Introduction

Building a home theater system that you, your family and friends can enjoy can be a very rewarding experience. On the other hand, assembling a system on an Average Joe’s budget many times ends in deep performance compromises and disappointment. The most influential part of how a home theater system performs is the loudspeakers; unfortunately this is the most expensive component in a home theater system. As an Average Joe you have pinched your pennies for months, now finally having the required funds to purchase your speaker system. For many Average Joes, budgets vary by wide margins; but for the sake of balance let’s just say that you have a maximum spending cap of $650. This spending cap along with the aesthetic concerns may have been handed down to you from your significant other with a strong emphasis on aesthetics. Oh, great now we have yet another hurdle to overcome within our budget, not only do we have to find a speaker that performs well but it also has to meet a strict aesthetic characteristic.

With budget in mind and aesthetic concerns seared in your memory you head off to the large retail chain store to pick out your speakers. Excited that the day has finally come, you make your way back to the large demo room. Carefully checking out the price of the speaker systems you quickly realize you have exactly two choices that fit your spending cap. The first choice you have is a system comprised of tiny cubes that look and sound like the speakers that were included in the bundled desktop PC that you purchased on sale from the same store last month. The second choice is a system comprised of two front tower speakers, one center channel, and two surrounds. The large tower speakers are huge rectangular boxes with silver woofers that are finished with a wood photo finish that more resembles the liner in your kitchen drawer than real wood.

Looking around, you start to get a feeling of desperation knowing that you must have a system today but which one? Wandering aimlessly though-out the isles of the store to seek advice, you finally find someone to help you. When you ask which system would be the best for you, the youthful voice proclaims the one with the three initials and the large silver woofers would be the correct choice. The salesperson then proclaims they have much experience in home theater design as they have just finished their thirty day probation period and have recently been made department manager.

Unfortunately, for the Average Joe this scenario is an all too common occurrence, but now there is an alternative. Loudspeaker manufacturers are now starting growing tends of offering their products direct from the factory to the Average Joe. This process eliminates the middle man’s huge markups and increases the price to performance ratio of loudspeakers by a substantial margin.

Radiient Technologies a manufacturer located in Santa Clara, California has recently introduced several loudspeaker systems for sale direct from the manufacturer to the Average Joe. Radiient Technologies believes they can offer the Average Joe a loudspeaker system that will outperform the competition. Radiient backs up this claim by offering a thirty day money back guarantee with no restocking fee. All Radiient Technologies loudspeakers are shipped free though out the continental USA. Yes, free!  The Calypso is the entry level loudspeaker system from Radiient with a price of just $500 for the system. Don’t let the price and word entry level fool you; this is no entry level speaker system. The system is comprised of two front left and right towers, one center channel and a pair of bookshelf surrounds.

Let’s begin with the Calypso Tower

Unpacking the tower speakers, I was completely and utterly blown away with the Calypso’s elegant design, fit and finish. The slim graceful tower stands 48.75-inches high x 6.5-inches wide x 8.5-inches deep. The speaker is finished in a gorgeous jet black piano gloss finish. The enclosure’s unique design and shape is curvilinear, this design reduces enclosure resonance and internal vibration. All of the drivers are recessed into the front baffle to improve imaging and reduce diffraction. This welcome feature is often omitted on speakers at this price point. Many manufacturers flush mount driver components to minimize production costs. Around the back of the speaker you will find gold plated five way binding posts that will accommodate 12 gauge speaker wire. 

The bottom of the speaker is pedestal shaped to help balance the speaker. Four adjustable gold plated spikes are provided with the speaker for carpeted surfaces. Small features like this will not be found on speakers purchased at large chain stores at this price. The features found on the Calypso’s are welcome and a very nice touch from Radiient. The grill that covers the front baffle is tastefully constructed and is held securely in place with metal studs and rubber grommets. The Calypso tower is two-way bass reflexes design that incorporates four aluminum four-inch drivers and a silk dome ferrofluid tweeter. The specifications located on the identification label on the back of the speaker indicate a frequency response of 50Hz-20 kHz and sensitivity of 90db (1 watt, 1 meter). Nominal impedance is 8 ohms and power handling is 120-watts short term, 60-watts RMS continuous. The specifications seem to indicate that the Calypso is a fairly efficient speaker and can be driven with a relatively low powered amplifier or receiver.

