Radiant Acoustics Clarity 66 Speaker Review

[eliash]

I think you are mixing things up.

The effects you describe (vibration of loudspeaker enclosure) will be visible as resonances in the spinorama (the enclosure is excited at specific resonance frequencies and emits sounds). Theory says resonances are distracting and shall be minimized, correct.

Such effects may or may not be also visible in HD and IMD graphs (somebody more knowledgeable please comment).

I would not use the term "jitter" to describe this phenomenon, and I think your calculation is nonsense. Please excuse

...and the world is a disc...

 

[eliash]

Try putting a glass of water atop the speaker see how much vibration is conducted to the water, or balance a coin on top and see if it falls. Depends on the speaker but usually nothing will happen. Not saying there will be zero movement of the speaker cab due to driver motion, but it should be infinitesimal and the effect not even remotely audible.

I did so, things were moving on top, even against a 1-turn tilt of the spikes...

 

[Lars Risbo]

every surface vibrates and yes it will modulate the emitted sound will be modulated. and yes, this is similar to jitter. Using spikes does not necessarily reduce the vibration. blocking one side of the box typically shifts the modes down in frequency. Keeping something dead still up in the kHz range when subjected to Newtonian forces from speaker drivers is virtually impossible. a free floating speaker can be better than a spiked unless the speaker is built into bed rock

 

[eliash]

every surface vibrates and yes it will modulate the emitted sound will be modulated. and yes, this is similar to jitter. Using spikes does not necessarily reduce the vibration. blocking one side of the box typically shifts the modes down in frequency. Keeping something dead still up in the kHz range when subjected to Newtonian forces from speaker drivers is virtually impossible. a free floating speaker can be better than a spiked unless the speaker is built into bed rock

Btw., ordered a pair yesterday...

 

[YouDontHaveEnoughBass]

every surface vibrates and yes it will modulate the emitted sound will be modulated. and yes, this is similar to jitter. Using spikes does not necessarily reduce the vibration. blocking one side of the box typically shifts the modes down in frequency. Keeping something dead still up in the kHz range when subjected to Newtonian forces from speaker drivers is virtually impossible. a free floating speaker can be better than a spiked unless the speaker is built into bed rock

Thanks for the insight is this still a problem with designs with dual opposed woofers / passive radiators? You've got a few great looking designs with them, was wondering if that was a consideration

 

[Lars Risbo]

the dual opposed PRs cancel some forces around the bass tuning frequency. ideally there shall be a very rigid direct connection between two sources of force to get cancellation. A woofer produces in cancelled forces in its entire operating range. All solid constructions stop being stiff when frequenciy gets high enough- sad but true.

 

[markstein]

...and the world is a disc...

Obviously not.

Interesting read about phase/ Doppler distortion:

Eliminating Speaker Doppler Distortion

Because of the movement of its membrane, even a perfectly linear loudspeaker produces Doppler distortion, a.k.a. Phase Modulation, and second distortions from the Nonlinear Amplitude Modulation. This article, originally published in audioXpress, October 2024, characterizes and shows how to...

audioxpress.com

As can be expected, even with a perfectly inert loudspeaker enclosure, you get Doppler distortion by the transducer movement.

Also discussed here:

Doppler distortion doesn't make sense (Edit: It actually does!)

The headphones only have one driver, so yes. Ah, ok. :) As you can't measure the response I suggest you try to do a blind test.

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[see_no_evil]

...and the world is a disc...

You are joking but sometimes it is useful to assume it is. In fact many flight control systems do.

 

[daniboun]

Spinorama update

Measurements for speaker Radiant Acoustics Clarity 6.6

www.spinorama.org

 

[daniboun]

You are joking but sometimes it is useful to assume it is. In fact many flight control systems do.

To assume the Earth is a disc is to insult the intelligence of the navigators of that era who used the nautical astrolabe—an instrument that only works on a spherical Earth... Peace be with Christopher Columbus if he is reading this.

