Hybrid Audio Technologies Clarus-Series User manual
Clarus-Series Component Systems
Installation Manual & Car Audio Reference Guide
Contents
Welcome and Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Clarus Individual Component Parameters ........................................................................................................................ 4
Midbass Speakers (Clarus C5 and Clarus C6) ............................................................................................................ 4
Tweeter Speakers (Clarus C1) ....................................................................................................................................... 5
Clarus System Specifications ............................................................................................................................................. 6
Thiele/Small Parameter Discussion for Clarus Midbass Speakers .......................................................................... 6
Midbass Thiele/Small Parameters ................................................................................................................................. 7
Clarus C51-2 Mechanical Drawing .................................................................................................................................... 8
Clarus C61-2 Mechanical Drawing .................................................................................................................................... 9
Clarus C2x Passive Crossover Mechanical Drawing ................................................................................................... 10
Clarus C1 Tweeter Mechanical Drawing (Installed in Flush-Mount Cup) .................................................................. 11
Clarus C1 Tweeter Mechanical Drawing (Installed in Angle-Mount Cup) ................................................................. 12
C51-2 Frequency Response Graph ................................................................................................................................ 13
C61-2 Frequency Response Graph ................................................................................................................................ 13
Unpacking/Inventory .......................................................................................................................................................... 14
How to Use This Manual ................................................................................................................................................... 14
Section I - Getting Started – Basic System Installation ................................................................................................ 14
Section II - Moving Forward – Advanced System Installation ..................................................................................... 18
Lessons Learned ............................................................................................................................................................ 18
Lesson One: Off-Axis Response.................................................................................................................................. 18
Lesson Two: Equalization of Pathlength Differences ............................................................................................... 18
Lesson Three: The Effect of HRTF, ITD, and IID ...................................................................................................... 20
Lesson Four: Point-Sourcing ........................................................................................................................................ 21
Lesson Five: Reference ................................................................................................................................................ 21
Advanced Installation of the Clarus Component Systems ........................................................................................... 22
Mounting Baffle Considerations ................................................................................................................................... 22
Acoustic Treatment ........................................................................................................................................................ 23
Advanced Installation Conclusions .................................................................................................................................. 24
Warranty .............................................................................................................................................................................. 25
Thank You! .......................................................................................................................................................................... 26
Clarus User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 3 of 26
Welcome and Introduction
Congratulations on your purchase of high performance Clarus-series mobile audio component
loudspeakers, and welcome to the world of Hybrid Audio Technologies, where high-end mobile audio
loudspeaker 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.
Thank you for going “on line” to read and download your User’s Manual. Our offices are located
amongst the evergreens in North Georgia USA, and we happen to like trees. Aside from the obvious
aesthetic benefits, trees improve our air, protect our water, save energy, and improve economic
sustainability. Additionally, it is expensive to print and distribute thousands of copies of an owner’s
manual; we’d rather invest our production dollars into an incredible line-up of speaker systems for
your listening pleasure. With online resources becoming the main source of information for more and
more people, we are pleased that you’re here, reading this manual on line, verses having a print copy
which might get read once and put back into the gift box, or worse yet, discarded.
With the publication of this user’s manual and reference guide, 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 2-way component sets using straight-forward installation advice and practical application of
timeless acoustic principles. As you begin to read this document, you will quickly realize that this is
not your typical user’s manual. This manual has been written to be more or less a miniature mobile
audio reference guide that can be used to better any sound system, and in particular, a system that
utilizes the Clarus component speaker systems. It is an introductory primer to the world of high-end
mobile audio; we hope this user’s manual is not only informative, but motivating. Keep it handy
throughout your installation process, and any time you go to improve your audio system with other
Hybrid Audio Technologies products, or perhaps to take advantage of our lifetime guaranteed value
trade-in program. We are confident that if the principles explained in this manual are exercised in your
own installation, you will be ecstatic with the sound quality outcome!
We realize that you have a choice in loudspeakers, and are thrilled that you have chosen the Clarus
series. 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 online at www.hybrid-audio.com.
Thank you, and happy listening!
