Clarisys Audio Minuet Review - #2

Mike

Mike

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Clarisys Audio Minuet - Positive Feedback

“THIS is a life-time speaker, and I am serious when I say this that once you get an opportunity to hear these, you will immediately start to try and figure out how to keep them and keep them forever. I can't wait to review their larger brethren. Yes, these are the smaller ones, and they just get bigger from here. But now that I've had these here for so long, do I really need to? The Minuets are just amazing, and I feel would fit just about anyone's needs. But if you have that itch, they can scratch it for sure. This will be one of my most recommend listens if you're able to, and at that point you will know what I'm talking about. Finally, Apogee lovers, you have an upgrade path and something viable. Thank you, Clarisys for this wonderful opportunity.”


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
 
Now that's an informative review while staying on point.

I could feel his enthusiasm. Probably from him being an Apogee lover and seeing how Clarisys overcome so many of the design weaknesses in the Apogee. The writer fills you in on why Clarisys are special.
 
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So, after living with the Clarisys Minute for a few months, I decided to try a set of the ISO Acoustics Gaia 1's underneath the Minutes. I had these installed previously under my rear subwoofers, so I decided to try them on my main speakers.

It was a chore for this old man to remove the Minutes footers and install the Gaia footers, but with the help of some boards and a couple of air wedge bladders I was able to lift each corner one at a time until the deed was completed.

Even though the Clarisys Planar design does not exhibit much cabinet vibration, I was surprised that the footers did indeed add quite a bit of image specificity. My audio room has carpeting, so I also used the Gaia 1 spikes.

Everything in the soundstage now has locked in. Highly recommended!

ozzy
 
ozzy said:
So, after living with the Clarisys Minute for a few months, I decided to try a set of the ISO Acoustics Gaia 1's underneath the Minutes. I had these installed previously under my rear subwoofers, so I decided to try them on my main speakers.

It was a chore for this old man to remove the Minutes footers and install the Gaia footers, but with the help of some boards and a couple of air wedge bladders I was able to lift each corner one at a time until the deed was completed.

Even though the Clarisys Planar design does not exhibit much cabinet vibration, I was surprised that the footers did indeed add quite a bit of image specificity. My audio room has carpeting, so I also used the Gaia 1 spikes.

Everything in the soundstage now has locked in. Highly recommended!

ozzy
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing.

Are you hearing vibration isolation or are you hearing a difference in the height of the speakers? Did you level them so they point the same way as before being lifted?

I ask as I've done similar experiments on my speakers and there can be a noticeable change in sound if you don't readjust them to accommodate for the change in height relative to your listening position leading to false impressions.

I'm not saying that is what happened with you - I'm just asking.
 
Thanks for the inquiry.
I made sure they are level. And I do like the look of the speakers being perhaps overall 1" taller, they do sound better.

I think some of performance improvement is due to anchoring the speakers to the floor instead of them just sitting on top of the carpet. But who knows? I am liking the improvement.

ozzy

Gaia 1 w spikes.jpg
 
ozzy said:
Thanks for the inquiry.
I made sure they are level. And I do like the look of the speakers being perhaps overall 1" taller, they do sound better.

I think some of performance improvement is due to anchoring the speakers to the floor instead of them just sitting on top of the carpet. But who knows? I am liking the improvement.

ozzy

View attachment 33174
Click to expand...


All that matters is that is sounds better to you - then it was money well spent!
 
MichaelsMinute said:
Thanks for sharing.

Are you hearing vibration isolation or are you hearing a difference in the height of the speakers? Did you level them so they point the same way as before being lifted?

I ask as I've done similar experiments on my speakers and there can be a noticeable change in sound if you don't readjust them to accommodate for the change in height relative to your listening position leading to false impressions.

I'm not saying that is what happened with you - I'm just asking.
Click to expand...

Line source speakers are much less affected by speaker height as the sound wave is cylindrical shape.
 
Adyc said:
Line source speakers are much less affected by speaker height as the sound wave is cylindrical shape.
Click to expand...

Exactly right, I was just about to post a similar reply. With a speaker as tall as the Clarisys speakers are, I don't think that raising the speaker a couple centimeters will have any practically significant difference in perceivable audio quality.

The Clarisys speakers are amongst the most remarkable I've ever heard, and Florian has done an excellent job of engineering them.
 
And.. for some reason, even though it is only a minor change in elevation, to me, they look better!

ozzy
 
Puma Cat said:
Exactly right, I was just about to post a similar reply. With a speaker as tall as the Clarisys speakers are, I don't think that raising the speaker a couple centimeters will have any practically significant difference in perceivable audio quality.

The Clarisys speakers are amongst the most remarkable I've ever heard, and Florian has done an excellent job of engineering them.
Click to expand...

Raising the Height affects Bass coupling to the floor , so yes will produce a sonic difference and balance of sound ..


Regards
 
And anchoring the speakers to the floor increases bass coupling. Resulting in tighter, deeper better-defined bass.

ozzy
 
Since the Minutes are about 220 lbs. each and that happens to be the top of the range for the Gaia 1's I decided to upgrade to the ISO Acoustics Titans. Still the same height, perhaps a little larger in diameter and can handle up to 330 lbs.
And.. yes, I think it is an improvement in sound quality.
ozzy
 
ozzy said:
Since the Minutes are about 220 lbs. each and that happens to be the top of the range for the Gaia 1's I decided to upgrade to the ISO Acoustics Titans. Still the same height, perhaps a little larger in diameter and can handle up to 330 lbs.
And.. yes, I think it is an improvement in sound quality.
ozzy
Click to expand...

Cool, useful info. Thanks, Ozzy.
 
ozzy,

Is your carpet padded or is it just an area rug? I am a big fan of IsoACOUSTIC GAIAs on hard floors but I found using them with carpet spikes a step backward on thick, padded carpet. If the spikes had been long enough to reach the underlying concrete I think I would have liked them.
 
Since my system is in a basement dedicated room, and is carpeted over concrete, I decided to not use carpet padding.
The carpet spikes do spike into the concrete below. To me, the spikes are an improvement.

ozzy
 
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