Crystal Clear

SSI 2009

By John Atkinson • Posted: Apr 6, 2009

I first heard the prototypes of the almost-all-glass Arabesque from Dutch wire manufacturer Crystal Cable at the 2009 CES, where they produced sound in the Audio Basics room that belied my negative expectations. Demmed at SSI with Simaudio 5.3 series CD player and amplification, the Arabesques, now in full production, again produced a promising sound. With my my recording of "The Mooche," from Editor's Choice, the Arabesques put me squarely in the church acoustic of Chad Kassem's Blue Heaven Studio in Kansas, where the recording was made.

The ribbon tweeter is married to three Scan Speak Illuminator woofers and the crossover is contained within the machined-from-aluminum base. The glass panels are joined with UV-cured adhesive and make up a truncated spiral or elongated comma (as viewed from above), with the reflex port at the end of the spiral. 20 pairs have already been sold workwide, Crystal's Gabi van der Kley told me. Crystal (and sister company Siltech) are distributed in Canada by Audio Basics, though Crystal doesn't yet have US distribution for the speaker.

Comments

Submitted by Shawn on April 7, 2009 - 7:08am.

Sounded great on some tracks but had a definite unacceptable flaw in my opinion. On metalic-y string twang (thing plucking strings) the tweeter's contribution and aberration of the sound could be easily heard (a buzz). I really liked the look of these for any sort of a swank hipster condo though... Also thought the speaker casing was delightfully rigid. Overall I wouldn't consider purchasing though.

Submitted by Benjamin Scarcelli on April 15, 2009 - 12:56pm.

Dear Stereophile,Thank you for all your compliments of some of our featured products we distribute in our room at: Audio Basics Inc. such as the Crystal Cable products. My staff and I always enjoy contributing as an exibitor at the Montreal Show.