brad1138
Active Member
These fantastic, highly reviewed, little bookshelf speakers have nothing but a few very sporadic posts about them in various different online forums. I though I'd create an "official" place for owners/users to chat about them (since no one else has). And throw in my personal review.
The Clue's have a number of rave reviews over the last 6+ or so years, but still are a very unknown speaker. I had never heard of them, until I saw a pair on craigslist, and decided to pick them up last week.
They are everything the reviews say they are, the most detailed and revealing speakers I have ever owned, and I have been an audiophile for over 30 years, and an audio enthusiast for nearly all of my 50+ years... Imaging and sound stage are phenomenal.
They are a bit different in their placement requirements. Frequency response is rated at ~30 Hz to 30,000 Hz. But the low end is highly dependent on the room, and their set up in it. They are to be placed no more than 2.5 inches from the front wall, they are specifically designed to utilize the room to bring up the low end, or minimize the roll off. That may come across as a bit of a cheat, but they are designed to work that way, and it works!
My main system, consists of a pair of speakers I fell in love with in the 90's, the Mirage M3si's, driven by a Schiit Freya preamp and Mark Levinson #331 amp. I absolutely love that system, but I had never had as many spontaneous goose bumps, and chills down the spine, and even tears, as when sitting back and listening to the "The Clue's" (OK yes, it doesn't roll of the tongue particularly well...). I am still in the process of "dialing them in". The manufacture is adamant that the stand be 19-22" high. My Sanus stands where 23"... So I cut 2 inches off. I am going to have some much more substantial stands made for them, form a local welding shop.
Now with the speakers on a 12 ft wall, in a 12' x 13' x 8' bedroom, recently vacated by my kids (finally) moving out I found a placement of about 16" from the outside wall, gave just the right amount (or at least best I have come up with yet) of bass. Sjofn recommend removing all bass traps, and only acoustic panels behind the speakers on the front wall. I found, with them as close to the outside walls of my room, panels on the side, worked for me (Yes, they have been borrowed from my home theater, I'll make more later).
My (recent) go to test tracks, as I have been rolling through various used speakers in this room, has been Adele 25 track #1 "Hello", Beck Sea Change track #1 and #2 The golden Age and Paper Tiger, off of CD (FLAC server actually). And Pink Floyd The Wall and Blood Sweat & Tears (ST) on vinyl.
I am not going to try to explain every nuance of every song, I am not that good of a reviewer (new to it anyway). However, the vocals (really everything) are so "unveiled" relative to any speaker I have ever had. The space around the vocals, evident with every word. The parting/movement of the lips, outside of the vocals, more clearly evident than I have ever heard.
The overall presentation is extremely smooth, not fatiguing in the least. The bass is quite good, although not quite as "overwhelmingly good" as a few other reviewers described. That could be 1 of 2 reasons, most likely due to being in a very boxy room, or I just haven't found the perfect placement for them. My money is on the former...
Included is a picture of the most current speaker location. FWIW, the room is also in need of a paint job and records on the wall, it's on my "to do" list...
I am so happy I happened across these, I think my search for speakers in this room is done
Again, FWIW, recent contenders, Ascend Acoustics Sierra 1s with standard tweeter, Linn Keilidh with 3 bar tweeter.
System:
ProJect Debut Carbon Esprit SB w/2m red cartridge>Schiit Mani w/Swagman Labs upgraded PS> or
FLAC server>Music Hall 25.3 DAC>
PS Audio P-200 Preamp>2 x Marantz MA-500 mono amps
The Clue's have a number of rave reviews over the last 6+ or so years, but still are a very unknown speaker. I had never heard of them, until I saw a pair on craigslist, and decided to pick them up last week.
They are everything the reviews say they are, the most detailed and revealing speakers I have ever owned, and I have been an audiophile for over 30 years, and an audio enthusiast for nearly all of my 50+ years... Imaging and sound stage are phenomenal.
They are a bit different in their placement requirements. Frequency response is rated at ~30 Hz to 30,000 Hz. But the low end is highly dependent on the room, and their set up in it. They are to be placed no more than 2.5 inches from the front wall, they are specifically designed to utilize the room to bring up the low end, or minimize the roll off. That may come across as a bit of a cheat, but they are designed to work that way, and it works!
My main system, consists of a pair of speakers I fell in love with in the 90's, the Mirage M3si's, driven by a Schiit Freya preamp and Mark Levinson #331 amp. I absolutely love that system, but I had never had as many spontaneous goose bumps, and chills down the spine, and even tears, as when sitting back and listening to the "The Clue's" (OK yes, it doesn't roll of the tongue particularly well...). I am still in the process of "dialing them in". The manufacture is adamant that the stand be 19-22" high. My Sanus stands where 23"... So I cut 2 inches off. I am going to have some much more substantial stands made for them, form a local welding shop.
Now with the speakers on a 12 ft wall, in a 12' x 13' x 8' bedroom, recently vacated by my kids (finally) moving out I found a placement of about 16" from the outside wall, gave just the right amount (or at least best I have come up with yet) of bass. Sjofn recommend removing all bass traps, and only acoustic panels behind the speakers on the front wall. I found, with them as close to the outside walls of my room, panels on the side, worked for me (Yes, they have been borrowed from my home theater, I'll make more later).
My (recent) go to test tracks, as I have been rolling through various used speakers in this room, has been Adele 25 track #1 "Hello", Beck Sea Change track #1 and #2 The golden Age and Paper Tiger, off of CD (FLAC server actually). And Pink Floyd The Wall and Blood Sweat & Tears (ST) on vinyl.
I am not going to try to explain every nuance of every song, I am not that good of a reviewer (new to it anyway). However, the vocals (really everything) are so "unveiled" relative to any speaker I have ever had. The space around the vocals, evident with every word. The parting/movement of the lips, outside of the vocals, more clearly evident than I have ever heard.
The overall presentation is extremely smooth, not fatiguing in the least. The bass is quite good, although not quite as "overwhelmingly good" as a few other reviewers described. That could be 1 of 2 reasons, most likely due to being in a very boxy room, or I just haven't found the perfect placement for them. My money is on the former...
Included is a picture of the most current speaker location. FWIW, the room is also in need of a paint job and records on the wall, it's on my "to do" list...
I am so happy I happened across these, I think my search for speakers in this room is done
Again, FWIW, recent contenders, Ascend Acoustics Sierra 1s with standard tweeter, Linn Keilidh with 3 bar tweeter.
System:
ProJect Debut Carbon Esprit SB w/2m red cartridge>Schiit Mani w/Swagman Labs upgraded PS> or
FLAC server>Music Hall 25.3 DAC>
PS Audio P-200 Preamp>2 x Marantz MA-500 mono amps
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