Arabesque Minissimo review by 6 Moons

12 Pages·2015·1.21 MB·English

Small speakers are popular. And why wouldn't they be? They're visually less domineering.
Their cosmetic impact is quieter if you will. More old than new money. Alas, hard-boiled
audiophiles are always quick to point out their inevitable compromises relative to bandwidth and
SPL. Even so, clever engineering, hi-tech parts and proper use can mitigate those or render them
nearly irrelevant.

As a rare woman in upscale hifi, Gabi Rijnveld isn't genetically prewired to the primitive mantra
that bigger is better. Living in the low lands of frugal Holland rather than the US helps, too. With
her company, she's no stranger to actively preaching a different gospel: Small is elegant, small is
beautiful. That's certainly true for her chic cables.

When it came time to migrate her proven glass or aluminium Arabesque speaker concept into its
lowest price point yet, her engineering husband Edwin who spearheads sister brand Siltech had
to look for a new material. To hit their target price, the team needed to cut assembly complexity
and associated costs.

Take a gander at the below cutaway. It'll have you appreciate at a glance how the faceted bigger
Arabesque monitor bolts together; and just why that laborious scheme was flat out of this picture.
Don't even start with invisibly bonded overweight tempered glass panels. Those make up
Crystal's two top models. That even more outrageous approach was completely off the
reservation for what was to become the Crystal Cable Minissimo. But so were the ubiquitous
MDF and popular Birch ply. Educated by glass and metal precursors, Edwin and Gabi had higher
demands for rigidity and resonance control than those materials afford.
As my prior reviews on Vibex DC/AC line filters and the new optional shelves for Artesania
Audio's Exoteryc rack range showed, Spain's Porcelanosa company has a material called Krion.
It is conceptually related to DuPont's Corian by being a quasi synthetic stone. Rather than
bonding crushed marble or granite, Corian is 2/3rd ATH mineral filler and 1/3rdacrylic polymer.
The Spanish stuff too is a blend of 2/3rd aluminium trihydride and high-resistance resins to result
in a poreless anti-bacterial material "that is hard-wearing, easy to repair and clean."

Based on a conversation with Gabi and Edwin at Munich HighEnd 2014, the Minissimo is
'carved'—CNC machined—from a solid block of similar stuff which they source from Germany. All
we're further told about it? It contains aluminium flakes. Suspended in resin, those behave like
stressed members of a bridge says Edwin.

The only seam of the Minissimo enclosure thus is the bottom cover with the downfiring port.
That's structurally superior to the plate-to-plate builds of the bigger stablemates. This fact didn't
escape Edwin's measurements on the quietude of this from-solid enclosure. At 0.2% at 86dB, it
outperforms the prior bigger cabs by a significant margin. Before you wonder why the port doesn't
exit through one of the stand's uprights for additional volume, our Dutchies tried that. Though
good in theory, it didn't work as well in practice. Using expensive Comsol modeling software to
look at their cabinet's behaviour under pressure, fluid dynamic and various other conditions gave
them a very long leg up over much of their rectangular box competition.

That very costly computer simulation program also used by NASA was in fact directly
responsible for the trademark Arabesque shape. Its cross section has most people see a comma
or perhaps a stylized tear drop. As the lower photos show, the faceted models in both glass or
aluminium use their spine (where the comma comes to a point) to conceal a vertical slot port. The
Minissimo's corresponding area is sealed. Its circular port hides between two of its legs, all three
of which have a different diameter. Having now covered enclosure geometry and construction,
with the latter's composite nature explaining how it became the first Arabesque to accept paint
finishes, we're down to the remaining two main pillars of loudspeaker design: drivers and
crossover.

