The other challenge with di-poles is the amount of energy they throw out of their rear side. That energy hits the wall behind the speakers and gets reflected forwards, where it enters the soundfield and interferes with the direct energy generated by the speakers. Depending on frequency and phase it will either augment or cancel that direct energy, in a pattern referred to as comb filtering. The closer the speaker is to the rear wall, the shorter the wave lengths that will be affected and the higher the frequency at which comb filtering occurs. In practise diffusion and acoustic losses mean the problem is less intrusive than this description suggests, but there’s no escaping the fact that the further you can get a di-pole from the rear wall, the better. Anything over 1.5m (5’) is good. Anything less than that needs to be approached with caution. In my room, I am able to set the Minuets up at a little over 3m (10’) from the rear wall. In smaller spaces, you won’t have that luxury. Clarisys do offer the Piccolo as a solution for smaller spaces, but di-poles are one case where you really want to avoid having too much speaker for your room!
One difference that quickly became apparent once I started working with positioning was that the bass performance of the Minuet is extremely sensitive to lateral placement: much more so that distance to the rear wall, at least once it is well spaced from it. Working in mono with a single speaker, it was relatively easy to optimise low-frequency linearity and attack, working forwards and backwards to set the balance of weight and energy and then sideways to tune the pace and attack. I then simply superimposed that placement on the other speaker, with minor adjustment necessary to nail down its performance.
One slight complication I experience with this particular pair of speakers, both in achieving and marking the optimum location was that they still employed the original square feet, making point to point measurement or taping interim or final locations less than precise. Rather than being able to measure to the speaker’s feet (you’d get a different result each time, depending on how the foot was positioned) you need to work off the speaker’s plinth, which is spaced from the floor. It’s doable, but it’s fiddly and ultimately less precise. Clarisys have moved to circular feet on current production, which should improve things significantly.
With the speakers positioned for optimum low-frequency extension and balance, the next step was to get them vertical in the lateral plane. Unlike multiple driver box speakers which often require a small amount of azimuth adjustment to really lock in, the Clarisys, with their long ribbon/planar-magnetic drivers need to be precisely upright, with no sideways lean. Likewise, the speakers fire almost dead ahead. Toe-in was limited to the inner edge being 4mm further back than the outer, which across a 760mm width is a tiny angular offset. But getting it right and getting it symmetrical really matters if you are going to generate the massive, transparent and incredibly coherent soundstage that these speakers are capable of. In my 6.5m wide room, I ended up with the inner edges of the speakers 2.42m apart. By way of reference, the base of each baffle was around 160mm behind where I’d place the Stenheim A5SE, 190mm behind where I place the Wilson DAW, while the Minuet tweeters were about 150mm further in than the centre-line of either box cabinet. Of course, that still left the outer edges of the substantial baffles way closer to the side walls than the boxes reach.