Let’s see what’s inside the Calypso Tower.

Everybody knows that the Average Joe loves to tinker and find out how things work. With this in mind, I decided to disassemble the Calypso tower to see how it’s constructed. Laying the tower on its side I removed the aluminum drivers and the tweeter. With the drivers removed, what I saw surprised me in a big way.  The first thing I noted was the high quality aluminum midbass drivers used in the Calypso tower. These drivers are manufactured with heavy duty motor structures, stamped steel baskets and rubber surrounds. The midbass drivers are not magnetically shielded so care must be taken if you plan to place these in close proximity to a conventional display device. All drivers in this speaker are active. Many speakers you see on the market that look similar to the Calypso’s driver configuration will use a less expensive active/passive driver configuration. All internal wiring from the crossover cup to the drivers is high quality, high strand count 18 gauge and all crimped ends are heat shrinked. There are three, yes three! cross shelf braces installed in the enclosure, one towards the bottom, one in the center and one at the top. Polyfill is installed inside the enclosure to further reduce resonance. The enclosure is constructed from one-half inch MDF. Seeing attention to detail and build quality like this in a speaker at this price point was rather shocking. You may believe that small details such as heat shrinking spade terminals to be insignificant, but I can assure you it’s not.. This is an extra step in the manufacturing process that adds labor costs; and details like this are often not found in speakers at much higher price points.

The Calypso Center Channel

The Calypso center channel shares the same design philosophy and finish as the larger front tower speakers on a smaller horizontal scale. The center speaker is fairly compact with dimensions of just 6.5-inches high x 18.75-inches wide x 8.25-inches deep. The speaker is a two-way sealed design (no port). This makes the center speaker an excellent candidate for use in custom cabinetry installations.

The identification label located on the rear of the speaker indicates the center channel has a frequency response of 90Hz–20 kHz. The sensitivity rating is 86dB (1 watt, 1 meter) and nominal impedance of 8 ohms. Short term peak power handling is stated as 80 watts and 40 watts RMS continuous. The driver type used in the Calypso center is the same as that used in the larger tower. Using the same drivers in the center speaker ensures tonal similarities between the center channel and tower speakers.

The build quality, construction and fit/finish of the center channel are just as impressive as the towers. The four-inch aluminum woofers are shielded to prevent magnetic interference on display devices. The Calypso center channel also has two internal cross braces located one third in from the sides of the speaker to control resonance. Again, it’s highly unusual to find this type of internal bracing in a speaker with such a small price stature. Just like the tower, the center channel has high quality 18 gauge speaker wire from the crossover to the driver components.

The Calypso Surround Speakers

I was very surprised and happy to see that Radiient did not skimp on the quality of the surround speakers. Many manufacturers will package very low quality speakers for surrounds in their systems. You won’t find that with the Calypso system. The rear surrounds included in this system are like mini-me versions of the large towers sharing the same curvilinear shape and gloss black piano finish.

The surround speakers are relatively small with dimensions of 10.25-inches tall x 6.5-inches wide x 8.25-inches deep. The Calypso surround is a sealed two way design. The identification label indicates that the frequency response is 90Hz-20 kHz. Sensitivity is rated at 86dB (1 watt, 1 meter) and nominal impedance of 8 ohms. Short term peak power is stated as 60 watts and RMS continuous of 40 watts. Around the back of the

speaker you will find five way binding posts and a wall mount bracket. The drivers installed in the surrounds are the same as the ones found in the rest of the system. Once again this insures sonic tonal match and system synergy. Taking a look at the inside of the enclosure, this little speaker is built with the same quality as the rest of the system. The Calypso surround has one internal brace located just below the tweeter. 18 gauge high strand count wire is used from the cross over to the drivers and the enclosure is filled with polyfill. Radiient did not compromise build quality on the surround speakers and this commitment of quality is definitely a welcome surprise. 

Mechanical System Setup

I decided to set the Calypso system up in my family room instead of our dedicated home theater room because many Average Joes use their living rooms and family rooms for home theater. To be honest, we use the family room a lot more than the home theater room for movies and TV viewing anyway. The room size is about average with dimensions in feet of 12 wide x 24 long x 9 ceiling height or about 2592 ft³. The primary seat position is about 12 feet back from the front wall. With the room dimensions and the primary seat position in mind, I placed the Calypso front left and right towers about 9 feet apart with just a slight amount of toe in toward the primary seat. I placed the center channel on an adjustable stand approximately 26-inches above the floor to accommodate the 92-inch diagonal screen we currently have installed in the room. The surround speakers were installed on stands and placed behind at either side of the room at about 110 degrees. Keep in mind the Calypso surrounds have wall mounting brackets if you need to install them on the wall.

