So on the last day of AXPONA I brought my wife along to demo the Clarysis, since she is very interested in the music also. I know that can be dangerous LOL. We had a 45 minute private demo and noted what songs we listened to. We then went to listen to other systems—spent a lot of time with the MBL 101 E mk2(wow) and Magico, Stenheim, Acora, etc. We also went back and forth between the 2 Clarysis rooms.
I certainly am aware that the listening experience in some of these rooms is marginal at best and can easily jade one’s opinion of the speakers. For example, the Bayz room was terrible, imo, and were only there for about a minute. Too bad. Really would have been great to hear them in even an average room.
So we get home and warm up the system and begin to listen to the music we just had auditioned hours ago. First up is Luther Vandross ”House is not a home“ live version. Within the first minute my wife and I looked at each other and remarked we thought we were hearing a different song. The excitement of a live performance was quite a bit less, his voice wasn’t as resonant, etc. The illusion of bass was there, but not anywhere near the full bass. It was not subtle. Much to my chagrin, the Maggie’s just didn’t stack up to the Clarysis. This was proven out by the rest of the songs we listened to.
I know this isn’t the best way to audition anything, it’s not comprehensive, but it still was very instructive. I know panel speakers work very well in my room having the Maggie’s and before that the Scintilla’s.
The good news is that my wife suggested at the end of the day that I should probably get the larger Studio Plus version! That would have never happened had she not heard these herself.