Anyone else order Caladans from Clayton Shaw?

@ozzy62 - 93db

I'm running Quick Silver Mid Mono amps at 40 watts into M3 Saphire's which are 92db

• 1.5″ THICK BAFFLE CRAFTED FROM KILN DRIED SOLID AMERICAN HARDWOOD
• DRIVERS: TWIN 12 INCH DIA. STUDIO-GRADE BASS/MID UNITS ONE 1.125 INCH DIA. WIDE-RANGE SILK DOME TWEETER
• WIRING: JUPITER TWISTED PAIR IN COTTON
• FREQUENCY RANGE: 32Hz–20kHz +/- 2dB
• SENSITIVITY: 93 dB 1W/1M
• IMPEDANCE: 4 Ohm
• INPUT: WBT NEXTGEN 0703 BINDING POST. BANANA, SPADE AND BARE WIRE
• FEET: HARD RUBBER DISKS ($0) OR ISOACOUSTICS GAIA III ($295)
• PRODUCT DIMENSIONS: 38”H X 18”W X 10”D (including support legs). 35 LBS EACH
• SHIPPING DIMENSIONS: 44” X 23” X 12” 53 LBS. TWO CARTONS
• WARRANTY: 5 YEAR LIMITED MANUFACTURES WARRANTY

I'm experiencing the same issues. Talked with Clayton on March 1st where he took my CC# but I have yet to see any confirmation of an order or a deposit charged to my card. I have tried contacting him through several emails, Voice mails, can't register on the forum, etc.. Its getting a little tiring. I think people just want some response or an acknowledgement that they are in line and a rough delivery date. I wish Clayton well but I think he needs help on the business side. I know he will be at AXPONA in a few weeks and I can not attend this year, perhaps some of you can report back if you attend and talk to Clayton in person. Any other suggestions from those that have received them or talked with Clayton recently?

What is the efficiency of these speakers? I ask because my Spatial Audio X3s were supposedly 96 db and had a built in sub amp. At the time I had in house a Decware Torii II (around 20 wpc) and it could not drive the X3s sufficiently. On paper it was a perfect match, in reality, not so much.

I have a 300B amp from Aric Audio that I absolutely love, but I've got a feeling it would not work on the Caladans.

@ronrags 

Initially, as should be expected, timbre sucks. With little more than 2 hours on them the caps are sounding much better. They sound better than most electronics that will be used to feed them. Obviously the bass will also take time, but my initial impression is Quad ELS57s on massive steroids. Mind you my Quad days were decades back, but if timbre doesn't fully come around, it'll be easy to bypass the tweeter caps with Duelund JDM caps, so I wouldn't lose sleep over it. I am not expecting to need to do that mind you. Like I said, just over 2 hours and they are very immersive, engaging. It's difficult to stay on point, to critically listen. You just want to enjoy them.

@the_nick 

PayPal claimed to have refunded me, but they haven't. I wonder if THEY are in trouble economically? The speakers are supposed to arrive any time now, but I am working 2nd shift and my wife will have to deal with UPS it seems.

@lous Great to hear it all worked out for you. I went through the dispute process as well and have been refunded. I have also reordered (and had a nice conversation with Clayton over the phone the other day), and am expecting my speakers to arrive this month. I feel for the group at CSA as it seems to have been a bit of unfortunate timing in what their transaction partner did to them. I am glad to have that portion behind me and am excited to see the speakers in the flesh soon.

@middlemass 

I did read it, but you had sounded so determined, as if you wouldn't change your mind. And yes, I had a fine day, thanks.

@middlemass 

I thought that you cancelled your order.

Nope. I was frustrated and that was my plan. Clayton contacted me, as you obviously didn't read. All is good. Have a nice day.

Wester17,

Like most audio components, the Caladans do take some time. I probably have 100 hours right now, and the bass is still continuing to go deeper. However it has been fast and accurate for some time now. The tweeter sounded really good when I first started listening, but I slowly realized it too needed some more time. Right now they have pretty well settled in.

