Floorstanding loudspeakers — Clarisys Audio PICCOLO

The Piccolo is a two-way full-range ribbon loudspeaker from Clarisys Audio, the brand of Clarisys Acoustics Technology, founded in 2014 and presented as the spiritual successor to Apogee Acoustics, which operated from 1981 to 2001. The company introduced the Piccolo at AXPONA 2024 as the fourth model in its range and the one intended for smaller spaces, alongside the Minuet, the Studio and the Auditorium. European pricing at launch was EUR 24,950 per pair.

Key specs that matter

Frequency response is 32 Hz to 20 kHz and average impedance is 4 ohm. Sensitivity depends on the magnet option, with 86 dB quoted for the standard ferrite version. The panel stands 106 cm high, 66 cm wide and 29 cm deep. The crossover is passive and internal, built with custom-wound inductors, multi-cap capacitors, custom resistors and pure copper foil wiring.

Engineering and use context

All drivers are ribbons made of Kapton and aluminium, and they radiate as a true dipole, sending energy to the front and the rear in opposite phase. The Mk2 uses what Clarisys calls a pure aluminium bipolar coax ribbon arrangement for the midrange and high frequencies. The company builds every driver from the same material substrate and with the same motor construction, and it matches driver impedances so that the crossover needs no resistors to balance levels. The ribbons sit in a rigid, low-resonance aluminium frame. Assembly takes place in Hanoi, Vietnam, with final tuning and quality control in Zwingen, Switzerland. The ferrite magnet version is the lower cost option, and the neodymium N50 version raises efficiency. Drivers can be upgraded later at 10 to 20 percent of the retail price, and the maker offers an in-home warranty of up to five years covering parts, labour and travel. Clarisys states that the Piccolo reaches deep bass without a subwoofer despite its compact footprint.

Pairing

Clarisys designed the Piccolo to work with valve amplifiers with output transformer taps matched to this load, while a transistor design able to deliver steady current into this load is the other route. The ferrite version needs more power than the neodymium one because of its lower sensitivity. As a dipole it needs space behind the panel.

Alternatives

The Clarisys Audio Minuet is another ribbon floorstanding speaker of the brand, priced at EUR 46,000 per pair.