Scott E. Buwalda
Founder – Hybrid Audio Technologies
Clarus User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 4 of 26
Clarus Individual Component Parameters
Your Clarus system contains speaker drivers and passive crossover networks that were developed
and assembled with a significant effort in research and development, materials science engineering,
an exhaustive level of sampling and prototyping, real-world testing, and obsessive attention to detail.
The specifications and parameters of your Clarus component system is detailed as follows:
Midbass Speakers (Clarus C5 and Clarus 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 Dustcap: 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, stiffness, and
ability of the cone to damp unwanted cone and edge modes and resonances (read: distortion). The
damping afforded by the paper cone ensures the midbass speakers can play lower treble frequencies
effortlessly, without significant cone “breakup.” Our approach to “point-source imaging” is to rely on
the midbass driver to effectively 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 significantly 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 effectively 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 flexibility 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
Clarus User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 5 of 26
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 flimsy 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.
Tweeter Speakers (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 fine 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 difficult to install.
Additionally, we find 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 effective and convincing reproduction of treble frequencies.
Voice Coil and Motor System: 20mm complimentary design. The motor assembly is “conventional
dynamic”, with a compact neodymium magnet structure to ensure a small footprint size and shallow
depth. A perforated grille protects the dome. The voice coil is ferrofluid cooled and damped, and the
tweeter housing consists of extruded plastic with three different mounting options in component set
mode, giving the end-user flexibility in not only placement of the C1 but also in physical installation.
Passive Crossover Network (Clarus C2x)
Alignment: Second order L/R (12 dB/octave) filters 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 filters 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 film 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
effect 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
Clarus User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 6 of 26
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 filter 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.
Clarus System Specifications
Parameter
Clarus
C51
-
2
Clarus
C61
-
2
Frequency Response† 55Hz-22KHz
+/-3dB
50Hz-22KHz
+/-3dB
Efficiency 2.83 V/ 1 meter 92.0 dB 93.6 dB
Continuous Power Handling (transient music input) 110 watts 120 watts
Peak Power Handling (musical transient peak power handling)
230 watts 250 watts
Recommended Power Range 25-150 watts 25-175 watts
Nominal Impedance 4Ω4Ω
† 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 page 23). 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
infinite baffle 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 “infinite baffle” configuration. 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:
Clarus User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 7 of 26
Midbass Thiele/Small Parameters
**please note, the following parameters are for the midbass drivers only**
Parameter
Clarus
C51
-
2
Clarus
C61
-
2
Overall Diameter Φ151.3 mm Φ166 mm
Mounting Depth 58.3 mm * 78.5 mm *
Bolt Circle Diameter Φ138 mm Φ156.5mm
Mounting Hole Φ118 mm Φ143.5 mm
Recommended Minimum Highpass
Crossover Frequency (fourth order)
60 Hz 45 Hz
Pnom Rated Power Input (No Crossover) 40 watts 60 watts
Pmax Rated Power Input (No Crossover) 80 watts 120 watts
Frequency Range of midbass driver alone (not including
tweeter device)
60-12,000 Hz
+/- 3dB
50-9,000 Hz
+/- 3 dB
Mms 7.1 g 14.1 g
Cms 667 µM/N 674 µM/N
BL 3.896 T*m 5.4 T*m
Voice Coil Diameter 25.5 mm 35.5 mm
DC Resistance 3.4 Ω3.4 Ω
Fs 73 Hz 50 Hz
Qms 6.358 5.527
Qes 0.728 0.532
Qts 0.654 0.485
Xmax 10mm (two-way) 14mm (two way)
Vas 6.1 L 14.9 L
Sd 8.012 mm
2
12.469
2
* Mounting depth includes removable rubber magnet boot cover. By removing the boot cover (which
does not affect the performance of the midbass), the depth improves by approximately 2.5 mm.
The following six pages contain mechanical drawings of the Clarus C51-2, C61-2, C2x, C1, and the
Clarus accessory tweeter hardware, as well as frequency response graphs
1
of the C51-2 and C61-2
showing the three steps of tweeter-level attenuation.
1
Please note that the response peak at approximately 170 Hz is a testing room mo e an is not in icative of the speaker’s
performance at that frequency. All speakers teste show this same phenomenon, an it has been conclu e to be a room artifact.