Currently have them driven by a new CODA S5.5, and that is a match made in heaven.....also really good with the Buchardt Audio S400 MKII, but the synergy with the Caladans is something else.

@middlemass 

I thought that you cancelled your order.

the_nick

I desputed, and now order 95 is supposed to arrive April 3rd. If he double bills, I suspect that the credit card company will resolve it, and Mr. Shaw may be destroyed in the industry.

Lou

Advisory to Caladan Owners!!!  If you have ordered or received a pair of Caladans, please know that they require a lot of break-in time. Mine sounded rather lame, with almost no bass, until I reached about 45 to 50 hours of run-in time. At that point the bass came alive and things got much, much better. The bass is amazing More later.

Clayton contacted me and everything is good. I don’t expect the sound I’ve been getting from 35 years of electrostatics, but in my current 10X12 room, just hope it is good enough.

@jetter there is excellent post in this tread by vthokie83, regarding his experience with Caladans

@soix +1

Can't wait to hear some A'gon user reviews of these speakers.

I spoke to Clayton over a month ago about a late December order. There were some problems with Square taking payment, but nothing on his end. It's just growing pains, in my opinion.  Some of the addresses and finishes were muddled from Square.  It was a good discussion - he was excited to get building these.  I am not too pressed and have other things to tinker with.  I ordered white oak (putting them in my relaxing living room with a gray-stained wood floor.

PP note

Feedback for those who have used PP: I have used that with other vendors, and I believe there's a 30-day timeout.  I saw it trying to get some go-fast car parts during COVID with supply chain issues.

@wester17 Congrats and look forward to your thoughts after break in. 

I received my Caladans today. I'll report much more once they've had some break-in time, but I can definitely say this at this point: These are very detailed very revealing speakers without sounding analytical or dry -- in fact, quite the opposite. 

@maholl50, thanks for the info. Actually, Paypal is always my first choice but when I ordered the Caladans, the Paypal option wasn’t there on the order page. I had to manually enter my CC # and the funds were disbursed immediately to "Spatial Audio." Didn’t bother me at the time due to Clayton’s reputation but at this point I’ve just had it. No confirmation of order after 79 days. Absurd.

@middlemass 

I feel ya. Agree about the customer service. It took 2 online inquiry, an email and a phone call before I got a call back from Clayton. Compare this to the Eversolo I bought online and the owner called me the same day to thank me for the order.

It appears CSAL had an initial production slowdown due to the furniture manufacturer which has now been resolved and the baffles are better than expected according to CS. As of 3-23 they are working on November orders producing 30-40 pair per month but production is anticipated to ramp up now that the woodworking issue is fixed. No promised date but looks better than ordering a Decware amp.LOL. I ordered Dec 20 and looking forward to these. April???

BTW there is a recent blog update by Clayton on the website describing the PayPal / billing etc.

I ordered on 1/6 and have never received an actual invoice, despite requesting such. Waiting isn't the issue, customer service is. I just emailed Clayton again, requesting cancellation of my order. 

Hello All,

I also worked to reverse my charge per Clayton's feedback and was asked to reorder it for delivery, but have two questions.

1. The new price is more expensive than when I originally ordered. There's a premium now for walnut and shipping is more expensive. How did you resolve these differences with Clayton?

2. I was told the dispute case is considered open for 90-days, thus the merchant can show proof of delivery and they will reverse the credit return. How have you mitigated the risk of being billed twice, if the dispute is reversed with proof of delivery?

I took a closer look at the invoice Clayton emailed to me and the No. he gave was 225, so I'm feeling better  :)  Greatly enjoyed the review, vthokie83! 

vthokie83

I agree and I have an additional data point/info.  Clayton left a voicemail yesterday evening because my original wood choice was white oak (invoice #107 order date 12 Nov).  I was wavering on my wood choice after Clayton posted the pics of actual baffles in the cherry, maple, and walnut.  I asked if I could get a picture of a white oak baffle to help determine my final wood selection. They have not yet received the first round of baffles in the oak.  Clayton has seen the raw wood, "which looked really good".