Crystal Cables' various Arabesque models have long promoted Audio Technology or ScanSpeak
mid/woofers. That is also what the munchkin gets: a 6.125"/155mm paper-cone ScanSpeak
Illuminator with its trademark cloverleaf ridging. The Serbian Raal ribbon of the top model of
course was too dear and tall but what our Dutchies consider the next best thing rather goes to
town: ScanSpeak's 1"/26mm Illuminator Beryllium dome. Their new network called Natural
Science crossover sits at 1'800Hz and is described as an advanced form of 2nd-order
symmetrical filter with improved phase coherence to minimize impedance wrinkles. Given
compact size and an F3 of 48Hz whose -6dB point is an impressive 38Hz for an unusually lazy
roll-off, sensitivity had to be a modest 86dB. Speakerdom's inalienable constitutional rights grant
you small size plus low bass but not with high efficiency. Just how muscular of an amp that might
want I would find out. I expected my Pass Labs XA30.8 to be fully up to the task just as it is on
our 85dB EnigmAcoustics Mythology 1. With a low Ω limit of 7, the Minissimo reads like a paper
tiger to drive, not bear. Meow?

To reiterate the Minissimo brief, we'll hand the microphone to Crystal Cable: "The original
Arabesque concept was for a cabinet with continuously curved walls but it was impossible to
achieve reliable results in glass. So we developed the facetted construction using the
advanced Comsol modeling software to optimize its shape and dimensions. Later we tried to
bring the benefits of the Arabesque cabinet down to more accessible price levels. Now we ran up
against the cost of this time-consuming and complex construction. If we were to create a more
affordable Arabesque, we clearly needed to think again. The result was the Minissimo, a radical
departure from the previous plate-to-plate construction.

"Instead, the cabinet is milled from a single piece of metal-loaded polymer material. This fully
automated process creates a monocoque enclosure for which we control not just the curvature of
the walls but their thickness too. It further optimizes the resonant behaviour of the structure and
the enclosed air volume. Combine that with the same drivers as in the Arabesque Mini, the new
Natural Science crossover topology, an integrated stand and mono-crystal internal wiring and
the result is a compact speaker of unprecedented performance at a lower price than even we
thought possible. The milled cabinet also allows us to make use of automotive paint finishes,
making the Minissimo as visually versatile as it is attractive."

To keep it real, a price lower than expected is as relative as a rubber band is elastic. Whistling
dixie to the tune of $15'000 will have a lot of people lose their lunch. But in the realm of super
monitors—think Enigma M1, Kaiser Acoustic Chiara and Wilson Benesch Endeavour for just
three—the Minissimo is right on target. It is an unapologetic luxury product groomed for top
performance from a pert package. As Francis Underwood of House of Cardsmight say, it's balls
out, don't be gentle. The photos show that it clearly looks the part. For more Uncle Albert and
relativity, Louis Vuitton hand bags might be the epidemy of the utilitarian product which has most
men at a complete loss to comprehend its cost. Meanwhile if they're audiophiles, the same men
will recognize where and why the money went with the Minissimo. Now it could be their ladies
who lack all comprehension. Mars, Venus & Co. Armed with our Zu Submission sealed
subwoofer to play a 100sqm room, might the smallest Arabesque be preferable to most $20'000
floorstanders? In the immortal teenage words of Sasa 'Trafomatic Audio' Cokic's son, "maybe
yes, maybe no". It's just one of the questions my performance commentary will attempt to
answer. Perhaps it'll prove to be the most provocative one? To set that scene, get out your tape
measure to properly visualize 29x30x25cm without stand. Weight is 25kg. Now contrast that with
a claimed 150w power handling. That promises quite aspirated levels. The specs also promote
0.3% THD between 200Hz and 20kHz. That indicates a low-distortion design when used within
reason. Hence the top-range ScanSpeakers; composite enclosure modeled to optimize internal
air flow and pressure evacuation; and integral stand to extend structural integrity down to earth
rather than stop it in mid air with BluTak.
Further on smaller is beautiful(ler) and the
ongoing teamwork between Siltech and Crystal
Cable, there is the Cube integrated with Devialet-
inspired remote. It was first previewed at the 2014
Munich HighEnd when the Minissimo bowed to the
world. This 100wpc class A/B all-in-one looker with
balanced linestage and six fully isolated inputs with
individual gain trim borrows tech from Siltech's
SAGA light-drive output stage. That's serious cross
talk! Puns aside and contrary to the inevitable
lifestyle vibes Gabi's stylish products exude—
according to the caveman mentality, that must mean
all looks, no brains—Crystal is driven by solid
engineering. So stacked is Edwin's lab with costly
measurement gear that he routinely rents it out to
other manufacturers; or performs OEM work in their
stead.
Turning antiquated thinking on its head, it's precisely Gabi's insistence that the precedent which
Apple has set be extended to high-end audio. Style and quality materials must become part of
the performance equation. How else to extend the enjoyment of recorded music in the home
beyond low-rent ambitions? The practice of apartheid which segregates sound and appearance is
antediluvian. It's not only counterproductive, it's lazy engineering! People buy cars, toasters,
coffee makers and other appliances for both their utility and looks. People buy iPhones and Mac
computers because they're beautiful and because they're quality performers. Audiophile snobs
love to bring on the hate for Bang & Olufsen.
They insists it's nothing but slick optics.
They've meant to likewise condemn Devialet.
Alas, reviews and measurements have
shown that the French are as savvy at
engineering for sound as they are for
appearance.