Clarus User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 8 of 26
Clarus C51-2 Mechanical Drawing
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Clarus C61-2 Mechanical Drawing
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Clarus C2x Passive Crossover Mechanical Drawing
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Clarus C1 Tweeter Mechanical Drawing (Installed in Flush-Mount Cup)
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Clarus C1 Tweeter Mechanical Drawing (Installed in Angle-Mount Cup)
Clarus User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 13 of 26
C51-2 Frequency Response Graph
C61-2 Frequency Response Graph
Clarus User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 14 of 26
Unpacking/Inventory
Carefully unpack the Clarus carton, and verify that the following parts are included in the box
(CAUTION: use care to remove the midbass speakers with two hands, and avoid pressing your
thumb or fingers against the cone of the midbass – never test the speaker’s excursion manually with
your fingers by pressing the cone):
•Two Clarus midbass speakers;
•Two Clarus C1 20mm tweeter speakers;
•Two midbass grilles with anodized aluminum Hybrid Audio Technologies nameplates and ABS
grille mounting flanges;
•Four small packages located underneath the midbass drivers, which contain:
oConnection wiring with tinned ends for direct connection to the crossovers and polarized
male/female insulated slide connectors for connection to the midbass speakers;
oHardware needed to install the midbass speakers, including high-quality black oxide
Philips head screws and black oxide steel “speed clips”; and
oFour small slices of butyl adhesive putty to help secure the supplied grilles to the ABS
grille mounting flanges, if needed.
•Two small packages located underneath the tweeter drivers, which contain:
oConnection wiring with tinned ends for direct connection to the crossovers and polarized
male/female insulated slide connectors for connection to the tweeter speakers;
oTwo angle-mount and two surface-mount fixtures to be used for various tweeter
mounting options; and
oHardware needed to install the tweeter speakers, including high-quality black oxide
Philips head screws and black oxide steel “speed clips.”
Should you be missing parts, please contact your authorized Hybrid Audio Technologies dealer for
How to Use This Manual
As mentioned in the Welcome and Introduction, this is not your typical car stereo speaker owner’s
manual. It is a mobile audio reference manual for not only your impending Clarus installation, but also
to act as a guide to get the most out of your audio system. Generally speaking, this manual is divided
into two parts. The first part focuses on a typical, basic installation of the Clarus product, and follows
in general what you’d expect from a mobile audio component system owner’s manual. The second
part delves into more advanced topics on optimized speaker placement, “lessons learned” (a topical
discussion of real-world applications), use of sound damping products and acoustic absorption
materials, and fine tuning. Most users will stop at the conclusion of the first section once the basic
installation is complete, and this is perfectly acceptable. But for those with an intrinsic desire to learn
more about how to make their mobile audio systems better, we invite you to continue reading through
the latter half of the manual as well. Our goal is to not only build the best-performing mobile audio
systems in the world, but to also educate consumers and professional installers alike on how to
achieve reference-grade audio system playback in the mobile audio environment.
Section I - Getting Started – Basic System Installation
Now that you have unpacked the Clarus box and have verified that all of the parts are included, it is
time to evaluate the vehicle for the impending installation. If you feel the least bit uncomfortable about
Clarus User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 15 of 26
the installation, have the Clarus speakers installed by an authorized Hybrid Audio Technologies
dealer. The Clarus speakers are an incredible high-end speaker system, but will only be as good as
the installation; a poor installation can negatively affect the performance of the Clarus speakers. We
can only build great speakers, but can’t control or account for poor or inadequate installations.
Should you decide that you can handle the installation yourself and feel confident that the end result
will be adequate to reap the performance benefits of the Clarus component system, you will need to
have certain hand tools available to you for the installation. These include, but may not be limited to:
•Cordless drill/driver with a 1/8” drill bit and a Phillips head and a few assorted driver bits
(commonly including Torx driver bits) with an attachment (a hand-operated screw driver and/or
Torx driver will also likely work);
•Certain vehicles may require an assortment of hex-key wrenches to remove the old speakers
and/or panel screws;
•A panel-popping tool (retaining clip removal tool) to remove panels in the vehicle (such as door
panels). In a pinch, a large flat-head screwdriver does work, but damage to panels or retaining
clips can result;
•A wire cutter and wire stripper;
•Electrical tape; and
•If you plan to use the vehicle’s existing speaker wire, you will need to know which wire is
positive and which is negative at each proposed speaker location. If you’re unsure, we highly
recommend the use of Installation Excellence, an on-line resource for wire colors, wire
locations, fit guides, and technical support.
