My Caladan Impressons


Ron Brenay’s video that introduced the Caladan speakers (by Clayton Shaw Audio Labs) created a lot of buzz and a lot of orders, but actual reviews have not yet come out. Since many are curious to know what they sound like, I thought I would share my impressions of the Caladans, which I’ve now had for over a month.

In a word: The Caladans are one of the most detailed and revealing speakers I have ever heard, and they do this without sounding analytical or harsh. And because they are an open baffle design, the sound is free of the resonances and aberrations of cabinets – a sound that’s hard to describe, but it has a clarity that can often be startling. These are truly special speakers at any price, but especially at their current low price-point.  

In terms of the overall sound, the Caladans are natural sounding, with very good tonality and imaging. I think I can safely say that these speakers add very little in the way of coloration. They will quickly reveal the personality of your amplifiers and upstream components.

They are honest in their presentation and very musical. In many ways they are reminiscent of a good electrostatic speaker (think Quad 57). The music completely detaches from the speakers and floats in the air with holographic images and excellent tonality. The soundstage is very wide and tall, as well as very deep and layered. The sound is also very quick and nimble – even the bass.  

The bass is certainly one of the best characteristics of the Caladans. It is full (not lean) yet still very detailed and textured. And it goes surprisingly deep. I have a pair of subs in my room, but didn’t give a moment’s consideration to using them, because I felt the quality and depth of the bass was so good, the subs weren’t needed and would probably even diminish the quality of the bass.

The mids are clean, detailed and very engaging. For me, the sweet spot of the Caladans is male vocals. I hear detail, nuance, and spot-on tonality, with zero artifacts or coloration. These qualities seem to be easier for most speakers to achieve in the higher frequencies with female vocals. The Caladans deliver brilliantly on female vocals as well. But unlike some speakers that seem to have a touch more coloration or less definition in the lower male frequencies, with the Caladans the male vocals are stunning, and don’t take a backseat to female vocals in any way. Leonard Cohen’s deepest rumblings are just as precisely defined and finely etched as any of the notes sung by Diana Krall two octaves higher. Male vocals are scary good.

The highs are lively and airy, but never harsh. Drums and cymbals sound real and resonant. They pop, snap, and sizzle with excellent dynamics.

In terms of flaws or weaknesses, I’m having a hard time coming up with anything. If you like a warm, richly colored sound, these may not be your cup of tea. But if you want to hear deep into the recording, with detail and resolution that is hard to match, you’ll love these speakers.

Be advised that these speakers benefit from some break-in time. They sound even better at 100 hours than they do out of the box. I especially like how they sound with tubes.

I am more than pleased with the sound of my Caladans, and on top of that, they are beautiful to look at (I went with the cherry wood). I apologize if this report sounds almost too good to be true, but I don’t know what else to say. I’m very impressed with the Caladans. I expect the reviewers will be as well.

wester17

Clayton Shaw designed the Caladans and all of the Spatial Audio speakers. Clayton recently sold Spatial and I understand they will be coming out with their own designs soon. They already have a high-end  tube power amp and pre-amp on the market. As for the speaker comparisons, each model Clayton has designed seems to be better than the previous model (I've heard some of the previous Spatial models). The Caladans are probably the best yet. 

The caladens are a excellent buy for the money.

I know Clayton’s work well , the one Critical area of improvement which I recommended is a SE model puttting in Premium Xover parts which btw are the ♥️ .

since you own them why not less us know what brand model capacitors better yet a picture,he was using the VH audio Odam capacitor when he was using the AMT tweeter which is very good,  that may be the only thing that would make it better still.

I heard them At axpona if set up right they have huge potential to be a great speakers.

each model Clayton has designed seems to be better than the previous model (I’ve heard some of the previous Spatial models). The Caladans are probably the best yet.

Good to hear that each new design is better (rather than the same or worse) than the previous one. (Of course, who would ever claim otherwise? ;-) Then again, many here can think of classic speakers in a line of products that, as time went on, were superseded by what proved to be worse models.)

They sound better but whether they sound different is, I suppose, where my interest lies.

@wester17 Thank you for your review and insights after owning them a month. These are right in my price range for what will be my "end game" speakers. I’m also considering the JBL L100 MK II for about $5K. I have some old AR 9 that these will be replacing.

My living room isn’t huge, 13’ X 25’ with 8’ ceiling. The AR 9 are almost too large for it. The listening position is about 20’ from the short 13’ wide front wall. Do you think they would work in such a room if I pulled them out maybe 2’ and kept them 1’ from the side walls? And do they play at both quiet and loud volumes well?

You wrote, "If you like a warm, richly colored sound, these may not be your cup of tea. But if you want to hear deep into the recording, with detail and resolution that is hard to match, you’ll love these speakers."

Ah, there’s the rub. I do like a little warmth in my old age, especially for some of the thinner sounding recordings of the 1970s, but maybe I could address that with a touch of EQ?

Thanks again. Looking forward to any others take on these nice speakers at their amazingly reasonable price. Like you, Ron was sure impressed.

One thing I wanted to ask. Is Clayton retiring soon? Why did he sell Spatial? If I bought the Caladans and needed something fixed or replaced one day (say I blew a driver), could I find it?

Oh, and just curious how well integrated did you think the sound was between all the drivers? Does the sound blend well or are you able to pick out the location of the tweeter at times?  With the acoustic centers fairly far apart, I worried about that.