Today that's arguably mandatory to make
upscale hifi grow into a more widely
embraced style of living. So much of high-
end audio is instantly disqualified by ugliness
vis-à-vis people's €400 Apple or Samsung
mobile, posh Astell&Kern portable player or
groovy headphone. If it sounds real good,
too much of the audiophile press keeps
making excuses for FuglyFi. And so circuit
designers are rewarded for laziness and
industrial design suck; their managers
applauded for not outsourcing that aspect to
a proper design firm like Simon Lee did for
his Aura Note receiver; or Audeze for their
new line of headphones.
Gabi knows all too well how beauty is inextricably intertwined with performance. All women do.
Ask any woman divorced to be traded in for a younger trophy wife. Ask any aging actress or flight
attendant. That high-end audio for so long has been allowed to pretend otherwise is directly down
to it being led by men; and remaining perfectly happy to appeal only to them. Charles Bronson
would ask about a death wish, Nostradamus about a self-fulfilling prophecy. Asking about the
gold version, "that's only made to order and takes extra weeks. We sold a pair to the Middle East
but don’t keep stock. Standard colours are Pearl White, Solar Orange and Aquamarine Blue."
Feeling properly posh and blue-blooded just then, I signed on for the aquamarine.
What I learnt from the Audiotechnique Hong King review is that during the process of creating the
raw blocks of composite from which the Minissimo is later milled, the high-density resin is
combined with aluminium alloy flakes in a suitably sized mould. Ultrasonic bombardment then
evacuates all gas bubbles inside the mix prior to setting to achieve the very highest material
homogeneity and density. That's clearly an industrial process, hence outsourced.
With our box all soapy, let's return to male programming with some graphs. But first and before
attentive tekkies cry foul on the -3dB/6dB points given shallow enclosure depth, the Minissimo's
metal-loaded polymer enclosure allowed for thin walls. This ballooned the air volume over what
an equally inert MDF box would contain. To house the cubic inches of the Minissimo without
compromising rigidity, a rectangular MDF box with a 3-inch baffle and loads of braces would be
bigger. It's a stealth key on how a speaker can be made to behave larger than it looks. The
Endeavour by Wilson-Benesch accomplishes the same with carbon fibre but with its lower
woofer's motor protruding, goes after a more futuristic look.
Below we see our third modern super monitor example which also
exploits hi-tech composites strategically. This is the Chiara from Kaiser
Acoustics. Its enclosure uses Panzerholz aka tank wood. Under intense
pressure, that injects Birch Ply with a polymer and reduces its original
thickness by 60%. Now it is bullet-proof, sinks in water and accepts tight
threads without stripping. It also eats router bits for breakfast. Other
things these monitors share are integral stands to become structurally
quasi monolithic; and complex curved or faceted shapes to explode the
rectangular box archetype with its many parallel walls.
I asked Gabi what cable model in her catalogue was equivalent or
similar to the hookup wiring used inside the speaker; whether the colours
were automotive lacquer (their gloss suggested as much) or injected into
the compound mix before baking and cutting, then polished; whether the
crossover components were inside the box or the thickest leg; what the
port tuning frequency was; and whether they were comfortable
revealing how their composite differs from Corian, Avonite and Krion.

