Clarus Crimson Loudspeaker and Interconnect Cables

The BBC Music Magazine recently recounted the saga of one of the most storied violins in history, the Il Cannone del Gesu, which was built in 1743 by Giuseppe Guarneri and played by Niccolo Paganini. It possesses such a unique sound that Paganini apparently considered it his fifth limb.

Today, this mighty instrument is kept under guard in Genoa’s Palazzo Doria Tursi and wheeled out for special occasions. The violin virtuoso Francesca Dego, who was the first Italian female to win Genoa’s Paganini competition, performed on it in 2019, explaining to the BBC, “Il Cannone is not only powerful, but it is the epitome of everything one expects from a top-class del Gesu. The depth and warmth in the lower register and the glorious ringing E string had me besotted.”

The alchemy involved in crafting these glorious violins offers a useful reminder about the subtle differences in craftsmanship and materials that can make or break the sound of an instrument. The same holds true for audio equipment. 

Probably no area of the high end can be more confusing than cables, where competing designs offer a welter of approaches that purport to provide optimal transmission of the audio signal. What’s a boy to do?

In its Crimson line of cables, Clarus, a company based in Orlando, Florida, since 2011, has an answer that is as simple as it is elegant. These are no fire hoses snaking around your equipment, but unobtrusive and fairly flexible wires whose terminations are beyond reproach. While these cables will not provide any extraneous fireworks or a vast soundstage, it is their very subtlety that eventually draws your attention. The cables are as elegant sounding as they are svelte. Seldom have I heard as grain-free a cable as the Clarus, which lives up to the Latin provenance of its name—clear and shining.

Considerable thought and care has gone into the design of these cables. On its website, Clarus, or, to put it more precisely, Jay Victor, the chief engineer of the company, explains in detail the methodology that he has employed to construct them, including the use of three different oxygen-free copper conductors for the bass, midrange, and treble frequencies, all manufactured with Ohno Continuous Casting. While a white paper on the company’s website discusses in detail different approaches to constructing cables, it is (understandably) coy about the geometry it employs, other than to remark, “These are not simple cables, and many years of experiments and research went into their development. The conductor geometry itself is quite unique and complex, and there is nothing similar on the market.”

To listen to these cables I used two sets of amplifiers, one the Ypsilon Hyperion monoblock, the other the DarTZeel NHB-108 Model Two stereo amplifier. Each displayed the strengths of the Crimson cables to good effect. I began by listening to the loudspeaker cables on their own before adding the interconnects. 

In listening to the DarTZeel, I found that the loudspeaker cables produced a rich organic sound, one that banished any lingering grit or grain. On an excellent Hyperion recording of Alina Ibragimova and Cedric Tiberghien playing the first three Brahms violin sonatas, for example, the Crimson loudspeaker cable, particularly in tandem with the interconnect, beautifully conveyed the rich tonal properties of Tiberghien’s piano as well as Ibragimova’s violin. There was a natural depth to the sound, nothing etched about the proceedings at all. In fact, the cables helped amplify, so to speak, the natural relaxation and silky sound of the DarTZeel, one of the most musical amplifiers that I have heard.

The interconnects, to my ear, have the very same tonal properties as the loudspeaker cables. Adding them did nothing to attenuate the strength of the latter. It wasn’t a case of too much of a good thing; rather, the Crimson interconnects heightened the sense of refinement and relaxation. One of the things that I find very enjoyable about a top-notch stereo is the ability to play classical music at realistic musical levels, which is to say not at bombastic ones. The Crimson cables were able to resolve very fine details at pianissimo levels in an enticing fashion, indeed.

Another aspect of the Crimson cables that stood out was their tonal fidelity. The more distinct the different instruments, the more realistic the reproduction of them will sound. This may seem like a truism but our ear knows when it hears it. On a Vox recording of the trumpeter Edward Carroll playing with the organist Edward Brewer and bassoonist Steven Dibner, I was smitten by the interplay between trumpet and bassoon on the Telemann air “Le Grace.” The bassoon had more of the satisfying deep and resonant buzz than I usually hear and Carroll’s piccolo trumpet the purity that seems to be a hallmark of the Crimson cables. That purity came to fore on a Bach chorale for three trumpets, kettledrums, bassoon, and organ. The trumpets can sometimes sound as though they are colliding in a nasty way if the transients get shrill, as they easily can on inferior equipment. Here it was the opposite. Each trumpet was lucidly audible, composed, and authoritative.

When it comes to transients, the Crimsons erred on the side of mellifluity. They don’t seem to have any appetite for emphasizing the attack of the note. Rather, they allowed the note to emerge with no muss and no fuss. No, this wasn’t a Dockers sound, where everything sags. Instead, it seemed spot-on. Take the Moodsville album The Soulful Moods of Gene Ammons. On the song “Two Different Worlds,” Ammons’ pungently plangent playing emerges crisply, as do the cymbal swishes of Eddie Shaughnessy. Ditto for the unbelievably impassioned solo of Ammons on “But Beautiful.” Worthy of special mention is the tautness with which the Crimson cables reproduce the bass playing of George Duvivier. What a joy to hear each instrument in this jazz quartet laid out so precisely and cleanly! Another standout: the new special pressing of Monty Alexander’s Live At Bubba’s. Once again, the clarity of the cables shone on the fantastic drumming of Duffy Jackson in “Arthur’s Theme.”

The Crimson cables are not about showing off stunning bass or highs or any other sonic razzle-dazzle. Instead, the truth is spoken here. They supply by high-end standards an economical route to superb sound that is unobtrusive both in execution and sonics. If you’re looking for reasonably priced cables that put the emphasis on great musicality, the Crimson may well leave you almost as besotted as Paganini was with the Il Cannone.

Specs & Pricing

Price: $1500/1m pr., RCA; $2100/1m pr., balanced; 4320/6′, speaker; $5280/6′, speaker bi-wire

CLARUS CABLE
6448 Pinecastle Blvd. Suite 101
Orlando, FL 32809
(888) 554-2494 or (407) 855-0497
info@claruscable.com