AXPONA 2023

Room 352 at AXPONA, where cable constructors Shunyata Research and speaker builders Clarisys had joined forces, was something of a feast for the senses. The Clarisys Minuet speakers ($38,800/pair) look like high-tech heaters in a 1940s film noir, and I mean that in the best possible way—I love how they seem simultaneously retro and thoroughly modern. They sounded wonderful too.

The Swiss company has been around since 2011, initially building replacement parts for the legendary Apogee speakers. (Apogee went out of business in 2000 after a memorable 19-year run.) The Clarisys crew eventually decided to design and market its own loudspeaker products.

The Minuet, introduced in 2021, is a ribboned two-way with a double-sided bass panel in an aluminum subframe-exoskeleton—similar in some ways to the fantastic French Diptyque speakers that I wrote about here. What's lovely on the Minuet's outside is mirrored on the inside, where there are carbonite resistors (built in-house), as well as Jantzen capacitors and custom-made inductors and copper-foil circuitry. New in 2023 is a neodymium-magnet version of the speaker, but having never heard the previous generation, I can't tell you what changed sonically. I can report that the new Minuets' sound is beautifully balanced: easy-going but not laid-back, revealing but not etched.

The Minuets proved their abilities with a brash, punchy rendition of "Hit the Ground Running" by Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, a recording by a large jazz ensemble whose playing is as tight as Speedos on Pavarotti. I was quietly snapping my fingers the whole way through. On "Stolen Car" by Lauren Jenkins, the Minuets showed their velvety side, but the presentation never got sleepy. Transients were snappy and precise, meshing well with a lush, effortless midrange that was about as good as it gets.

Driving the speaker were a Constellation Inspiration amp ($17,995) and preamp ($12,995), fed by an Aurender N20 server/streamer ($12,500) and a dCS Rossini CD player and clock ($39,998 for the combo). Shunyata Research provided the loom, including cables from its Typhon and Omega lines. A Shunyata Everest 8000 conditioner ($9900) contributed clean power.