I also asked for sundry photos of nude cabs and xover boards, not
that I expected her to cross all off. The firm is heavily invested in R&D
plus all the hardware and software to make it so. It's ludicrous not to
expect certain IP to be strictly off limits to nosy journalists, their
readers and would-be copycatters. Which obviously has never yet
stopped our sort from trying.

The five crossover components consist of two Intertechnik air-core
inductors; two silver Mundorf MCap Supreme oil-filled caps; and one
graphite resistor.

The 1-meter response graph
shows a shallow roll-off which
begins at 60Hz but still shows audible proof of life at 40Hz.
The impedance magnitude plot shows the typical saddle response of a ported alignment. The two
spikes occur as
a 43Ω peak at
24Hz and a 57Ω
peak at 85Hz.
Until 1.5kHz,
the minimum
impedance
really is 7Ω,
including the
trough centred
on 48Hz

The impulse
response shows
a very quick
1ms settle time
after the
impulse to
illustrate high
reflexes and
excellent
damping. As to
a phase vs.
frequency plot,
"we don't supply
those as they
do not tell much about the acoustic performance of a loudspeaker. The phase from 20Hz to
20kHz is turning all the time. But all our xovers are acoustically phase aligned."
On my other questions, Gabi replied that "the paint is applied afterwards like automotive lacquer.
The xover is housed inside the enclosure. The legs are filled with sand for stability and acoustic
reasons. The internal wiring is 100% mono-crystal silver." In Crystal Cable's catalogue, mono-
crystal conductors only appear in the two top ranges of Dreamline Plus and Absolute Dream. The
Minissimo is thus wired up with the company's very best ingredient.

Finally, one might think that the Arabesque geometry completely decommissioned common
batting or fibre fill. That stuffs many a rectangular box in an attempt to damp/absorb reflective
actions of the captured rear wave. Perhaps because the Minissimo retains two parallel surfaces—
the top and bottom plates—that's where it gets two thick corrugated acoustic foam liners. All the
vertical surfaces remain nude however. As the email notification shows, delivery would be in one
69kg piece, the origin International Audio Holding BV as the umbrella company of the brands
Siltech and Crystal Cable.
Delivered on a shrink-wrapped pallet and professionally strapped down side by side, each
speaker/stand assembly sat in its own clearly marked double carton with precise-fitting foam end
caps. I could have fit four of them inside our small two-person elevator. I easily carried each box
up our outdoor stairs on one shoulder. One of them had a padded envelope for the owner's
manual and a small Ziploc bag with the optional spikes. The thick plinths arrived pre-fitted with flat
adjustable footers for wooden and tile flooring plus short-pile carpets. The spikes are
recommended only
for thick carpets
which otherwise
compromise stability.
Removing the plastic
shroud from the first
speaker revealed just
how compact it was -
no taller than my
desktop Boenicke
W5se though
obviously a lot wider
than the Swiss
wooden slivers on
stilts. The
combination of sand-
filled pipes, massive
plinth and metal-
loaded polymer
enclosure made the 25kg per seem unusually heavy for the very low impact on real estate and
optics. Fit and finish were fully commensurate with what customers shopping this luxury sector
should and will expect.

