Hybrid Audio Technologies Clarus Series Components User Manual

Clarus-Series Component Systems

Installation & Reference Manual

1240 Oak Industrial Lane Cumming Georgia 30041 United States

(T) +1 770 888 8200 (F) +1 888 886 4605

hybrid-audio.com

Contents

Welcome & Introduction

01 02

Pages 4-5

Component Specic Information

Pages 6-17 Midbass, Tweeter, & Crossover

Attributes, Specications, Parameters,

and Mechanical Drawings

Getting Started

Pages 18-23 Basic System Installation

Moving Forward

Pages 24-31 Advanced System Installation,

Lessons Learned, Mounting Bafe

Considerations, and Acoustic Treatment

Warranty

Page 32-33

Congratulations

Welcome and Introduction

by Scott Buwalda - Founder

on your Clarus

Component System purchase,

and welcome

to the world of

Hybrid Audio Technologies!

We realize that you have a choice in loudspeakers, and are thrilled that you have chosen the Clarus series component systems. For more information about Hybrid Audio Technologies, our philosophies regarding high-end mobile audio, to learn more about our lifetime guaranteed value program, and for information about our other products, please visit us at: hybrid-audio.com

Speaker development is our passion! When installed and set-up properly, the Clarus Component System you have purchased will make a remarkable improvement in the sound quality of virtually any mobile audio sound system and give years of superior performance.

With the publication of this manual, it is our goal to assist the “do it yourself” enthusiast and professional installer alike in getting the highest level of performance out of Clarus Component Systems using straight-forward installation advice.

Thank you, and happy listening!

Clarus Component Systems

Your Clarus system contains speaker drivers and passive crossover networks that were developed and assembled with a signicant eort in research and development, materials science engineering, an exhaustive level of sampling and prototyping, real-world testing, and obsessive attention to detail. The specications and parameters of your Clarus component system is detailed on these pages.

Midbass Attributes

Clarus C5 & C6

Frame

Cast aluminum with black powder-texture surface coating. The basket is a high-quality cast aluminum design, which plays a critical role in aligning the voice coil in the magnetic circuit. Additionally, the cast aluminum frame allows for better clamping strength verses typical stamped steel frames, and ensures that the voice coil remains centered in the former. The black coating on the frame protects it from abrasion and oxidation. The frames are similar in size and format to the Mirus, Imagine, and Clarus-series drivers, allowing for upgrade potential from these product lines to the Clarus series.

Cone and Dust Cap

Pressed paper, untreated on the front side and treated on the rearward side. It is widely acknowledged that pressed paper cones are the best marriage of lightness, stiness, and ability of the cone to damp unwanted cone and edge modes and resonances (read: distortion). The damping aorded by the paper cone ensures the midbass speakers can play lower treble frequencies eortlessly, without signicant cone “breakup.” Our approach to “point-source imaging” is to rely on the midbass driver to eectively reproduce the lower treble frequencies, where the human vocal range extends, as well as other imaging-critical musical instruments, ensuring phase-coherent imaging and stable, lifelike staging character.

The paper cone, known for its excellent sonic attributes, is water resistant, thanks to a polymer developed exclusive and proprietarily by Hybrid Audio Technologies. The treatment does not change the look and parameters of the driver like old-fashioned “glossy” polymers which added an appreciable amount of moving mass and signicantly colored the sound. No, the Clarus cones look like any “normal” paper cone. The treatment protects the cone from periodic drips (such as inside a door panel), as well as accidental splashes to the front of the cone.

The dustcap covers the voice coil to keep dirt and debris from fouling the voice coil gap. Since high frequency information emanates from the center of the cone, a paper dustcap was utilized in concert with the pressed paper cone diaphragm to ensure that the speaker’s response remained linear into the lower- to mid-treble frequencies.

Surround

Inverted high-loss rubber surround. The inverted high-loss rubber surround (in concert with the spider, detailed below), helps to provide the compliance and “restorative force” needed for the Clarus drivers to play eectively into the lower midbass, and even upper subbass frequencies (depending on in-car cabin gain and other factors). You’ll also know a Hybrid Audio midrange and midbass design by its inverted surround; this design feature allows for the use of a smaller height grille, better clearance with OEM panels, and more exibility in mounting options. The surround is a shared technology with the Imagine series coaxial and convertible component sets.

Spider

Phenolic fabric and tinned tinsel leads. The spider is the brownish/yellow corrugated (rippled) fabric that attaches the cone and voice coil. The spider for the Clarus designs was the subject of a considerable amount of our research and development. The spider is a phenolic symmetrically-rolled fabric which provides excellent restorative force during excursion, and the woven tinsel leads, often not found in speakers in this price range, are an asset to the Clarus line because the leads are protected from physical damage and accidental short circuit. The tinsel leads are connected to real epoxy PCB, not imsy cardboard.

Voice Coil and Motor System

1” (25mm) (C5) and 1.4” (35mm) (C6): complimentary design. The voice coil used in the Clarus midbass is a 2-layer aluminized copper wire coils on a round former. An “overhung” voice coil was selected to improve sensitivity while still keeping distortion to a minimum. The motor system utilizes a ferrite magnet with rubber protective boot (which can be removed to improve mounting depth), complimented by design with a back plate and rear venting chamber to improve the speaker’s thermal power handling and improved ability of the midbass to play at high amplitudes.

Continued on following page...

