@woodsage Well, at least that was much more clear than your first post — a step in the right direction and keep up the good work!
New speakers unveiled from Clayton Shaw - Caladan
As I understand it, Clayton developed these speakers after he parted with Spatial Audio. At a cost of ~$3K, which is astounding, and a beautify wood baffle, they look sensational. I heard the sound of them in the video below on my cans and was super-impressed. They go very low in response as well. I can't wait to hear more reviews of them as I am sure that they will be excellent performers for a really affordable price. You have lived until you have had OB speakers in your room, which is just my humble opinion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRrgJ-_npls
122 responses Add your response
Actually, based on woodsage's A’gon history, he has had 323 completed transactions with a total positive feedback score of 1092 in the last 14 years, and only 71 posts. Safe to say that he actually "walks the walk" more than just "talks the talk". |
@ricevs I am not sure if you’ve heard Wilson’s or Vivid’s properly set up in a good room(not a show in a hotel.) You never been to GTT Audio for example. A lot of Arm chair quarterbacks always think rich people have the money to pull them out into their grand ballroom but some have a wife or family space that is shared. |
I love the way @pennfootball71 comes into a thread bashing three thousand dollar speakers as midfi, and to prove his point he compared them to speakers costing many thousands of dollars (some even six figures). Where does midfi end and high end begin for you Mr. Penn? Can’t you come up with a better comparison than that? You go straight to Wilson and Vivid. Have you even heard any of the better open baffle designs? OB speakers surely aren’t targeting the Wilson crowd. Obviously there’s too much chest beating puffery in that neighborhood. |
Sad to see the desultory comments from a few posters as to this exciting new speaker development from Clayton. Let's just wait to see what the public and reviewers opine about the speakers when they hear them. I have it on very good authority that the new owners of Spatial understand and accept the direction that Clayton is going with his new speakers. I haven't the slightest doubt that they will be excellent speakers at an affordable price, which is very exciting to anticipate for me. |
Any comments about how this speaker will sound are pure speculation. I’ll tell you what isn’t….based on their size and weight, shipping will inexpensive, not require pallets and minimize the chance of damage. So, no matter how good they sound, and I suspect it will be good… this will be a big plus for the resale market six months from now when some of the early adapters start to flip them. |
@snapsc Agreed. I’ve settled on my endgame speakers; ATC 50 actives. They came in very large factory boxes (saved) plastic wrapped on a substantial pallet. Hired piano movers to first move them upstairs and then assist manhandling them to install Gaia l footers and help position them correctly in their ’final’ resting place. I dread a future repair or reconfiguration of the system and the effort involved. Lots to be said about manageable pieces. |
Thanks for the compliment. My first trade was around 2001 so twenty plus years now not fourteen. The join dates got screwed up when they redid the site many years ago. At any rate I consider my communication skills adequate and they have served me well over both my professional career and my trading hobby. In @soix defense my first post was a bit short and included a perhaps obscure reference to Mr Rogers which I grew up watching. But soix’s angry, denigrating response is one of the reasons I don’t post more. In my experience it’s not an isolated instance, especially on this forum.
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I'm planning on checking these out at CAF next weekend. I hope they sound good. I briefly owned a pair of the Spatial Audio Lab X5 speakers and they sucked. The AMT tweeter was brutal, it didn't blend well with the other drivers and constantly called attention to itself. I owned them for 2 or 3 months and I couldn't take it any longer, they had to go. I believe these are more akin to the Spatial Audio M5 Sapphire which I've never heard. |
I didn’t have an issue with the AMT driver really. What I didn’t like was using a 12” driver to reproduce the midrange. It was a little beamy and didn’t have the realism and texture of a good midrange reproducer. The X3 is the only spatial speaker I’ve heard, but it seems that Clayton insists on using larger drivers for the midrange in all his designs. I’d really like to hear a pair of the PAP using the wooden horn. |
The price is on the website if you click on to order....$2950. All the best, |
Let’s see, from listening to an online video presentation you say these new speakers go deeper, tighter and with a more seemless xover......ha ha. So, did you A/B in your own room the Caladan with the latest $9800 X4 Ultra’s? The woofers in the X4 and the ones in the Caladan are the same. The X4 has a way heavier and more dead baffle and stand. The latest X4 has a completely redone xover, super....I mean super parts. I am sure it sounds way, way, way better than any of the X3s, and X5s that anyone has heard.....including Ron. The midrange driver in the old X3 and X5 had horrible binding posts on them.....yikes, no way you can get transparency through a junk brass binding post. These new woofers by Beyma used on the X4 and the Caladan have copper tabs for the inputs.....not massive brass posts. Way better. We should make "noise" when we really know something is true. Otherwise, it is best to make Nonoise.......he he. I was responding to a post by Nonoise......but I don't see his post. Anyway, some Info for you. |
