Clearwave Duet 6 Monitors


I've been listening to these speakers for over a hundred hours now and am extremely impressed with their performance. Hence this thread so I can alert fellow A'goners about them.

I'll try to keep this short so the first thing to address is the balance of these speakers. I've done some rudimentary measurements and found them to be about +/- 2db from 1KHz down to 40Hz, in room, as is, with no room treatment. I'm also getting great bass down to 31.5Hz. Although I can't hear it, I'm getting measurable bass at 25Hz with the meter at 1 meter from the drivers but nothing at the listening position. This is at normal listening levels. I can live with that. No sub needed here.

The highs are articulate, clear and clean when called for with nice decay, air and ambience. What they never do is make me wince or reach for the remote.

They have very nice delineation allowing me to hear deep into the recording (I can easily hear the rumble of the steam pipes of the church they recorded in on the Cowboy Junkies' "The Trinity Sessions"). Tone and timbre are nicely, if not wonderfully done. Because of the aforementioned, layering is finely done and sound staging is nicely focused and easily the best I've heard in my system. Everything is rock steady which gives a better illusion of depth in my near field listening set up (not easy to pull off).

Instruments and vocals have so much soul, so to speak, being so convincingly recreated. They sound rich without resorting to tricks (and I don't mean rich as in euphonic).

I still can't detect where the crossover is in this two way beaut making for a very credible point source effect.

Build quality is over the top. Knuckle raps result in sore knuckles. The front baffle is 2" and everything else is 1" and nicely braced internally. The finish is beautiful and the Indian Rosewood is striking. The Clearwave website goes into greater and better detail than I can but top drawer parts and wiring are used and I don't see Jed (the designer) making as much profit as he could.

They like power being 85db efficient but I'm told they behave more like 88db. I get more than satisfactory listening levels with my Marantz PM15S2b (90W) and discovered that for some reason, the Duets prefer a thinner gauge speaker cable than what used to work for me. My 16 gauge Tempo Electirc SCs imparted too much of a hooded effect on the highs and fattened out the mids and bass too much. Going to Clear Day single run SCs hit the perfect pairing category award.

That's about it right now.

All the best,
Nonoise
128x128nonoise
Thanks Toddnkaya,

I'm enjoying them every day rediscovering my music. It's not the old "I'm hearing things I haven't heard before" stuff but hearing it a different way. The notes are fuller and more expressive lending a dramatic shift in perspective. Even the smallest ones now matter. That, and the clarity one can have without any sacrifices on tone and fullness. When something dynamic occurs, not only does it jump up high enough to justify the term, it's almost concussive in effect. It has all the sound of a big speaker except for the amount of air it can push in your face.
That's a trade off I can live with. :-)

I'm scratching my head on how lots of space is devoted to other makes re: value for dollar, availability, integrity, feedback and actually getting a product that sounds like high end gear and here it is with the Clearwave Duets.

Buying from a boutique manufacturer doesn't have to be risky proposition.

All the best,
Nonoise
Your speakers sound intriguing Nonoise. What are the dimensions of your listening room and what height are the stands you have them on? Do you have them firing across the room or down room?
My room is about 15' X 10' and I have them along the long wall with the speakers about 18" out (measured from the the front of the speaker) and about 10' apart and I sit about 7' back with my head against the rear wall. To some it may sound odd but for my room and near field listening it works really well.

As for stands, I'm presently using some wood 24" barstools that raised the tweeter level to about ear level when I'm seated. I'm presently waiting for Chris over at Timbernation.com to finish my maple speaker stands that will be 25" tall. I expect some improvement with the maple speaker stands over the rather shoddy and light barstools as the type and thickness of Chris's maple will make the stands very inert, and in my opinion, a better solution than a metal stand.

All the best,
Nonoise
Nonoise, thanks for your insightful review. It's making me anxious to receive my pair(in Koa finish)later this week. I use the Clearwave 72R speakers (floorstanders)in my main system, and really love the sound. I ordered the Duet 6 for my smaller dedicated music room, and will be using them with the Job 225 amp and a Job preamp. Jed (the Clearwave owner) has told me to expect a more coherent presentation with these speakers, and said the bass is surprisingly strong, given the small size of this speaker. He really loves the Accuton drivers, and I certainly love their application in the 72R. I will post my comments on the Duet6 after a month or so of break-in.
Tasos1,
Thank you. I was wondering if anyone read my review under the "Review">"Speakers" section. I think the Job amp and premap will be a killer marriage made in heaven as it has the power and speed needed.
There's definitely something about those Accuton drivers.

All the best,
Nonoise
I just bought a pair of 72R floor-standers. Getting them tomorrow. will plug into my W4S ST1000 mkII and DAC2 SE.

I'm hoping they will sound great. heard the Accuton 7" at Newport this year (Marten Duke 2), and really liked it. I'll update after I get some time on them..
Stevelk,
That Accuton 7" should sound fabulous in a tower design. The 6" sounds wonderful in the monitor so having more cabinet to work with should be eye opening.
Enjoy and report back!

All the best,
Nonoise