Radiant Acoustics Clarity 66 Speaker Review

[PristineSound]

Those CLC65s sounded fantastic at Axpona.

There is almost no mention of CLC65 anywhere, and very little information. I don't know; maybe they are selling so many that they don't want more customers.
But I have not been able to read a post anywhere from someone who owns them.
They need to send a pair to Erin and Amirm.

Pair of these driven by NAD Masters integrated is up there on my wishlist. But I'll wait for CLC65 measurements

I don't believe I have seen many speakers with asymmetrical array of drivers having superior directivity, the only one that I am aware of is the Neumann KH 310A.

 

[heflys20]

There is almost no mention of CLC65 anywhere, and very little information. I don't know; maybe they are selling so many that they don't want more customers.
But I have not been able to read a post anywhere from someone who owns them.
They need to send a pair to Erin and Amirm.

Erin has received a pair, so hopefully we won't have to wait long.

 

[SigbergAudio]

FWIW, all of the “well measuring” speakers that have disappointed me in terms of tonality have been speakers that turned out to have “textbook” PIR attained by shaping the on/lw to compensate for dispersion problems. (NOT saying this is one of them. I haven’t heard them. I’m pretty sure saw them at Axpona but didn’t put them on my sit-down-and-listen list because time is limited and I generally don’t favor strip tweeters because the geometry ensures they will fall the sit-stand test. I’m just stating the trend.)

For that reason, i generally ignore PIR entirely.

Well, as I usually say - the spinorama can tell us which speakers are likely to have problems.
Among those who look good, it isn't always so easy to know which ones will sound best or better.

 

[JDS]

The distortion figures are remarkable. If any buyer decided to pair these with tube amplifiers, he would perhaps be the first person to ever create a system in which the electronics distort more than the loudspeakers.

 

[Azrael]

I share that view, but slim floor-standing speakers are what the market wants. That said, the lion's share of the market goes to soundbars, of course, but it’s nice that there is still demand for proper hi-fi speakers.

To illustrate the point I made in post #138 regarding large DIY speakers: just how much demand is there for a pair of speakers featuring dual 18-inch woofers? Take, for example, this DIY build using two 18-inch EighteenSound 18LW2500 drivers per speaker—speakers that, by the way, weigh 200 kg each.
(yes, I know they are quite extreme as examples)
View attachment 547644
Here is the DIY thread about them:

HiFiForum.nu - Fjorgyn, Torshammare och en massa bröde!

www.hififorum.nu

This speaker looks a lot like a Focal:

It must be getting pretty old. Is that a DIY speaker?

 

[NotInYourHead]

I've never seen a speaker measured with so little distortion in sub-bass and across the FR, it's mind-blowing. I was used to seeing distortion going through the roof below 100Hz or higher for most speakers. Not this one

 

[PristineSound]

Apparently many find it expensive, I think it's pretty reasonable.

It's a lot of money for sure, but if for quality tower speakers with great build quality, it's not considered expensive.

 

[Gremlins]

Does it really? Distortion is to die for, and quite some effort was made to control the radiation pattern. Horizontally, it is good, vertically not so much, but whether that is relevant depends on your room. I can think of speakers that fall far shorter for more money.

Let's not forget that controlled radiation is quite new on the list of desirable properties. I'm sure four and five way Backes & Müller or Silbersand did not do too well in that category but were highly regarded at the time. So who knows if it will stay relevant as the make or break criterium?

But does the extra less distorsion levels of these puriffi speakers are audible vs other speaker mesurements with already very low distorsion?

Personaly, it's a long long time i haven't heard distorsion at my average listening levels.

I can hear some if i want, i push speakers into their max level, but what for?

 

[bmc0]

Having a passive series LCR connected directly to the driver to suppress that EMF and damp the rise in distortion induced by that resonance is not achievable in an active system.

Not strictly true—it is possible to design amps having frequency-dependent output impedance by using a combination of voltage and current feedback.

 

[DanielT]

This speaker looks a lot like a Focal:

View attachment 547694

It must be getting pretty old. Is that a DIY speaker?

That may well be the case. I don't know the DIYer in question, so I don't have any further information. The large speakers are definitely DIY, though—take a look at the build thread I referred to.

In any case, back to Radiant Acoustics Clarity 66.

But does the extra less distorsion levels of these puriffi speakers are audible vs other speaker mesurements with already very low distorsion?

Personaly, it's a long long time i haven't heard distorsion at my average listening levels.

I can hear some if i want, i push speakers into their max level, but what for?

You might have grown accustomed to speakers with relatively high distortion (compared to Radiant Acoustics Clarity 66)?