In a basic system, the Clarus midbass speakers were designed to be installed in the original factory
speaker locations, most often in the vehicle’s doors (more advanced locations that provide an
additional level of performance are discussed in Section II of this manual, if you’re interested in
learning more). The Clarus midbass drivers are infinite baffle-capable speakers, and must be
mounted in a “large enclosure”, or as close to it as possible, with unrestricted access to airspace to
ensure the speaker’s ability to effectively reproduce its wide frequency bandwidth. The reason why
the speaker was designed in this way is highly empirical. When a speaker is mounted in a small
closed box, it radiates as much energy forward of the cone as it does rearward of the cone. All
speaker cones (diaphragms) are a weak sound barrier at best, and the result of the high amount of
energy being “pushed” into a small enclosure is the energy transmitting through to the outside of the
cone (an additive phenomenon to the incidental wave). Consequently, Hybrid Audio has designed the
Clarus midbass to work well without an enclosure, and as such, should not be significantly prone to
enclosure back-pressure and sound coloration when placed infinitely baffled. The “infinitely large”
enclosure, such as one might find in a door panel, improves spectral response and power response
variation between high and low frequencies.
In a basic system, the Clarus tweeters were designed to be installed in factory-supplied tweeter
locations, typically found in the a-pillar, dashboard, sail panel, or door panel. If your vehicle is older,
or did not come with factory tweeter locations, you may need to install the tweeters in a bit of a
custom fashion. Not to fear though – we have included several different options for easily mounting
the tweeters, so you can decide which will work the best for your application. Since the tweeters are a
sealed-back design, they can be placed anywhere without having to provide airspace or any type of
enclosure. Hybrid Audio Technologies highly recommends that the tweeter placement be the subject
of your own experimentation. This can be accomplished by leaving some excess wire length for the
tweeter, and experimenting with different potential mounting locations by temporarily attaching the
tweeter using double stick tape, Velcro
®
, etc.
Clarus User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 16 of 26
An important learning note! Hybrid Audio Technologies designed the Clarus-series to be configured
with the tweeter relatively close to the midbass, such as within 30cm or so, as we can effectively
mitigate anticipated environmental conditions and reduce the number of variables in this type of
installation. When the tweeter and midbass are placed close to each other, the relative amplitudes
(volumes) of the midbass and tweeter are equalized to each other and the speaker system will
perform as intended. When the tweeter is separated by a far distance from the midbass, the relative
amplitudes will likely need to be equalized. This is due to simple physics. If the midbass drivers are
placed low in the door, for example, and the tweeter is placed high in the dashboard, sail panels, or a-
pillars, there WILL be a notable amplitude difference between the two speakers. This is because the
midbass are installed further from you, and are likely aimed into your leg, carpeting, and other soft
furnishings in the vehicle, while the tweeter is located likely closer to you, likely aimed more “ox-axis”,
and is near hard, reflective surfaces, such as window glass, hard plastic interior panels, and etc.
One of the benefits of the Clarus series over its sibling Imagine series is the inclusion of an outboard
crossover system that includes a fairly comprehensive set of attenuation filters for the tweeter output.
Whereas the Imagine systems do not include any form of filtering to attenuate the tweeter’s relative
amplitude with respect to the midbass, the Clarus sets do come with the feature of a stepped
attenuation network to satisfactorily allow for the end-user to tune and customize the tweeter’s level
with respect to the midbass. The tweeter attenuation network allows for a world of potential new
mounting possibilities of the tweeter location with respect to the midbass location.
