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

@aniwolfe — curious how you like your speakers. Heard them at RMAF a few years ago. Was dumbstruck with dynamics punch detail soundstage.. would be an endgame for me.(sorry to hijack the post).

@birdfan - curious how you like your speakers. Heard them at RMAF a few years ago. Was dumbstruck with dynamics punch detail soundstage.. would be an endgame for me.(sorry to hijack the post).

Hi....I have owned the X2’s for 4 years now. They are incredible speakers sonically and aesthetically. In my opinion by far the coolest looking design Clayon has ever created. They became too expensive to make from what I understand.

@markmuse -I had a pair of Spatial X-5 a few speakers ago. They were excellent but required being in a limited sweet spot for the magic to happen. And if you stood up you lost the high frequencies. The Caladans do not have these problems.

Its not a problem if they are set up correctly and understand the limitations (I see them as advantages)

My opinion is the X series with control directivity will always have a small sweet-spot unless you cross them in front of your face. Then they have the largest sweet-spot of any speaker I have ever heard. They need extreme toe-in and separated far apart from each other to achieve this. The Spatial Sapphires and CS Caladan do not have this...so you need to pay more attention to side wall placement with the dome style tweeters.

Personally I don’t critically listen standing up. So the advantage of losing output when above the X series tweeter is less interaction with the ceiling.

On a side note. It’s great to see Clayton designing again. I am sure the Caladan kick a. Hopefully he will have a new design with control directivity in the near future.

 

@markmuse which AGD amp do you have paired with the Caladans? How does it sound vs your CODA amp? I have a tube amp and am strongly considering getting the AGD audions if it’s a good pairing.

@prismvineyards  I have the AGD Tempo. There is an upgrade available that I plan to do once the S5.5 is here. It was due here today but UPS now says Monday. And of course it will have to burn in, so it will be a little while before I can give you a comparison.

I think the only audible difference between the Tempo and the Audions is a little better channel separation. 

Another amp you might consider is the Atma-Sphere GaN FET class D mono's. Really excellent. I had a pair here but it was a while ago and with different speakers so I can't give a comparison. A little less cost than the Tempo last time I checked.

Anyway, the Tempo is very good with the Caladans. Don't think you can go wrong with the Audion's or the Tempo. At 200w into 4ohms they have way more power than you need.  But I am hoping the S5.5 kick's it up a notch. Not  that I feel that I am lacking anything, but sometimes you don't know what you are missing until it is no longer missing. 

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