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@prismvineyards I live in Central Napa so I will be sure to do that. |
@clio09 that's great to hear. We're in the Cyrstal Springs AVA. I'll let you know when they arrive and are broken in. |
Makes sense....😄 I was basing what I said on Ron's findings over at New Record Day (YouTube). He's heard all the versions of Clay's previous efforts (having owned some). It's in the link posted earlier. All the best, |
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A tip for all ye future entrepreneurs: A) Buy all drivers from someone else!!!!! (no aptitude required) B) Stick it on a slab of wood...open baffle!!! (No aptitude/in depth knowledge of anything required) C) Cook a lil crossover (use some garbage in/garbage out software to get you in the ballpark) D) Claim you are very passionate E) Pay a couple of youtube reviewers (advertisers) and forum pied pipers (pretend customers) to sing praise for your low aptitude song bird. .................. Shake yo low aptitude $$$$$$$ maker...Shake it like a salt shaker....$$$$$$$$$ |
Yes, maybe you can get acceptable sound...and in some cases maybe even good sound with open baffles at 2 feet....But....I don't think you can apply a universal rule when it comes to open baffle location and best sound because of how much room influence there is. When I owned the Spatial Audio M3 Sapphires, I started at 30"....then 40" then 50"...and in my room, ended up at 41" as the "best sounding" location. I tried the same with the Magnepan LRS+..and ultimately ended up with 60". |
I am with Audioman on this one. My M4TM's have resided about 16" from a well-treated back wall and they sound sensational. I moved them further out many times, but the result was that I only loss bass response . Easy for me to say the Spatials are the least sensitive to room placement of any speakers I have had, other than Linkwitz speakers. The Magnepans clearly need far more room, dunno why. |
The room was pretty crowded so I only listened to them for a few minutes and I was on the side of the room. I hope to get back later in the show. I couldn’t really assess the imaging and sound stage, but they sounded clean with good tone, nice range, and punchy bass. They were using LTA electronics. |
I just returned from CAF. We spent about 30 minutes in this room listening to these speakers. They were in my top 4 or 5 speakers I heard at the show. The top 3 were all over $50k. I attended with a friend who has his own opinions of what he liked. He had them as third best speaker at the show. |
@jrimer I went to my first audio show in July this year at Pacific Audio Fest and that is one of the main things I noticed along with several rooms playing music too loud. A lot of modern music doesn''t have wide open space and is more challenging. When I asked for the music I listened to, many of the speakers sounded pretty average. If the Caladans are anything like the Spatial Audio Q6s (Spatial Audio has voluntarily put the production of the Q6 speakers on pause since they wouldn't be needed if Clayton can essentially duplicate the sound at 1/2 the price -- according to Spatial Audio on their own website) I heard at PAF, they are really nice. They were also played with LTA equipment which is good stuff but the amps Don Sachs has made including his upcoming new stuff really goes to a new level. |
I spent some more time in Clayton’s room at CAF. I thought the speakers sounded nice for the money. They didn’t sound honky or boomy like some systems did at the show, but I didn’t think they were better than his earlier products. I thought the system I heard at PAF was considerably better, although I think this was at least partially due to Don Sach’s and Lynn Olsen’d excellent electronics coupled with the Lampizator DAC. But of course this was in a different room which was far from ideal, so an audition in your own room with your own gear is the only way to truly assess. Still, for $3000, this is a very credible offering. There aren’t many speakers at this price point that do as well. They look nice as well. |
Jaytor, Excellent summary of your listening experience. I have heard Spatials with LTA more than once and I had the same impression as you did. At the PAF, the front end of the Spatials with Don and Lynn's gear and the stellar Lampizator DAC was something very special. But those Spatial were around $9K and the Caladan speaker are a third of that cost so compromises likely had to be made. Your review is a good data point for us devotees of Clayton's speakers. Thanks for sharing it. |
Just received an email from Clayton this afternoon, giddy up: "Hello Brian, Your pair of Caladans are en route and are scheduled to arrive on Saturday February 03 TRACKING NO: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX1 XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX2 There will be the legs and feet at the top of the foam block visible when you lift off the outer carton shell. Mount the legs to the baffle with the supplied screws and screwdriver. Let me know if you have any questions Thanks, Clayton"
I will post some pictures once they arrive and I get them unpacked, will probably let them come to temperature a day before hooking them up. |
@vthokie83 Lots of new toys coming! Let us know they all work out!
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