@terrapin77 exactly, my order was 845 and invoice is 182

@vthokie83 good things come to those who wait!

I'm not sure how the invoice numbers work, I'm not positive there is a correlation. I ordered on 11/1/2023 with Invoice #179, and received SN 00023.

It was hard for me to be patient, but in the end I have an amazing pair of speakers for what I consider a steal of a price. The speakers are gorgeous, use very high quality components, are well built, and sound better than anything I have every owned....and I've had some expensive speakers over the years (at least for me)

Any new company will have some growing pains, and I think the positive response to the Caladans from the New Record Day video caught everyone off guard.....and pressed them into production earlier than planned. For me it was well worth the frustration.

@mewsickbuff Your order # is from the Spatial Audio order system. When I placed an order, my # was 1111, but the invoice I got directly from Clayton was 245.

I placed my order January 11th and have the order number 1089...makes me wanna cry. How can that be? I talked to Clayton 2/28 and he said, "give it a couple of months." So I'm hoping to get my walnut Caladans in April (but maybe not until May).

Good point. I chose Cherry.

I suspect the Invoice/Order numbers may give a sense of relative ordering in the production process, but also imagine the production queue is dependent on baffle availability.

I placed an order (#259) with Clayton on 3/9. Had I nice chat on what I could expect from the Caladans, as I have a unique listening room. I did not press him for an exact time frame for delivery, but he did say he has hired additional people, and is ramping up production. Realstically, I would imagine obtaining them in 2-4 months. This is a new company, so I’d imagine there will be growing pains long the way. Can’t wait to play with the new Caladans!

I placed an order on 2/27, invoice #245. Got a confirmation email on 3/4. Clayton emailed me asking for the finish choice since it wasn’t listed on my order. I asked him about the lead time for recent orders. He said 60 days.

This is little disconcerting, unless my train of thoughts is flawed.

@vthokie83 ordered on 11/1/23, received on 2/7/24, serial # 00023.

@owain ordered on 11/2/23, received on 3/13/24, serial #00032.

It looks as if only nine sets were made in more than one month! I hope this is wrong conclusion.

I have them setup, over in Clayton's forum will start tomorrow  AM

the_nick,

Let's go Hokies!

Feel free to reach out any time, love to talk audio

Hey @knock1 ​​,

For reference my order was done with a credit card, just passed through my PayPal account. I use PayPal due to the good customer support and dispute resolution when needed. Anyway, my intent was not to steer this thread too far off topic, but I am glad some other folks chimed in to make me aware of other, similar situations, so thank you for that.

@vthokie83 as a fellow Tech alum I am looking forward to more of your impressions and hope to have my Caladans soon as well. I saw some other comments from you in DAC threads and may reach out directly to pick your brain on it. Right now I am on a middle of the road Schiit stack (modi multibit, Freya s, and Vidar 2), along with a Wiim Pro streamer and Wharfedale Lintons. I get the feeling the Caladans will outpace those and have me itching for the next upgrade.

Nick

Why not to use credit card?

Correction: I received my refund after 10 days. 

I too initially ordered via PayPal on NOV 1st. It seems there are some shady practices going on with them. Allegedly several lawsuits settled out of court as to not bring public attention to PP's poor service to vendors. Per Clayton's recommendation, I disputed the order and received my money from PP after 100 days. I'm ready to purchase via Square, but can't seem to figure out how. Do I need to request an Square invoice from Clayton?

@vthokie83 Thank you for that great followup, I was really curious what your ear was picking up, your sorta mirroring what Clayton was laying down on the road-map to full break-in.  I don't have that type of Amp congrats to your accomplishments there perhaps one day. WAF is still an occurrence here. I bought those cd from discog the sheffield audio labs test and burn in cd.  You have me curious with the option you used, I might have to look at that, I loved seeing your emotions, sounds like there taking your breath away.  I was also looking at those Buchhardt mkii but went with the CSS Criton 1TDX, with superior xo.  Those floored me into going to GR to upgrade the RF7-III,  that was so much work.  