Finally, just because there is a factory tweeter pod location in the dashboard, a-pillars, or sail panels
in your vehicle doesn’t mean you have to use it! Because our ears are on the left and right sides of
the human head, human hearing is much less susceptible to hearing height cues as it is hearing width
and depth cues (please reference Lesson 3 and Lesson 4 later in this manual). Please don’t be fooled
into thinking that the tweeters MUST be placed high in order to establish a good stage height! Alas,
as the end-user, it is up to you to take the time and test the set to see what orientation is to your
liking, and certainly, as students of acoustics, we at Hybrid Audio Technologies encourage that
learning exercise.
Installation
Once you have determined the mounting locations for the Clarus separates, and have evaluated the
circumstances by which the Clarus speakers will need to be installed, it is time to dismantle the
vehicle to access the old speakers. Most dashboard-mounted speakers are easily accessed by
removing their grilles, which are usually attached to the dashboard with screws or retaining clips. A-
pillars are usually accessed by pulling firmly at a right angle to the panel. Door speakers are usually
easy to access as well, either from the front by prying off the OEM grille, or by physically removing
the entire door panel. In all cases, it may be prudent to reference your vehicle’s factory service
manual. If you don’t have a factory service manual, you can go to the Installation Excellence website
for downloadable resources with respect to not only wiring but disassembly of your vehicle, and the
procedures to access your OEM speakers.
With the OEM speakers removed, we HIGHLY recommend the use of a self-adhesive damping
product, such as brand names Dynamat
®
, B-Quiet
®
, RAAMmat
®
, and others. The reason for the use
of damping material is to quiet buzzes and rattles that will be exposed by the high-performance
Clarus midbass speakers, but more importantly to seal up door accesses and cavities, thereby
creating a pseudo “enclosure” for the Clarus midbass. If the midbass are installed immediately
adjacent to a large access hole or opening in the door panel, there will be an acoustic “short circuit”
(as described later in “Frequency Response”) where the front and back waves of the speaker meet,
and cancellation will occur, seriously affecting midbass output. The use of a good damping product is
the single-biggest installation-related improvement you can do to enhance the performance of your
Clarus User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 17 of 26
Clarus audio system. And since the Clarus midbass require an “infinite baffle”, it is intuitive to seal up
the mounting area as best as possible, such as in the door, allowing the speaker to “see” a large
enclosure in the door cavity, kick panel, dashboard, or wherever you decide to mount the Clarus
midbass.
If you plan to use the OEM speaker wiring, you will likely need to cut off the OEM speaker plug, and
strip back approximately 3/8” (10mm) of insulation to expose the bare wire. It is recommended that
you then install slide-style terminals on the wire, for easy connection to the Clarus midbass.
In a basic installation, the Clarus midbass were designed to install directly into the factory-supplied
speaker baffles or speaker openings. The speaker should fit snug to the baffle without air gaps; do
not force the speaker into a baffle that is too small, as this will damage the speakers. If the factory-
supplied mounting baffle is too small, refer to Section II for advice on how to build custom baffles.
When tightening your speakers to the baffle, alternate the tightening of the screws, just as if you were
changing a tire on your vehicle, by alternating in a pattern around the speaker until all screws are
hand-tight. DO NOT INSTALL THE SPEAKERS WITH A DRILL OR DRILL-DRIVER, as the drill-drive
will put considerably more torque on the speaker basket than what is required, and can easily
damage the frame of the speaker.
The same procedure can be followed for the tweeter installation observing the precautions mentioned
in the midbass installation, above. Once a suitable location is found for the tweeters, mounting
options can be evaluated. The Clarus kit comes standard with three tweeter mounting options,
including a swivel flush-mount cup, a surface-mount cup, and an angle-mount cup. Decide which
mounting strategy works the best for your installation, and permanently mount the tweeters. Route
the wiring from the underside of the tweeter to an accessible location. At first, connect the tweeter
wire to the 0 dB terminal location on the passive crossover to the positive terminal (red wire) of the
tweeter, and the negative (black wire) from the TW- terminal on the passive crossover to the tweeter’s
negative wire. The wiring is color coded and the terminals are keyed according to gender, for
convenience. The -3 dB, 0 dB, and +3 dB all reference various output levels for the Clarus tweeter,
so you can fine-tune your system’s treble amplitude (loudness) with that of the midbass drivers.
