Clearwave Speakers?


Anyone heard these?

http://6moons.com/audioreviews/clearwave/1.html
arbuckle
Nope.

The review leaves the impression that the value statement for this design revolves around the RAAL tweeter, if that's what floats one's boat. If the rest can keep up and deliver as well, this might be a contender. 90db sensitivity is a plus assuming low end is not too compromised accordingly.

Lots of competition in many different flavors at that price point! I'd have to hear these before getting too excited. I'd be going in a bit skeptical. I've never been a fan of ribbon tweeters in conventional box designs. Tube amp friendliness would be a desirable feature.
I am very skeptical of inexpensive designs built around expensive SOTA tweeters these days.

THe reason is that I started out in audio with a tweeter fascination and soon realized that was a bad strategy. Why? Because very little in music occurs in the range covered by a tweeter. Tweeters contribute presence and brilliance, which is important but is an embellishment (like bass) to most of the music which occurs in the midrange. SInce most of the music occurs in the midrange, logic dictates to get that right first, then worry about the rest.

Plus, these days, there is very little that can be measured to distinguish between high performance tweeters, of which there are many. Not to say some, perhaps even RAAL, might be better in some ways, but it is very subjective determination.

SO building an inexpensive speaker around an expensive tweeter is a bad strategy in my mind.

FOr cost is no object type designs where few or no corners will be cut, that is a different story.

In the case of the RAAL, which does not cover midrange well relative to others from what I have read, the best approach in a smaller package would seem to be in a smaller 2-way monitor design probably with limited bass extension where the bass driver can also cover the midrange more effectively in lieu of the RAAL, or in a larger 3 way design that would probably also be more expensive.