Clearwave Loudspeaker Design Definition BE Reference compact tower-- best secret!

Finally! A tower version of our very popular Resolution BE which received rave reviews at 6Moons and Hometheaterreview.com, shipped from the factory, with a full warranty. This is our compact 3 way speaker featuring state of the art componentry and a design with an eye for details. The front of the speaker is sculpted using a custom made bit to contour the front edge for minimal diffraction. The speaker is a compact powerhouse using Scan Speak drivers with twice the throw as most other woofers in the competition. The tweeter is beryllium and effortlessly reproduces the nuances in the upper frequencies. These speakers are so easy to listen to, but at the same time draw you in to your favorite recordings in order to discover what you have not heard before. All of this and more is the Clearwave Definition BE.

We have always wanted a compact powerhouse speaker that can play the low bass with authority, maintain stereo image integrity through the midrange, and top off the high end with the finest silky details. We have used many different strategies in the past to achieve this, however none have come close to our latest technology in our Definition BE. Our Made in the USA cabinet is loaded with bracing using ultra dense Ranger Board and a customized mix of damping materials to absorb resonance and unwanted soundwaves within the cabinets. The ports are flared and eliminate noise. We implemented drivers that have low inductance and underhung voice coils for the woofers and midrange sourced from our partnering driver company in Denmark. There simply are no better paper based or beryillium drivers available.

This is an all new official product from Clearwave. This speaker is the next generation after the very highly regarded Symphonia 72R tower, which was reviewed by 6 Moons and received positive praise by many publications including Stereophile at RMAF. We feel this speaker is even better, and it's not nearly as large! Bass and imaging is outstanding, and we use only top audiophile parts. The crossovers are hand wired using top tier copper coated stranded wiring that will not oxidize over time. Best of all, this speaker has gone through many refinements, and we built it so that each design consideration was utilized to its fullest potential. This is evident from the hand crafted curved front baffle edges for low diffraction, the point to point soldered crossovers, to the carefully selected and matched transducers. Our goal for the Definition BE was to create the ultimate compact 3 way speaker that can fit in just about any listening room, but fill even the largest listening rooms with uncompromised control and resolution. When you buy Clearwave, you help support the Rochester, NY economy and many individuals who take great pride in the construction of loudspeakers and our fine cabinetry.

Here's the list of features:

Made in the USA cabinetry

Danish Scan Speak Illuminator 4" and 5.5" top of the line driver technology

Scan Speak Beryllium dome tweeter

Low parts count crossover using the following parts:

ERSE air core inductors and low DCR in signal path

Mundorf Supreme capacitors and resistors in tweeter signal path

Mundorf Evo everywhere else below 90uf

Mundorf Supreme resistor in signal path (tweeter)

Cardas soldering all point to point from binding posts to drivers

High-end Supra wiring

Cardas copper binding posts with gold plating

Custom engraved binding post plate and port ring to lower resonance.

Double thick 2" baffles with airflow chamfering details

Flared ports for low noise

1" material everywhere else with vertical bracing

Flared port for low noise

Proprietary damping material to turn vibration into heat

Upgraded Rosewood veneer with high build semi gloss finish (adds $800 to base price)

Size: 8.25"W X 36.5"H X 13.5" D

Frequency Response: 38hz-25khz

Impedance: 4ohm (flat impedance response)

Minimum Power Requirements: 35watt (tube) 50watt (solid state). 85db/2.83v/meter

This is the last pair at this price before we start to go with a traditional dealer markup. Right now we are still factory direct, so you save 40-50%! 15 day return on this speaker applies. Trust me, you won't want to return them!

Here's a few reviews of the monitor version. With the towers you get further power handling, greater transparency and detail through the mids, and deeper bass:
Review:

Clearwave Loudspeaker Design Resolution BE Speaker
By Terry London

June 24, 2016

I am no longer surprised at the number of American-based small companies that design and build superlative speakers that compete with the historical “big boys” on both build quality and performance yet beats them on the very important ratio of cost versus performance. Jed Kunz of Clearwave Loudspeaker Design is located in Rochester, New York. After reviewing his Resolution BE, which retails for $3,699.00, Jed and his company has been added to my growing list of creative and talented designers, manufacturing top notch speakers for very reasonable prices.

When I was setting up to review the Resolution BE, I had shared with Jed that I was somewhat leery regarding the use of a Beryllium tweeter in his design. My past experience with highly regarded speakers that use Beryllium tweeters has been a very mixed bag. I enjoyed the tremendous resolution and details that this type of transducer had to offer, but I found that the tonality/timbres were not as natural as I am used to. After a short time, I discovered that I would start to experience listener fatigue. He reassured me that he understood what short comings I was expressing. He, too, had heard these shortcomings and assured me that he eliminated these qualities while keeping the sonic virtues of micro details, speed, resolution, and top-end extension.

The Resolution BE is a two-way stand mount design that was clad in beautiful gloss Santos Rosewood veneer and weighed in at 28 pounds each. The dimensions are height: 13.5 inches, width: 8.25 inches, and depth: 12.25 inches. The Resolution BE’s frequency range is 42Hz to 25KHz. Its sensitivity is 85 db. The speaker’s impedance is 4 ohms. The internal parts list is filled with the highest quality components such as all Mundorf capacitors and resistors,

ERSE air core inductors, Supra wiring, Cardas copper binding posts with gold plating and custom binding post plate and port ring to lower resonance. The drivers themselves are top of the line Scan Speak transducers. The midrange/bass driver is the 5.5-inch Illuminator and the tweeter is a 1-inch Air Circ Beryllium dome. The front baffle, which is curved on its sides, is 2-inches thick.

