Напольная акустика — Clarisys Audio MINUET +

The MINUET + is a floorstanding ribbon loudspeaker from Clarisys Audio, a company founded in Vietnam in 2010 that developed its ribbon designs in collaboration with Florian Wiegand. Also called the Minuet Plus or Minuet Neodymium, it replaced the earlier ferrite-magnet Minuet and keeps a two-way layout in which a flat panel handles the bass and a ribbon covers the range above it. The speaker is put together in Hanoi, and its final calibration is and quality control carried out in Zwingen, Switzerland. The price is EUR 53,000, and custom colours are offered at no extra charge.

Key specs that matter

Nominal impedance is 4.25 ohm, and Clarisys describes this figure as flat across the entire range rather than a value that dips at certain frequencies. The stated frequency range of the Minuet extends from below 25 Hz to beyond 20 kHz. The ribbon section takes over at 500 Hz and is already working at 250 Hz at minus 6 dB. Each speaker stands 132 cm tall, 79 cm wide and only 9 cm deep, and weighs 95 kg without packaging, which is 20 kg more than its predecessor.

Engineering and use context

Compared with the ferrite model, the key update is the move to rare earth neodymium magnets. On the bass panel, which is double-sided, this allows more current to flow through the diaphragm and gives a stronger reaction to the magnetic field, according to the maker. The ribbon section uses a multi-segmented five-trace design and has recently been updated to a double-sided configuration for better uniformity and efficiency. The enclosure is an aluminium subframe and exoskeleton machined to tight tolerances, which adds a great deal of rigidity to the thin panel structure. The passive internal crossover is a first-order, phase-coherent network built with in-house carbonite resistors, Jantzen capacitors, custom-made inductors and pure copper foil cabling.

Pairing

Clarisys states that the higher efficiency of the neodymium version lets any competent amplifier drive the pair, tube designs included, which was not the case with the ferrite model. Bi-wire speaker connectors are fitted, and the terminals are prepared for Shunyata Research Altaira grounding.

Alternatives

Within the Clarisys range the Studio Plus is the other neodymium floorstander, built around a double-sided bass panel and intended for larger rooms.