Bound for Sound
July 98

The Super Clef Loudspeaker by Speaker Art, $1,795. 5824 Cochran Dr., Bakersfield, CA 93309, ph. 805.322.5329, e-mail spkrart@aol.com. 2-way loudspeaker with 8" hardpoly woofer and 1" soft dome tweeter. Rear firing port. Walnut finish. Crossover is 4th order series at 1.6 kHz 88 dB efficiency. Impedance 8 Ohms, nominal 6 Ohms. Sits on a pedestal. 22" x 10" x 13" (HWD), 51 lbs. Ea. On loan from manufacturer.****

I don't expect that your jet-set ego audio types are going to want to read this review. But it's time the world knows about this next step up from the original Clef loudspeaker reviewed in issue 9/96.

The Super Clef is the direct result of criticisms we had regarding the original Clef. Speaker Art is an unusual company in that when one of its products is reviewed, it tries to learn from the experience by reassessing the product from the eyes of the reviewer. When we covered the Clef, BFS was happy and amazed at the sonic quality of the speaker in light of its most reasonable price. At the time, the Clef retailed for $1,200 ($1,350 now), and it raised the bar a good notch or two for speakers trying to compete around the thousand dollar mark. Of course, there were a few nits to pick with the speaker, after all, nothing's perfect, and we wanted to convey the way the speaker performed under all conditions - it was good enough to be placed in some exceedingly-fine installations.

When Bob read the review, he was pleased that we had been able to appreciate the finer aspects of the design, but he was also interested in determining how he could make the speaker better. So he went to the review with an eye toward making corrections and adjustments in the manner we had suggested. It was an effort to take the speaker to the next level. Considering how many manufacturers view criticism of their products, Bob's approach at Speaker Art came across to us as an enlightened breath of fresh air. He didn't carp or complain, he just went to work. The result is the Super Clef on review here. Introduced at the CES last January with products from TG Audio, G&D Transforms and Symfonia, the speaker made quite a splash with other manufacturers, retailers and reviewers alike.

Set-up.  For a pedestal standing loudspeaker, the Super Clef is on the large side. This is a mini-monitor by no means. It's a large speaker that requires a stand that sits no higher than 21", and can handle its generous mass of 51 lbs. For you see, I don't know of a single other high-end, pedestal standing speaker that can generate the bass, or the overall energy that the Super Clef is capable of providing in an acoustic space. This speaker will rock (literally, if your stands aren't up to the task); only the incredible Condor SC-7 comes close in the pedestal category.

An amplifier chosen to drive the Super Clef should be relatively beefy, and have a high damping factor (low output impedance). The Super Clef seems to be an easier speaker to drive than the old Clef, but amps with less than 50 disposable watts per channel may play the speaker loud enough without having the necessary control over the bass to keep the speaker in line. The 70 wpc SimAudio MOON 1-5 integrated sounded fabulous with the Speaker Art. It has a damping factor of greater than 500, so it's a pretty ideal amp for the speaker, even though there were still times when the bass was a little indistinct.

Sonics.    Regarding the considerable bass power, and the almost unlimited dynamic range for a speaker of its size and type, it might then seem odd to say that the glory of this speaker is in the way the woofer and tweeter speak with a single voice. Meshing a hard poly 8" woofer with a 1" soft dome tweeter is not an easy task. The drivers are just about as diverse as one can get, and yet, I defy one to hear any negative artifacts associated to where they crossover. Oh baby, it's seamless without holes, lumps, bumps and grain. And the speaker does all this with ease.

With ease.  The sound of the Super Clef is certainly a speaker that handles amplitude changes, and dynamic leading edges with ease. Tonally, this is not a speaker that sounds light or bright. The bass power makes sure of that. And yet, while the speaker has some 60 Hz warmth, that doesn't extend up into upper bass, much less the midrange. Most of the midrange comes from the 8" hard poly woofer, so we have some square inches punching out the midrange, but short of some very minor cone colorations, this speaker is true to its source.

One of the substantial improvements in the new Super Clef over the old Clef is in image placement and the lateral soundstage. It's wider now, and the narrowing observed before with frequency in the old speaker has been taken way down. The ringing is out of the tweeter too. The new soft dome, along with any internal changes made by Bob, has taken the ring out of tweet. In doing so, as said before, the transition range between the two drivers has been much improved, a single signature runs from the top to the bottom tonally. If the speaker is to be criticized in any way through the mids, it might be with respect to an extremely low level loss of finesse in the upper mids. Trumpets tend toward a little rounding, not an altogether bad thing considering the generally poor rendition of brass one finds on most recordings. The Super Clef has some bite when called for, but it can also take the edge off the upper mids.

Conclusion.  In the high-end we have a tendency to go to extremes. I do, we all do. Extreme imaging at the expense of dimensionality. Extreme detailing at the expense of a natural spectral balance. Ultra efficiency at the expense of natural dynamic contrasts. I could go on and on. In the Super Clef, we have a speaker that eschews the trendy extremes in favor of a balance that truly is "blue collar". This speaker makes me think of the review that Bob O'Neill wrote last month regarding the fine Spendor 3-way. I think that these speakers may have a lot in common in the way that they serve the music. My experience at shows and other listening opportunities is that the Spendor may be a little more lush, luxuriant and room filling, and that the Super Clef may be a tad more revealing, dynamic and precise. But, they are both very satisfying to the musical soul without seeking out the extremes.