Once all four speakers are installed, you will need to do a brief listening test with CD-quality music
that you are intimately familiar with to determine if the tweeter attenuation of 0 dB is adequate for your
listening style, type of music you listen to, and the acoustics and speaker locations and relative
intensities of the speakers as they interact with your vehicle. In most systems, the -3 dB or 0 dB
setting will be the preferred choice. In certain instances, and for certain owner’s, the +3 dB setting
may be a good option. Be sure that all equalization, bass, and treble levels are defeated or set to
“zero” on the source unit before evaluating the intensity of the tweeters with respect to your midbass
level and your listening taste. Note also, after approximately 10-25 hours of play time, the speakers
will begin to “break in”, like any mechanical component, and intensities may need to be re-adjusted
again following the same procedure. In other words, the midbass need to be broken in with typical
play-time. You may find that after break-in, the tweeter intensity will need to be adjusted.
Once levels are set as per the above, the sound damping cropped so as to allow for the re-installation
of door panels and/or interior panels, and all wiring neatly wire-tied away from heat and noise
sources, or from abrasion and areas where the wires may be accidentally sliced or cut, the vehicle
can be re-assembled. Sit back and enjoy the music.
This is the end of Section I: Basic Installation. If you’re happy with the end product, stop
reading here. If you want to learn more about advanced techniques for achieving great mobile
audio sound quality, flip the page!
Clarus User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 18 of 26
Section II - Moving Forward – Advanced System Installation
The previous section detailed a typical, basic installation of the Clarus product. In this section, Hybrid
Audio Technologies has prepared a more advanced topical discussion of Clarus installation
techniques, concepts, and principals, where a little bit of additional installation work can net immense
gains in overall sound quality.
There are certainly many things you can do to improve your mobile audio system, such as addition of
amplification, a dedicated subwoofer system, higher-gauge speaker wire, and higher-end passive
crossovers, and active crossovers. All of these things require an additional amount of monetary
investment into your audio system, and may not net the immediate gains that other, more elementary
installation items can net. The following discussion is pertinent to easy and cost-effective
enhancements you can do for your audio system, particularly as it relates to the installation of Clarus
component speakers.
In any mobile audio system, the weakest link will always be the speaker systems, followed closely by
installation techniques (sometimes its vice-versa). Since the Clarus component system you have
purchased has solved the first issue, the second issue, that being installation techniques, can see a
significant improvement as well by understanding and incorporating some or all of the techniques in
the following sections.
Lessons Learned
We like to call this our “Lessons Learned” section, where we expose some critical lessons that we
have learned through thousands upon thousands of hours of trial and error:
Lesson One: Off-Axis Response
When a speaker system like the Clarus is placed in an automotive environment, we hear the direct
(shortest path) and reflected (longer path) sounds, such as resonances and reverberations. The two
sounds are processed by the brain as one sound, and this influences our perception of height, width,
and depth of soundstage, as well as rearward ambience. For this reason, the off-axis radiation pattern
of any speaker in a vehicular environment has a significant influence on how natural the music
sounds.
The lesson to learn here is that most mobile audio sound systems benefit greatly from having the
front stage speakers at least partially “off-axis.” Off-axis means that the speakers are not pointing at
you, but rather at some angle less than 90 degrees away from you.
Lesson Two: Equalization of Pathlength Differences
Quite possibly the most important functional consideration that a do-it-yourself enthusiast or
professional installer should give to the Clarus speaker placement is to optimize, as best as possible,
pathlength differences (PLD’s) in the vehicle. PLD’s are defined mathematically as follows (this
example assumes a right-hand drive vehicle---PLD’s are always a positive number):
X – Y = Z
Clarus User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 19 of 26
Where:
X = distance of the center of the left speaker from your left ear.
Y = distance of the center of the right speaker from your right ear.
Z = pathlength difference.
Applying this formula, assume that the distance of the left speaker from your left ear is 140cm, and
the distance of the right speaker from your right ear is 100cm, the pathlength difference is 40cm.
Good stereo imaging is completely dependent on arrival times of the fundamental vocal frequencies.