 

[see_no_evil]

To assume the Earth is a disc is to insult the intelligence of the navigators of that era who used the nautical astrolabe—an instrument that only works on a spherical Earth... Peace be with Christopher Columbus if he is reading this.

that was not my point. anyway let's not go off topic

 

[eliash]

Installed a pair and had some first sound impression. Due to the difficult room geometry they develop more bass here compared to the studio where I checked them out. But I was positively surprised that there is not as much exaggeration as I expected and even less than my Dyno Focus 220 (with extended port to separate fundamental room and port resonances) due to their initially lower port tuning frequency. When sweeping through that frequency range it is astonishing how little port noise and distortion the Clarities generate. During that first sound check I appreciated also the clean vocal and treble reproduction without noticible roughness (maybe due to heavy enclosure construction). Especially the crossover region appears seamless to me. I am really glad that the vertical dispersion is that much limited.
All in all a very positive first encounter, will keep them for sure. From my point of view all the engineering effort yielded a big step in speaker design compared to my 20y old Dynaudios - Congrats & Thanks for that!

Regarding mechanical setup I tried the soft stands first (as recommended above and stated in the manual) but bass playback was definitly too soft and below their value (significant tangible enclosure vibration, somewhat muddy sound). So I quickly modified my old steel discs for the provided flat spikes and installed them (see below). As with the Dyno's before, the effect on parquet floor was like day and night. Punchy and dry bass and much less enclosure vibration.

 

[Cote Dazur]

View attachment 553852

Thank you for sharing a picture of your set up, an image is worth a thousand words.

 

[Space is the place]

Looks like a difficult room, fantastic that that your getting great results from them, compared to the Dynaudio's. The slight lack of vertical dispersion seems like a win

 

[amirm]

FYI, company is willing to sell these review speakers. If interested, please start a conversation with me and make an offer to pass on to them.

 

[Salt]

If they don't want to have them back for their self, why should anyone want to buy it
...
just joking, I'm aware of freight costs and fees and customs and pest and diarrhea imports and and ...

 

[Penelinfi]

The radiant review speakers? The only thing is if reviewers have driven them too hard testing out the bass:+)

 

[amirm]

I only tested one and "broke in" the other.

 

[FredrikN]

The radiant review speakers? The only thing is if reviewers have driven them too hard testing out the bass:+)

We sent Amir a completely new sample. He's the only one who's used them. There should be little reason for concern

 

[thewas]

Erin's review is out now:

LLM summary:

This video by Erin's Audio Corner features a detailed review and Klippel Nearfield Scanner measurements of the Radiant Acoustics Clarity 66, along with comparisons to the Arendal 1723/1961 tower series and Mobile Fidelity (MoFi) SourcePoint monitors.

Key Takeaways​

• Design and Build: The Clarity 66 is a 2-way system (despite housing dual 6.5-inch Purifi woofers) paired with a custom Air Motion Transformer (AMT) tweeter. It features a 15 mm aluminum front baffle and a ported cabinet tuned to ~30 Hz [01:29].
• Listening Impressions: Erin found them exceptionally enjoyable and non-fatiguing over long sessions, praising their tonal balance and ability to strike a sweet spot between wide envelopment and precise imaging [00:29].
• Pros:
  
  • Exceptionally low distortion and high overall linearity [03:56].
  • Deep in-room low-frequency extension down to roughly 30 Hz [04:06].
  • Predictable, clean off-axis response that allows for easy tonal tuning via toe-in [05:08].
• Cons:
  
  • Very tight vertical dispersion: Requires a strict listening height, making it less ideal for casual wandering or multi-row home theater seating [05:42].
  • Lower sensitivity (~85 dB): Demands robust upstream amplification to reach high output levels without clipping [06:31].
  • Bass character: While it extends low, it lacks the visceral chest-punch at 30–40 Hz that a dedicated subwoofer provides [04:16].
• Measurements & Comparisons: The Klippel data confirms an overall smooth frequency response and excellent resonance control, though it highlights a slight upper-midrange dip due to vertical lobing constraints. Compared to the MoFi and Arendal alternatives, the Radiant Acoustics model offers superior bass linearity and controlled horizontal dispersion (~60°), though individual trade-offs in distortion and room interaction mean choice ultimately depends on listener preference and room layout [16:53].