The rest of the cabinet is 1-inch thick with extensive internal vertical bracing. Needless to say, the Resolution BE’s build quality, regarding all the internal parts and the massive damping of its enclosure, ranks with the very best on the market today. It was also one of the most attractive looking stand mount speakers I have had in-house for review.

Performance:

My first selection was the very well recorded album of tenor saxophone player, Scott Hamilton’s “Back In New York” (Concord Jazz) to hear how the Resolution BE’s would handle Mr. Hamilton’s creamy, deep, and darkish tonality/timbres that he produces on his saxophone.

The Resolution BE rendered the colors/tonalities of his playing in an extremely accurate way. This was not done at the expensive of the “feeling” aspect of his playing. The timbres and all the little nuances of his playing were on display, but not in an overly analytical fashion that speakers with great resolution sometimes struggle with. Another aspect that I easily picked up on was that the Resolution BE completely disappeared in a large, realistic sound-stage with the location of each player placed right where it should have been on that stage.

My next selection was Loren Maazel and The Cleveland Orchestra recording of Moussorgsky’s “Night on Bald Mountain” (Telarc) to see how well the Resolution BE would handle large macro-dynamics and an orchestra at full tilt playing this stormy and dynamic classical piece. One of my listening friends had come over to hear these speakers. When this selection was over, he asked me to turn off my pair of subwoofers to see how well they would handle the bottom end and giant crescendos of this piece on their own. I explained that I had already turned them off, so the Resolution BE had delivered the power range and gut-rattling punch on their own, fooling him into thinking the subwoofers were on.

My final selection was the late, great Bob Marley’s album “Legend” (Island) which contains all of his and the Wailers’ most important music from 1972 to 1981. This music demonstrated two more aspects of the Resolution BE’s sonic qualities. The first one was how quick and accurate this speaker was at following the ebb and flow of the dynamics of music. Secondly, the overall tonality is silky and smooth, including the high-end frequencies; therefore, the Resolution BE never gets “into your face” no matter what the volume level is. Additionally, it will effortlessly play very loudly without sounding mechanical or analytical.

High Points:

 The Clearwave Loudspeaker Design Resolution BE Speaker is a powerful, fast sounding speaker that never sounds analytical in its presentation.

 The Resolution BE Speaker uses some of the finest components/parts on the market and its build quality equals speakers that cost magnitudes more.

 This speaker presents tremendous amounts of micro-details but never sounds “thin” because it still gives you the body of the harmonics in the music and easy to hear decay trails.

 For a relatively small stand mount speaker, the Resolution BE Speaker reproduces the power zone (lower midrange/upper bass) of music in such an accurate way that you get the feeling that a much larger speaker is loading your listening space.

Low Points:

 To get the best performance out of the Resolution BE Speakers, you need to mount them on a high quality stand. Therefore, the cost of the stands has to be added onto the price of the speakers.

 The Resolution BE Speakers are not a hard speaker to drive, based on their impedance. However, because they are only 85db efficient, you want to have a high quality amplifier of at least 100 watts to get them to really open up and deliver their overall great macro- dynamics.

Competition and Comparison:

Based on price, two stand mount speakers that would be the natural competitors for the Clearwave Loudspeaker Design Resolution BE Speaker would be the Harbeth C7ES-3, which retails for$3,795.00 and the ATC SCM 19, which retails for $4,295.00. I found the Harbeth C7ES-3 to be at the same level as the Resolution BE regarding overall tonality and musicality.

The Harbeth is overall a slightly warmer sounding speaker. However, compared to the Resolution BE, it falls way short in the areas of clarity/micro-details, overall dynamics and
sounded strained at volume levels that the BE handled effortlessly. The ATC SCM 19 had much better dynamics than the Harbeth C7ES-3 and came closer to the Resolution BE’s performance regarding dynamics and effortless high volume levels. Its sonic downfalls were its lack of natural timbres/tonality. Additionally, its high end extension sounded rolled off in comparison.

Conclusion:

The Resolution BE Loudspeaker is a terrific performing two-way stand mount speaker. If you did not know that you were listening to a relatively small speaker, a giveaway would be its remarkable imaging, which is one of the strengths of all great stand mount speakers. It leads you to believe that a large floor stander was pressurizing your room with great bass and overall punch and dynamics. The Resolution BE is a fast and very detailed transducer; however, it never goes over the “edge” to become analytical and somewhat “in your face” as other very detailed speakers sometimes do. Its overall tonality is silky and very neutral regarding adding any color. Therefore, if you drive it with the right solid state or tube amplification, it will give you all the details but not lose the emotions or feelings in the music. The build quality and appearance of the Resolution BE is first rate and compares to several and much more expensive two-way monitors. It does equally well with acoustic jazz/classical music, but it can kick and pop with electrical/rock/hip-hop/house music, if that is more your taste in music. As I stated earlier in the review, [Clearwave] has joined my list of talented designers who are manufacturing great speakers at lower prices compared with many of the historical “house brands,” and often, these speakers actually perform at a higher level than many of the more expensive models from these larger companies.