Differences as little as 10 microseconds can be detected by the brain. A PLD of 30 centimeters
equates to the sound from the nearest channel arriving about 0.9 milliseconds earlier than the furthest
channel. It is Hybrid Audio’s opinion that the end-user should try to keep PLD’s to less than 30
centimeters in a vehicle which is intended to have good imaging and staging character from both
seated positions.
The best way to go about evaluating certain locations in your vehicle is, in general, to look for the
potential locations as far forward and away from you as possible, but still with a general “line of sight”
to the speakers (particularly the speaker on the far side of the vehicle). An easy way to test various
potential locations is to hold a tape measure or other measurement device from the potential speaker
mounting locations, and measure those locations with respect to your ears.
Reference the figure, below. In this scenario, three potential locations for the mounting of the Clarus
midbass driver are shown:
Figure 1: Potential Locations for Mounting the Clarus Midbass Speakers
Clarus User’s Manual ©Hybrid Audio Technologies Page 20 of 26
In scenario “a”, we show the installation of the Clarus midbass in the dashboard, high in a door panel,
or in the a-pillar. As you can see from the diagram, the PLD’s between the left and right speakers are
large, due to the proximity of the listener to the near-side speaker. While the mounting of primary
drivers in the dashboard or a-pillars has become increasingly popular, this configuration will
undoubtedly require both time and intensity domain equalization in most vehicles to ensure a good,
focused center image, properly located in the center of the vehicle for one seated position. There
are, however, some rare exceptions, and you may actually find that the dashboard locations provide
the best equalized PLD of the available mounting locations; this is very rare though – in our
experience, less than one percent of vehicles on the market today have optimized dashboard speaker
locations for the midbass drivers.
In scenario “b”, a typical door installation location is shown, and in many vehicles represents a good
improvement in PLD’s from the dashboard, high in the door panel, and a-pillar location identified in
scenario “a.” The door speaker installation scenario is the one detailed in the basic installation section
at the beginning of this manual, and in most vehicles represents a satisfactory location to mount
speakers; not ideal but satisfactory. The door speaker installation scenario will likely also require
some amount of time and intensity equalization to ensure a centered image in most vehicles; this can
be as simple as adjusting the balance control on your source unit, to more advanced ways of digital
time and intensity manipulation.
The third and final potential mounting location as shown in this diagram (scenario “c”) represents a
kick panel installation, where the midbass are placed far forward in the A-frame cavity of the kick
panels, present in most vehicles. The kick panels are the small panel next to the throttle and brake
pedals, down by your feet. While it is not immediately obvious looking at a two-dimensional drawing,
in many cases the kick panel location affords the best equalization of pathlength differences for most
vehicles. And the reason why this is a good choice for most vehicles is defined in the second full
paragraph of Lesson Three, below.
The lesson to be learned here is that by taking a few moments to evaluate the potential mounting
locations in your vehicle, in a very short period of time, you will be able to find the best location for
your Clarus midbass by determining the location with the smallest PLD.
Lesson Three: The Effect of HRTF, ITD, and IID
Head-related transfer function (HRTF), interaural intensity differences (IID), and interaural time delay
(ITD) all play a key role in the optimum placement location for the Clarus component speakers. A
sound wave approaching the eardrum from your chosen speaker location is shaped by interactions
with the size and shape of your head, torso, and outer ear, resulting in the HRTF. More specifically,
the HRTF is the ratio between the sound pressures of the wave at the eardrum, as compared to the
sound pressure that would exist at the center of the head if the head were removed. In general, the
sound arriving at the ear further from the source is attenuated and delayed relative to the sound
arriving at the ear closer to the source. This generates an interaural intensity difference (IID) and an
interaural time delay (ITD). As a sound approaches the head, the ratio of distances from the speaker
location to the near and far ears increases, and the effects of head-shadowing are amplified, causing
the IID to increase. The spectral shaping caused by the head and the shape of the outer ear may also
change. The ITD, which results from the absolute difference in path length from the source to the
ears, remains approximately constant as distance decreases. From this we learn:
•ITD is the dominant factor for frequencies below about 500 Hz;
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