Clarus Component Systems

Tweeter Attributes

Clarus C1

Dome

Small diameter impregnated silk textile dome with high-loss rubber suspension. The C1 is a shared technology with the high-end Unity U1 tweeter, boasting has an impregnated ne cloth silk dome diaphragm for a linear, smooth sound, with a high-loss rubber suspension to damp edge modes and resonances. The dome is of extremely low mass and is much less susceptible to mechanical deformation than other designs, and yet yields a smooth response over the extent of its range. At Hybrid Audio Technologies, we feel larger diaphragm tweeters sound heavy and unremarkable, lack detail in the upper treble frequencies, have undesirable polar response, and are dicult to install. Additionally, we nd metal dome tweeters to be harsh, brittle, and sound unrealistic. As a small diameter, soft-dome tweeter, the C1 is the antithesis of large diaphragm and metal-dome tweeters, for the eective and convincing reproduction of treble frequencies.

Voice Coil and Motor System

20mm complimentary design. The motor assembly is “conventional dynamic”, with a

ensure a small footprint size and shallow depth. A perforated grille protects the dome. The voice coil is ferrouid cooled and damped, and the tweeter housing consists of extruded plastic with three dierent mounting options in component set mode, giving the end-user exibility in not only placement of the C1 but also in physical installation.

Crossover Attributes

Clarus C2x

Alignment

Second order L/R (12 dB/octave) lters for low pass (C5 or C6) and high pass (C1). The C51-2 2-way passive crossover network includes a Clarus low pass and high pass crossover frequency of 5,700 Hz at 12 dB/octave. The C61-2 2-way passive crossover network includes a Clarus low pass and high pass crossover frequency of 5,200 Hz at 12 dB/octave. The use of 12 dB/octave lters on both low pass and high pass, often not found in speakers in this price range, minimizes phase-related distortion typical of crossovers with mismatched orders, and ensures phase-coherent imaging and staging. The alignment topology is a shared technology to the high-end Unity U2x crossover design and features asymmetrically-aligned network components.

Network Components

Audiophile grade. The C51-2 and C61-2 passive crossover networks incorporate super high quality and low tolerance metalized polypropylene lm capacitors for both highpass and low pass, in concert with air-core inductors, and low tolerance non-inductive resistors. No output level switches were used in the passive crossover design because switches add a resistive eect and are typically of extremely low quality. Additionally, “jumper pins” add an unnecessary pair of splices in the signal path to the tweeter, and were not included in our design either. Rather, all tweeter level adjustments are done on the board level with dedicated non-inductive resistors; tweeter attenuation is accomplished by selecting the appropriate output (-3 dB, 0 dB, or +3 dB) on the passive crossover circuit board. The components selected are complimentary and ensure no notable signal degradation between the input and output side of the crossovers, and serve only to lter frequency response, and not to equalize the input signal. The network componentry, design, circuitry, and polyethylene case with transparent cover are shared technologies to the Unity series, and the Unity U2x crossover design.

compact neodymium magnet structure to

Clarus Component Systems

Specications & Parameters

Overall Diameter Φ151.3 mm Φ166 mm

Mounting Depth 55.8 mm 76 mm

Bolt Circle Diameter Φ138 mm Φ156.5mm

Mounting Hole Φ 118 mm Φ143.5 mm

Recommended Minimum Highpass Crossover Frequency (fourth order)

Continuous Power Handling (Pnom Rated Power Input • No crossover)

Peak Power Handling (Pmax Rated Power Input • No Crossover)

Recommended Power Range 25-150 watts 25-175 watts

Frequency Response (+/- 3dB) 55 Hz - 22 kHz 50 Hz - 22 kHz 60 Hz - 12 kHz 50 Hz - 9 kHz

Eciency 2.83V/1 meter 92.0 dB 93.6 dB

Mms 7.1 g 14.1 g

Cms 667 μM/N 674 μM/N

BL (T*m) 3.896 5.4

Voice Coil Diameter 25.5 mm 35.5 mm

Nominal Impedance 4 Ω 4 Ω

DC Resistance 3.4 Ω 3.4 Ω

Fs (Free Air) 73 Hz 50 Hz

Qms 6.358 5.527

Qes 0.728 0.532

Qts 0.654 0.485

Xmax (Two Way) 10mm 14mm

Vas 6.1 L 14.9 L

Sd 8.012 mm

C51-2

System

110 watts 120 watts (40 watts) (60 watts)

230 watts 250 watts (80 watts) (120 watts)

C61-2

System

Midbass

60 Hz 45 Hz

Midbass

12.469 mm

† Typically, in-car response including vehicular “cabin gain”, or the gain expected with midbass installed in the vehicle, will result in an extended midbass and upper subbass response. This is a result of these frequencies being below the lowest resonance in the vehicle (typically around 50-125 Hz in most vehicles, described in more detail on pages 30 and 31). In more practical terms, install the Clarus midbass into your vehicle and you will see a dramatic improvement in midbass and upper subbass output, much more so than just simply listening to the Clarus in a large room, or worse yet, “free air” (we don’t recommend even trying the Clarus speakers in “free air” without some form of enclosure or innite bae for the midbass).

Thiele/Small Parameter Discussion for Clarus Midbass

Speakers

The mechanical and electrical parameters of the Clarus midbass speakers are amenable to a variety of different installations and speaker locations. The high Qms (Q factor of mechanical system) and Qts (Q factor of total system), coupled with the driver’s Fs (resonance frequency) allow it to be used in an “innite bafe” conguration. In more practical terms, install the Clarus midbass such that the front and back waves don’t “meet” (as detailed in Section I – Getting Started - Basic System Installation), including in a door or kick panel, or in the case of a motorcycle, in the fairing (using only the airspace behind the speaker as a pseudo enclosure), with no need for a real enclosure or “box.” The design goes hand in hand with fool-proof, high-end sound quality with minimal work. For more advanced users, please reference the Thiele/Small Parameters for the Clarus-series

midbass drivers.

+ 12 hidden pages

Hybrid Audio Technologies Clarus Series Components User Manual

Specifications and Main Features

Frequently Asked Questions

User Manual