Because the Minissimo is built as a mirror-imaged pair, it can be set up 'tails' out or in. Whilst the
flat portion of the baffle is identical for each, the swooping continuation of it is asymmetrical of
course. Crystal Cable recommend tails in for long-wall setups with greater distances from the side
walls. Tails out is standard MO for short-wall setups with more lateral boundary reinforcement.
Front-wall proximity will determine acoustical LF gain as it does for all speakers. That must be
experimented with for proper fine-tuning on how the Minissimo will play your room.
Belly up, we see how the bottom cover with the attached legs bolts to the unibody enclosure with
11 sunk-in Torx screws. The inset shows the plinth with its threaded furniture glides. For
illustration, I replaced one of them with a short spike. The three circular recesses accommodate
the leg bolts. The port
ends in a typical flare
with bullnosed
termination. All in all,
a very stylish package
fully dialled for
cosmetic charm plus
high performance.
Break-in occurred in
our upstairs two-
channel video
system. Here the
Minissimo displaced
our German Physiks
HRS-120. Those 10"
two-ways sport a
unique top-mounted
widebander. That
inverted Carbon-fibre funnel handles ~200Hz-24kHz. At €13'500/pr, these compact towers go up
directly against the far smaller Crystal Cable. By virtue of top-to-bottom 360° dispersion, the HRS-
120 activates your room's ambient field far more completely and evenly than direct radiators can.
The upshot is richer more 'reverb-enhanced' tone exactly as you'd hear it from real instruments
playing your space. As a direct consequence at least for us, this speaker works far better off a
direct-coupled wide-bandwidth amplifier which maximizes speed and separation. Hence Oppo's
BDO-105 runs directly into Crayon's CFA-1.2 integrated. Without any adjustments to play to their
personality, plonking down Gabi's winged boxes into this milieu quite predictably favoured the
residents; and by a large margin. The Minissimo just couldn't compete on bass reach, tone
density or that typical omni(present) involvement which stages true to life regardless of where you
sit. By contrast, the blue monitors were pale, lightweight and dimensionally flat. In his Audio Beat
review, Roy Gregory wrote that "the amplifier I most enjoyed with the little Crystal Cable speaker
was the Border Patrol P21 EXD/EXS, a three-chassis push-pull 300B amp with a pair of power
supplies that are each considerably larger (and much heavier) than the Minissimos they were
driving." Such amplifiers are quite the antithesis to Bakoon, Crayon or Goldmund types which
dovetail so perfectly with the vegetarian Germans. Clearly the Minissimo craved meat in its diet.
For that I'd have the weighty slightly dark Pass Labs XA30.8—I expected the big Goldmund Telos
360 monos on review to be too lean—and a number of valve options to season to taste: the Fore
Audio DAISy 1 DAC; the Aqua Hifi LaScala Mk II DAC; the S.A.Lab Lilt DAC/preamp; and the
Nagra Jazz tube preamp. I expected particularly the Italian converter to take the Dutch boxes
from a Michelle Yeoh aesthetic to full-on Sophia Loren bloom. For the menial purposes of break-
in however, no changes were necessary.
About their relatively brief upstairs tenure, I'll merely add one more general observation. If you
wanted the world's thinnest mechanical watch, you'd pay a lot extra without telling time any more
precisely. And it might eliminate standard features like date and day displays and perhaps even a
second hand. This parallels the shrinkage of speaker cabs and how the associated sonic
consequences register against bigger boxes with bigger drivers. Room size, SPL and sitting
distance influence that relationship. Once you want smaller than indicated by those naturally
interlocking values, one begins to pursue slightly unnatural. Soon one gives up things in trade. To
delay said compromise, price must rise steeply to counteract the inevitable with ever fancier
drivers and more extreme enclosure tricks. The logical upshot is that when smaller than normal
becomes your aesthetic goal yet performance is supposed to not tell, expect to pay extra. A
bigger speaker gets away with far less extremism to remain competitive or superior whilst offering
starkly higher value. To remain in Holland, consider the €14'500 Kharma Elegance S7 which
