If anyone is interested, someone just posted a really detailed review of the Caladans on another thread on Agon titled "My Caladan Impressons".....Yes I misspelled impressions, but it is on the other thread
Anyone else order Caladans from Clayton Shaw?
After watching videos and reading positive reviews I ordered a pair of Caladans. It’s been 2 weeks and I have never received an email confirmation of sale. The charge on my cc was from Spatial Audio. I have called and left VMs twice and also emailed Clayton’s info address. Crickets !
Has anyone else experienced this? I assume he’s extremely busy but I’m getting a little anxious.
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Last I spoke with Clayton, he said that he's no longer selling the white and black baffles because the paint job added too much time to an already lengthy process. I've had them for a couple weeks now so it's fully burned in and so far I have been pretty happy with my purchase. Love the directness of the open baffle sound which makes all instruments and vocals sound substantially more lifelike and the music more engaging compared to my old KEF Q950 speakers, which has a big soundstage but now sounds so diffused and muffled. |
@roxy54 Well, I think this is what is called "positive thinking" 🙂 |
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While I’m sure I will enjoy the speakers when they are finally delivered , the lack of status information on orders and the lack of timely website updates is definitely taking the shine out of the whole experience. I want them to focus on making and delivering speakers but at least hire a person to keep the website updated and answer questions about orders. I noticed the Axpona banner is finally gone as is replaced with 90 days for orders. My issue has been the availability of white oak baffles. People trying to do order/potential delivery date math, good luck with that. My order date:12 November, Order #107. Add that info to your equations. |
It's probably not worth the conjecture at this point. I spoke with Clayton in late March and at that time he said he thought mine were due to be made within the week and I should look for them at the latest mid-April. Well, as of now I don't have any additional confirmation of production or shipment. I am not stressed about it but do understand how folks could be if they didn't have an alternate/interim solution on hand. My fingers are just crossed that when they get here I think they were worth the wait because I don't know how hard it will be to return them if they don't hit the right notes for me. |
terrapin77, I wouldn't be too worried by a lack of updates, that seems to be normal as they are focusing on production. I spoke with them at Axpona and they said they were getting about 7 to 10 units completed per week....still not where they wanted to be, but better than they were. I received SN 00023 around 2/10, so you can do the math |
I heard them at AXPONA and I liked their sound. Decently fast and plentiful bass, good 3d sound stage height and depth as an open baffle design would, a bit less refined in the midrange and upper frequency could use more definition. the bass and quick dynamics were the stars and made them worth the asking price. |
@indelibo you lucky dog! I am 29 numbers from you, hope by the end of this month, as Clayton stated. Please share your impressions. |
Yes, it would be nice to find a planar driver that could do 90hz. It does not exist....you have to make your own....like Magnepan and Diptyque. Even most planar and electrostat hybrids cross over between 172 and 500 Hz (Sanders sound, Janszen, Eminent tech, PS Audio, etc.). And they have fanstastic midrange. Regular woofs are fine to about 500 hz....above that you want much smaller drivers or better yet planars. The trouble with Magnepans are that they have no serious dynamics (mostly because the frames are so flimsy). The speaker I am making is for me.....However, I will share every bit of information so that those with the skills and desire can make their own. Not a money making thing. Later in the year I might? get the tweeters that are used in the Caladan and make a clone.......however, I just don’t see how a forward facing cheap tweeter crossed over at 1K and non time aligned and be anywhere near a dipole planar that is time aligned crossed over at 400hz.....and you can stack the tweeters and make a 32 inch line source for even lower distortion and better vertical dispersion. These planar drivers are just $50 each. We shall see....er hear.....soon. |
@ricevs Wouldn't it be better to cross over lower than 400hz because, according to Wikipedia "The voiced speech of a typical adult male will have a fundamental frequency from 90 to 155 Hz, and that of a typical adult female from 165 to 255 Hz. " |
I am pretty sure the Caladan does not have that problem. Clayton went from using Eminence woofs to Beyma for a reason.....however, two 12 inch woofers can only do so much. The Beyma cones weigh 74 grams each. This is why I am making my speaker (using the same woofers as the Caladan) using a time aligned planar dipole driver crossed over at 400hz. The planar diaphram weighs something like 1.4 grams. Should be way faster and cleaner than the Caladan that is crossed over to a $39 tweeter at 1K. I should have my speaker up and working next week (woofers already burned in using a 15hz sine wave for 125 hours). I mounted the woofers face to face and wired them out of phase. I will have pics and information on my website soon. By the way, this is a good way to burn in any speaker......just put them very close together and face to face and wire one out of phase and run a 10-20hz test tone all day and night. You will hear nothing from the speaker but they will "wiggle" like crazy. This is primarily for woofer burn in.....your whole speaker will still need to be played to be burned in or you can use wide band noise with them facing each other.....but it will probably still be heard......some throw a blanket over the speakers while they are playing. |
This was my chief complaint of the Spatial Audio X3. Using a 12” driver to reproduce the crucial midrange seemed to be its shortcoming. The texture and “realness” of the human voice was not conveyed IMHO. It was an amazing speaker in many regards, but ultimately left me cold with its midrange reproduction. The Caladan might not have this issue at all. |
Has anybody listened to classical, large orchestra works , chamber music, and unamplified (acoustic) vocals on the Caladans. It sounds like a great speaker. Bass and sound stage seem to be its strong suits. Clarity and neutrality are among my priorities. Can a big woofer finely resolve voices and strings? Thanks in advance. |
nickdig1, I get it, and I went through the same exact thing....having placed my order on 11/1/23. In the end my patience has been rewarded, as the Caladans are an amazing speaker for a ridiculously fair price. I would go through all of the difficulties again, just to get the Caladans.....worth my patience |
@ozzy62 - 93db I'm running Quick Silver Mid Mono amps at 40 watts into M3 Saphire's which are 92db
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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.
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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.
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@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. |
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. |
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. |