If you were to listen to Radiant Acoustics Clarity 66 for an extended period, there might be no turning back? You want to maintain that clarity, so to speak.

 

[see_no_evil]

vs other speaker mesurements with already very low distorsion

what speakers you are referring to?

 

[pathtonowhere]

The vertical dispersion is mostly a result of the tweeter geometry though.

In terms of the widening at 2-4kHz, yes, but the narrowing at handover, right before 2kHz, that's surely the 2 woofers beaming together. And there's also all kings of ripples in the pattern. I haven't listened to them, obviously, but I wouldn't buy them to try them out even if they were $1k. So, yes, bot the tweeter and the 2 woofers contribute to the nasty directivity.

 

[Cote Dazur]

Its drawback, reinforced with visual bias, is that it sounds kind of small. At least it did relative to my much taller Salon 2. The 66 did not portray a large image around it either so I would say they (Genelec and Clarity) are similar in that regard.

Visual bias aside, and I am not minimizing how important that is in our perception of sound, are you saying there is a relation on how big the sound is with how big the enclosure is.
If SPL and FR measure the same, the bigger enclosure will also sound bigger with speakers hidden behind an acoustically transparent curtain.
Not saying it is not so, I don’t know, but I find it surprising.

 

[markk]

Not strictly true—it is possible to design amps having frequency-dependent output impedance by using a combination of voltage and current feedback.

The problem is solved elegantly by a simple passive LCR circuit. But yes, theoretically it might be solved as well by a digital amplifier with very sophisticated current and voltage feedback circuitry.

It's not really a practical solution. I mean, Purifi is recommending this as the best solution. You know, Bruno Putzeys...he didn't step in to advocate for a digital amp with sophisticated programmable current and voltage feedback circuitry to develop a frequency dependent high impedance on the output terminals.

So I concede your point but will still just solve the problem equally and more cheaply with an LCR trap.

 

[PaulF2020]

Vertical directivity is quite bad on those... Such a shame, lovely speakers

 

[Matt_Holland]

I bet these sound absolutely incredible on well produced electronic music.

If their directivity does make them somewhat room and position dependent there’s a good chance this will actually endear them to many audiophiles. The ones that love to suffer and toil away tweaking in the search for audio nirvana.

 

[Adis]

This is a review, listening tests and detailed measurements of the Radiant Acoustics Clarity 66 Purifi-based speaker. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $9998 (a pair).
View attachment 547408
My sample is in black (please don't mind the poor white balance) (...)

How's this?

 

[daniboun]

Now I am thinking about it.... They really look like the Scansonic HD MB2.5

 

[Nopiano]

You know what keeps me wondering?

Why would anybody pick the 66 over the 4.2 or 6.2 with subs?
The 4.2 is 2500 euros a pair. 6.2 is 4000. With 2 to 4 subs I think it could give an equal or better sound in a room. Or am I overlooking something?

I’m not a fan of subs, so I would definitely pick the larger speaker. I don’t claim I’m typical or representative of any trend, but four subs is certainly not domestically acceptable! However, in a dedicated room you can try whatever you like.

 

[Gremlins]

That may well be the case. I don't know the DIYer in question, so I don't have any further information. The large speakers are definitely DIY, though—take a look at the build thread I referred to.

In any case, back to Radiant Acoustics Clarity 66.

You might have grown accustomed to speakers with relatively high distortion (compared to Radiant Acoustics Clarity 66)?

If you were to listen to Radiant Acoustics Clarity 66 for an extended period, there might be no turning back? You want to maintain that clarity, so to speak.

Nope

What exactly do you mean by “relatively high distortion”? Are you referring to distortion that is actually audible? And if so, at what listening level?

I can say that I have owned and listened to many very good speakers, both hi-fi and studio monitors, including some that are not particularly expensive. For example, the Elac Debut Reference DBR-62, which I recently listened, showed no audible distortion at normal listening levels in a typical living room, despite not necessarily having the very best measurements compared to some newer designs using state of thé rat woofers

Of course, having a speaker like the Radiant Acoustics Clarity 66 with even lower measured distortion is the icing on the cake, and it is certainly nice to have. Better measurements can bring benefits, especially at higher SPLs or in more demanding situations but rarely in daily use as some of us do, listening after work, decompress and enjoy good sound at home on a good set up


But at the end of the day, if the distortion is below the threshold of audibility in real-world listening conditions, then it is simply not something we hear. Measurements are important, but ultimately we listen to music, not graphs.

The asking 10k dollars surf on the selected woofers .. high expectations and you get what is gives : very very low distorsion. But low distorsion is already very low

I would have like to see the a fequency response slighly more linear , but i'm picky here