Man, so little time on this rock to get exposed to this hobby.

I ordered a pair in cherry the week before Christmas. Confirmed the charge to Spatial Audio on my CC but never received a confirmation email or any other response from CSAL. I’ve sent two on line inquiries through their website but no response. Customer service is lacking but the product appears to be outstanding at least from the new recipients of the Calladan. 
… anxiously waiting to add these to my collection. I have 3 amps: Luxman 550 axII, Luxman LX-380, Musical Fidelity 6si and am in the Q for a Decware so very curious about the compatibility with these.

@vthokie83 this is what I am planning to run in a loop when my Caladans arrive

@jackd 

I want to read the response as constructive, but it's just not how it comes across. For awareness, I received an email from Mark at CSAL and responded to it as soon as I read it. So, as you mention I am following up with the company.

As far as posting here for "help", that was not my intent. My intent was to see if others encountered a similar experience. This is informative not just for me, but others that may be in a similar situation.

Hopefully if you ordered your transactions and experience have been smooth.

@evank  Very interesting, and thanks for passing that information along (which was the intended purpose of me posting here). I followed up on the email I received from Mark at CSAL after I received it yesterday but have yet to hear back.

And not sure of the PayPal specifics, but don't want to speculate. At this point I am just looking forward to receiving the speakers.

@the_nick  Clayton called my friend and told him the same thing. He mentioned he had to call at least 75 customers. Maybe PP did this because the money was sitting in Clayton's PP account for a long time?

@the_nick 

Don't see anything fishy in Clayton's request.  He's telling you to get a refund and then re-send the money while he holds your place in line.  He's not asking you to pay him twice. If you in fact sent the money to the right account phone number or e-mail and he hasn't received it then it's a problem on PayPal's end. If you questions ask him about it directly as nobody on this forum can help you. 

Owain,

I did not play the 10Hz files, as my streaming set up was disconnected when I changed my equipment to a different listening room....I tried to find the CD, and it was not available anywhere. I ended up ordering the "Isotek High Resolution Full System Enhancer", and have used it as directed. I have about 65 hours or so on them.

The bass has definitely opened up as expected, drives deeper, gets even punchier, is still quick and accurate......but I have no idea if they deliver the 32Hz as advertised. Frankly I don't care, the bass is just fun and enjoyable and accurate. Deep enough for everyone? I don't know, but more than enough for me.

What I wasn't prepared for was the treble to relax so much more. As much as I thought they were exceptional for the first week or so, they have opened up even more with zero edginess, and just delivering information that sounds "correct" and effortless at all times....impressive.

Here is where I am going to have an issue following up on the progress of the Caladans going forward. Last week I took possession of my CODA S5.5 amplifier, and it is now installed driving the Caladans for the last 30 hours or so. I will occasionally go back to my Buchardt Audio S400 MKIIs for brief periods,  but not for long.

The CODA S5.5 and Caladans are RIDICULOUSLY GREAT together....sorry for the caps, but I am running out of descriptives. How many different ways can I describe magic, effortless, beautiful, amazing, emotional, accurate, soundstage, emotion, depth, joy, happiness.....these have brought me to tears several times this past week. I don't know how they work with jazz, classical, chamber music, opera, choral, etc.....but with the music I listen to, I am amazed every morning I turn them on.

And that is still with my old Denafrips Hades preamp (which definitely is better than I gave it credit for), I cannot imagine what will happen when I receive the Aric Audio Motherlode XL preamp in a couple of months, but damn I cannot wait.

@vthokie83 mine are enroute, did you play the 10hz file at all, how are they sounding now? and how many hours do you have on them?

@the_nick That sounds really fishy. What would you be disputing? Non-delivery? That would be bad for them. You'd have to provide PayPal with assorted proof and an email asking you to dispute it would not look good for them.

thanks