Equipment

For this review and evaluation, I used the highly regarded Yamaha RX-V2600 because that is what I currently have placed in the system rack. This receiver is fairly expensive and may be a little overkill. The Radiient Calypso speaker system is pretty efficient and the selection of a good entry level receiver like the Pioneer VSX-816-K, Yamaha HTR-5940 or Denon 1507 would be an excellent choice for those on a tight budget. Selecting a capable subwoofer is critical for good home theater performance. The most common mistake that most Average Joes make is selecting a subwoofer that is too small for their rooms. When the subwoofer is small it must work harder to supply adequate LFE to fill the room. When this happens, it is more likely that the woofer will be driven into distortion and may even bottom out. The best advice I can give you is to save up until you can afford a good subwoofer large enough for your room size.

Axiom Audio, Velodyne, HSU and SVS all manufacture high bang for the buck subwoofers. In a room the size of mine a good high power 12-inch subwoofer should be the minimum size considered.

Calibration and Set Up

Calibrating and selecting the correct crossover setting for a speaker system is yet another task that must be preformed for good home theater performance. Many of the newer receivers have an automatic setup feature that will set speaker sizes and SPL levels of the system. Auto calibration receiver’s software accuracy varies widely; some are more accurate than others. Using auto calibration software can get the system’s calibration in the ball park, but if you want accuracy get yourself an SPL meter, learn how to use it, and calibrate your system manually.

All modern home theater receivers and preamps allow the user to enter the setup menu and select speaker size and cross over settings. Entry level and mid priced receivers have what is known as a global crossover, this means that if you select a cross over setting it will be applied to all speakers. Higher end receivers and preamps have independent cross over settings that allow the user to select different cross over setting for the front, center and surround speakers. Chances are slim that the receiver you select for use with the Calypso speaker system will have independent crossover settings. The Calypso front speakers have a low cutoff frequency of about 50Hz but the center and surrounds have a low frequency cutoff of about 90Hz. I found that a speaker setting of small, crossover setting of 90Hz and all LFE information routed to the subwoofer to be the best setting for this speaker system. When you set your system up like this it is imperative to make sure that the crossover adjustment located on the subwoofer is set to its maximum setting because you are using the electronic cross over in the receiver. This will prevent crossover cascading.

Using my old, but faithful THX calibrated Radio Shack 33-250 sound level meter, I began setting up the individual speaker SPL levels using the internal test tone generator in the Yamaha receiver. The correct procedure for using the meter is to select a range of 70dB, weighting “C” and slow response time. Hold the meter upright with the MIC pointing toward the ceiling approximately where your ears will be located when you are in the primary seat. Carefully adjust each speaker to +75 dB. Always stand behind the meter never placing your body between the meter and the speaker you are measuring. Your body is an excellent absorber and your levels will be off if you are in-between the meter’s MIC and the speakers you are calibrating. With all the speakers including the subwoofer calibrated to + 75dB you will most likely notice the subwoofer sounds a little lean. Generally adding +3-5dB to LFE SPL level will correct the problem. There are more sophisticated methods of calibrating and setting up a home theater system. In the future, Average Joe A/V Reviews will have tech tips covering all aspects of home theater installation and calibration.

Two Channel Listening Evaluation

Most of the Yamaha receivers have a music feature known as “Pure Direct”, when this music function is selected it bypasses all the decoders, DSP processors, and shuts off all video circuitry. When this mode is engaged the subwoofer is shut off and a full range unblemished signal is sent to only the front left and right speakers. 

I decided to start the evaluation with some high energy two channel jazz and selected Stanley Clark’s very musical CD East River Drive. This CD is an older release that is far from reference material but the music contained on the CD justifies using it for evaluation. Selecting track number four East River Drive, the track starts out very slowly with a solo guitar playing with chimes, flute and snare drum occasionally mixed in. Turning up the volume, I began listening. It was immediately evident that the Calypso towers sounded a lot bigger than their stature would suggest. The guitar sounded natural and unrestrained. The notes as they were played were focused, and decayed rapidly. As the track continued the chimes and flute sounded airy and magical; the Calypso towers sounds just slightly forward of neutral. The soundstage presented by this speaker was fairly large and the tower was very focused in its presentation. What struck me most about what I heard so far was how revealing the speaker sounded. I was able to hear every little detail and nuance in the instrumental music found on this track.