Edgar Kramer reviewed. Nobody comparing the two purely on sight—the S7 even uses the same
Beryllium tweeter—would be surprised to learn that the Kharma's bass extension is greater,
hence more suitable for larger spaces. As in many other industries, miniaturization costs and is
also a fashion trend. Against the Kaiser Chiara and our resident EnigmAcoustics M1 super
monitors, the smaller Minissimo already clearly fought with those limits. What that means in
practice; and how strategic ancillary and setup choices influence it; we'll get to next.
"I'm in Jeddah/Saudi Arabia right now. We're installing the country's first high-end hifi store."
That was Gabi's reply to an email. Successful manufacturers don't just sit behind their desks
waiting for orders. Meanwhile reviewers chasing sonic success get their orders from the gear. It
tells us what it wants more or less of. Following Downton Abbey's recipe that downstairs is often
more interesting than upstairs, the next round added to it with 450-watt amps by way of two
compact Lindemänner, their music:book 55 amps bridged to mono; and the nearfield of the
desktop. Displacing the usual Boenicke Audio W5se on their custom-length stands to clear the
Ikea glass desk, the stock Minissimo stands were a bit short too. Hence I moved them back a bit,
then canted them as far as the front furniture glides allowed without falling out. The only penalty?
A soundstage still slightly lower than perfect.
This move
transformed the
speakers from minor
wallflowers to red hot
mamas, from pale
geeks to sun-tanned
studs. Sitting close
didn't waste acoustic
energy in too much
empty space.
Beaucoup watts and
high current played
boss over the port
tuning. True, the bass
still rolled off at ~60Hz
but remained superblyintelligent and articulate down to 30Hz, simply lower in output. This
behaviour avoided unwelcome LF heroics. That phrasing is just nice for boom and bloat. This
combo had none of it, hence no phasing on the vocal band. What it did have in spades were tone
colours ripe like juicy peaches. The upper-bass/lower-mid bandwidth was amazingly saturated. It
transferred both vitality in the power region and maturity of timbre. Meanwhile those pricey
Beryllium tweeters tracked Juan Habichuela Nieto's silvery guitar arpeggios in all their lightningy
glory [Mi alma a Solas]. And, the Minissimo focused so well that the very wide spacing shown
above worked a treat without collapsing the centre. Granted, few to none would allocate €15'000
speakers to desktop duty and then front them with €5'600 worth of 450-watt 8Ω muscle. Given
our large space, I simply wanted to test nearfield performance without rearranging our living
room. My desktop milieu provided exactly that. It worked so well that I called it "illegal" in the
Lindemann review should one want to get any real work done. Sound this intense makes it hard
to concentrate on anything else.
This move transformed the speakers from minor wallflowers to red hot mamas, from pale geeks
to sun-tanned studs. Sitting close didn't waste acoustic energy in too much empty space.
Beaucoup watts and high current played boss over the port tuning. True, the bass still rolled off at
~60Hz but remained superblyintelligent and articulate down to 30Hz, simply lower in output. This
behaviour avoided unwelcome LF heroics. That phrasing is just nice for boom and bloat. This
combo had none of it, hence no phasing on the vocal band. What it did have in spades were tone
colours ripe like juicy peaches. The upper-bass/lower-mid bandwidth was amazingly saturated. It
transferred both vitality in the power region and maturity of timbre. Meanwhile those pricey
Beryllium tweeters tracked Juan Habichuela Nieto's silvery guitar arpeggios in all their lightningy
glory [Mi alma a Solas]. And, the Minissimo focused so well that the very wide spacing shown
above worked a treat without collapsing the centre. Granted, few to none would allocate €15'000
speakers to desktop duty and then front them with €5'600 worth of 450-watt 8Ω muscle. Given
our large space, I simply wanted to test nearfield performance without rearranging our living
room. My desktop milieu provided exactly that. It worked so well that I called it "illegal" in the
Lindemann review should one want to get any real work done. Sound this intense makes it hard
to concentrate on anything else.