

https://www.rotometals.com/45-pounds-steel-shot-mix-sizes-free-shipping-cheap-weight-ballast/

The bottom of the speaker has threaded inserts and a ~5 mm thick rubber sheet adhered to the entire base. You can see some of the holes in @Gomdor's pics. His looks different from mine - I don't see the rubber pad, and the holes in mine have a metal insert (assume this is to accept a machine screw).

 

[Purité Audio]

yikes bro that expensive of a speaker and just buying subwoofers is a pain

Kiis are pretty much full-range anyway and of course they have their own dedicated sub-modules albeit at a price.
Keith