About one minute into the music passage a bass guitar begins to play very deep, very fast high energy notes. When this occurred in my listening session, I thought that I had inadvertently selected two channel analog on the Yamaha receiver which reengages the subwoofer instead of “Pure Direct” because there was way too much bass emanating from the front of the room. Walking up to my subwoofer, I confirmed that it was indeed off and only the Calypso towers were playing. The bass being reproduced from this slim elegant tower was loud, fast and tight. Sitting there I thought how this could be possible. How can 4-inch woofers reproduce this kind of bass?  The only answer I can come up with is the speaker tuning gods must have had a hand in the development of the Calypso tower speaker. Progressing with the two channel evaluation, I selected track number five I’m Home Africa. This is the most aggressive, fast passed music on the CD. I really wanted to see how the Calypso would handle this type of music being pushed very hard at very high volume levels. The track starts out with the female artist singing “I’m Home Africa” repeatedly. The tower speaker handled this sequence fairly well but when pushed to very extreme volume levels the speaker began to sound a little shrill and beamy. Of course no one in their right mind would listen to music at this volume level for a sustained amount of time but this test confirmed that my room size would be about the maximum size for this speaker system.

Continuing with the evaluation and listening to the song in its entirety once again, the Calypso tower didn’t disappoint. The speaker sounded huge, its presentation is very aggressive and I really liked what I was hearing. Concluding the two channel evaluation, I must say that I was impressed with the Calypso tower considering its small foot print and stature. It proved that physical size can be very deceiving. Does this speaker sound like a pair of $2500 towers? The answer to this is no! However, it doesn’t sound anywhere near what should be included with a $500 speaker set either.  

Multi-Channel DVD Audio Evaluation

I have really been a big fan of DVD-Audio and SACD multi-channel music. I think this stems from my memory of enjoying hours of the less than stellar quad albums with my dad in the 70’s. Of course DVD-A and SACD are technically superior and they sound a lot better than quad but we really thought we were hearing the ultimate back then. Steve Stevens Flamenco A Go Go DVD-Audio is of the favorites from my collection. The DVD has just about everything you could possibly want from an instrumental music standpoint and the recorded transfer is near flawless.

I started the DVD-Audio evaluation with track number five Feminova. The track starts with a male voice proclaiming “This will twist your heads, ideal for stereo” When this occurs, the voice is first heard in the center channel, next moving to the front speakers, then surround speakers  and ends its travel around the room back up front. The limited lower frequency response of 90Hz for the center and rear surrounds became fairly noticeable during this part of the track. When you select 5.1 MLP DVD-A as the preferred format all speaker setting’s and bass management settings in the receiver are by-passed, thus sending the signal full range to all speakers in the system. The voice as it starts in the center channel sounded a little dry and lean, as it progressed to the front left and right towers it became robust and rich. Finally, as the voice traveled to the rear surrounds it became shallow and thin again. Listening to the rest of the track the music sounded good but a little thin, lean and shallow compared to the much higher priced full range speakers that I have in my other systems. Concluding the listening evaluation of multi-channel DVD-Audio with the Calypso system, I would say that what I heard was about what I expected giving the limited bandwidth of the center and surround speakers. The performance obtained with the Calypso speakers with DVD-Audio was acceptable given the limitations stated above. If you are going to build a system that will be used mostly for multi-channel music you may want to consider purchasing five Calypso towers if your room can accommodate five towers. A system in this configuration would produce very high performance at a reasonable price.

Listening Evaluation Movie Soundtrack

Many Average Joes will be purchasing their loudspeakers primarily for home theater applications, but what makes a speaker well suited for home theater applications? The answer to this is the same things we look for in good music speakers. Good home theater speakers should be dynamic; this is the ability to play very loud one moment and very soft the next. The speakers should sound balanced, tonality should be similar from all speakers. The speakers should have the ability to play loud enough to add impact and wow effect when you crank up your system for those crazy action movies.

