All About Atrium
The Clarisys Atrium System was designed to redefine the limits of what a loudspeaker can be. This 6-tower, 265 cm (8.8-foot)-tall loudspeaker system, weighing over 1250 kg (2755 lbs), is a tour de force of precision ribbon technology and acoustic architecture.
The Atrium features eight ribbon drivers per stereo pair, with the company’s most advanced pure-aluminium dual-bipole ribbons for both midrange and high frequencies. These drivers operate in perfect phase and begin radiating at 250 Hz, producing a coherent, unified bipolar field.
The Atrium’s two frontmost towers feature the company’s most refined, resonance-controlled curved ribbon bass panel design to date, along with the independent Mid and Treble ribbon sections, which share a common footer construction. The woofer foils consist of aluminum on Kapton with Neodymium magnets on the back, while the midrange and tweeter ribbons are pure aluminum with Neodymium magnets on the sides.
Naturally, the Atrium is constructed entirely from CNC-machined aluminium, with every mechanical and electrical detail optimized for absolute performance and longevity.
Supporting the foundation are dedicated infrasonic ribbon subwoofers, designed to reproduce the lowest octaves with precision, speed, and visceral physicality without resorting to traditional cone-based designs.
The two boxes behind the Mid/Treble tower are impedance transformer units. Clarisys Audio exclusively uses Lundahl Transformers from Sweden.
Besides the two frontmost panels for treble, midrange, and bass, there’s a third sub-bass panel, placed closer to the room’s back wall. These subwoofers look different from the two other panels because they are a proof-of-concept, and this is still a prototype version of the Atrium system. The final version will feature subwoofers in the same curved style as the frontmost bass panels.
It’s interesting to note that, uniquely, the subwoofer panel’s geometry features slanted edges on both sides to further reduce standing waves on the membrane.
You can read specifications and look at photos all day, but there’s nothing like the real thing. When seeing these massive towers in real life, one can’t help but be in awe. What makes it extra fascinating for me is that the speakers are built entirely open, with the insides clearly visible from the outside. As Florian mentioned, there are no secrets at Clarisys Audio! As a tech-lover as much as I am an audiophile, I don’t think I would want to cover up any of the speaker’s insides, but the Atriums are supplied with grilles that magnetically attach to the rear sides for a calmer look.
Atrium Core Specs:
Frequency Response: 13Hz to over 35KHz
Sensitivity: 101 dB per 2.83V at 1KHz in Stereo
Impedance: 8 ohms
The Audio System
The Atrium speaker system is quad-amped with four VAC Master 300 iQ Musicbloc amplifiers, which can be switched to mono or stereo as needed. The VAC Master preamp is the system’s analog hub. All sources, whether analog from the Kronos Perpetual turntable or the classic Ampex analog tape machine, or digital from the Pink Faun Dual Ultra Music Server and Lampizator Horizon combo, are fed into an Accuphase four-way DF-75 Digital Active Crossover and time delay, to accommodate any Clarisys Audio speaker model. Notably, the unit’s delay function enables accurate time alignment of multi-tower speaker systems, even when the subwoofer panels are positioned several meters farther back.
While the use of additional A-D and D-A stages may raise eyebrows when using analog sources, it should be noted that it is just not possible to achieve time alignment in the analog domain. Another significant benefit of using a digital crossover is that far sharper filter slopes are possible with greatly reduced artefacts. For instance, the DF-75 provides free selection of 6dB, 12dB, 18dB, 24dB, 48dB, and 96dB slopes, independently for each of its four channels! The benefits of this were very clearly demonstrated by Florian as we toggled between three favorite slopes, resulting in easily discernible differences in the areas of focus, articulation, and perceived precision and pacing. As mentioned, the DF-75 also offers greater freedom in speaker placement, allowing the subwoofer panels to be placed farther toward the back wall to increase room gain and optimize room loading.
Rather than posing a potential hurdle, the Accuphase crossover allows free placement of all three panels to optimize the presentation as desired, whether tuned for maximum spaciousness and engulfment, razor-like precision, and anything in between.
Listening
This is not a review, but I could not very well finish the article without sharing a listening impression. What struck me most about this system is the size and expansiveness of the sound. The music filled the massive room effortlessly, flowing freely and engulfing us. What truly surprised me, however, was the level of coherence from such an elaborate system. I fully expected the sound to be big and powerful, but I feared it would also be a little fat, and less articulate and precise than is typically possible with simpler systems. I was proven wrong on all accounts. The feeling was like listening to a single speaker system, and the bass was particularly clean and well-defined, with no fat or overhang. It went as deep as any recording required without calling attention to itself.
I did feel that the focus between the speakers was less distinct than I preferred and, in fact, less precise than what I experience at home with the Apogee Duetta Signatures and particularly the Centaurs or Magico S1 MkIIs. When discussing this with Florian, he understood precisely what I was saying and indicated that he had intentionally tuned the setup differently, in line with his personal preference. He added that what I am after is an audiophile holy grail that is not truly representative of a real-life experience. Naturally, he has a point there, as you don’t hear pinpoint imaging and indeed no focused central vocal “ball” in any live concert setting. Nevertheless, I enjoy this kind of portrayal, so I wondered, would the Atrium system be less proficient in this area?
This is where the Atrium’s independent tower design comes in. As Florian pointed out, the soundstage depth and sense of directness can be dialed in by varying the placement of the Woofer towers relative to the Midrange/Treble towers. Likewise, the sense of imaging and focus is dependent on the positioning and toe-in of the Midrange/Treble towers. Meanwhile, the Accuphase crossover is used to retain perfect time-alignment.
By request, Florian moved the two frontmost towers. First, he aligned them in an alternative arc closer to the listening position, with a lot more toe-in for the midrange/treble towers, pretty much pointing the inner two towers directly at my ears. This resulted in a more intimate, direct sound precisely as he predicted, but with a considerable reduction in the immersive quality. Although this made the sound technically more impressive, it also made it emotionally less satisfying. And if I were being critical, I still did not hear very sharply defined imaging. Next, Florian moved all four towers again, arriving at a more or less midway position between the former two setups, and with less toe-in for the Midrange/Treble towers. Bang! That was it. Suddenly, the system had the precise focus I was after, while still sounding beautifully spacious and free-flowing.
As is typical for full-range ribbon speakers, the Clarisys Atrium system has zero cabinet coloration, impressive transparency, and immense clarity. In these areas, the experience is quite similar to what a well-restored classic Apogee Full-Range can do. This should not be too surprising, as the Atrium is ultimately a scaled-up, more elaborate version of the company’s smaller speakers, which were directly inspired by these classic designs. However, what differentiates this system from simpler two-way full-range ribbon speakers, besides the obvious tremendous sense of scale, bass depth, and massive power handling, and the utter freedom the Atrium system gives the listener to tailor it to the room and personal preferences precisely. The result is superb driver integration and impressively even-handed behavior. It’s perhaps the biggest trick that a huge system can pull off: to sound like a smaller system.
Official dealer for the Netherlands: puurhifidelity
Manufacturer’s Website: clarisysaudioglobal