I decided to use The Chronicles Of Riddick HD DVD for the movie soundtrack listening evaluation. This HD DVD is near flawless and would rank very high as reference material. Selecting chapter two Hard Bounty, I began the evaluation.The chapter starts with Riddick running across the icy planet’s surface toward a cave with the bounty hunters space ship in close pursuit. As Riddick is running, the lively musical score playing in the back ground sounded balanced and fluid. The windblown snow, Riddick’s heavy breathing and his footsteps were easily discernable in the center speaker and front left/right speakers. As the bounty hunters space ship is pursuing him there are several hard pans starting in the left front speaker and ending in the surrounds. The hard pans sounded seamless, smooth and robust. As the signal traveled to the surround speakers all the content provided by the soundtrack sounded full and had significant impact.  During this action packed passage, there are several dialogue exchanges between the bounty hunters. The dialogue between the bounty hunter crew members sounded slightly recessed, thin and unnatural. The male voices sounded a little hollow and the overall volume level seemed subdued compared to the rest of the system. In an attempt to correct the shallowness of the center channel speaker I found that adding +3 dB to the center channel trim level made a dramatic improvement although the center channel still sounded slightly subdued. I really believe that this has more to do with the Calypso towers being very dynamic and playing over the center channel. Also keep in mind that the towers are ported, their frequency response is much lower and they have a higher sensitivity rating. All these factors seem to point to the inability of the center channel to keep up with the towers during very loud action/dialogue sequences.

As the chapter progresses Riddick runs into the cave. In this part of the chapter, the movie track becomes fairly quiet; this part of the soundtrack has many subtle sound effects. All of the sounds such as wind blown rattling chains, Riddick’s knives being thrust into the wall of the cave, clothes rustling and the space ship maneuvering through the cave were very pronounced and easily heard in all the speakers. The Calypso speakers revealing and slightly forward nature handled this part of the soundtrack masterfully. The system sounded well balanced, focused, dynamic and a lot larger than I expected.

Concluding the movie soundtrack evaluation I would characterize the Calypso’s aggressive slightly forward, revealing, dynamic presentation perfect for home theater applications in small to medium sized rooms. The Calypso speaker system provided more than enough SPL levels to fill my small/medium sized room. The Calypso center channel could not quite keep up with the very dynamic Calypso towers but it is still a very good sounding speaker. A little placement experimentation and adjustment with the gain levels of the center channel will improve its performance. Considering the price of this system I can surely cut the minor performance drop off of the center channel some slack.

The Bottom Line

Simply put: the Calypso speaker system provides plenty of WOW both visually and audibly. The Radiient Calypso speakers build quality, features and performance far exceeded their perspective price point. The elegant sophisticated design and stunningly beautiful piano gloss finish make these speakers look a lot more expensive than they are. The Calypso speaker system is not without fault as outlined in the review but at this price point perfection should not be considered. So what’s the bottom line here?  Let’s see, an elegant looking high performance loudspeaker system for about the same price as one of those cheesy home theaters in a box system!  Can you say no brainer?  If your significant other laid out the ground rules about your loudspeaker budget you better keep the purchase receipt because it’s hard to believe an Average Joe can get a system like this for $500 bucks and you may end up in the dog house without proof. On the other hand you can build a great looking high performance system around the Calypso speakers with a receiver, subwoofer and DVD player for $1200 or less and that will make you king of the castle. The Calypso speakers are a rare find for the Average Joe that is décor conscious and primarily going to use the system for home theater in medium/small rooms.  

What’s with the Numbers?

Our scoring is based on performance to price ratio, the better the value the higher the score. Please keep in mind that a product that scores high at a lower price may not be a better performing product than one that scores lower at a higher price. Products will be scored based on their perspective price class.  Numerous factors including manufacture support and customer service will contribute to the overall bang for the buck tabulated score. These hidden factors are not often taken into consideration on review sites but we feel that they are very important to the Average Joe. If a manufacturer has low customer service/technical support it will decrease tabulated scores. Performance scores are tabulated based on overall performance.

Average Joe A/V Reviews Scoring

                          5- A Rare Find (If you don’t consider it you will be kicking yourself)

                          4- A Bargain Hunter’s Dream

                          3- Only if it’s burning a hole in your pocket

                          2- Only if it’s given to you

                          1- Can you say “dumpster diving”