Clarity7™ Reference Speaker Cable
Clarity7 is our reference loudspeaker cable. Our Patented design is a result of 10 years of research, analytical modeling and empirical testing. The name Clarity7 was chosen because the cable has the unique property of removing those pesky “veils” and focusing the image within the ambient, reflective sound-field of the original recording venue. You can actually sense the dimensions of the recording studio or performance hall. Once you have optimized your interconnects, adding the Clarity7 Speaker cables will add a sparkle of liveness that will make music listening a religious experience. Most listeners first reaction is: “it’s so clear!”. Expect to hear detail and depth in your recordings that you have never dreamed was there. Their resolving power is incredible. The soundstage will widen and deepen considerably. The image focus will be razor-sharp. The "separateness" of the individual instruments will be striking. Most customers, when they first connect Clarity7’s, can't get up until they have listened to every recording in their collection. It's that good. If your priority is beautiful music, the Clarity7 is for you. Clarity7 is neutral, not emphasizing bass or treble. It is well-balanced, providing slam dynamics, the finesse and grittiness of rosin on violin bows and the “blat” of trumpets and trombones. Clarity7 brings-out the rich harmonics of ringing bells and the “sheen” on cymbals. It just gets the attack, sustain and decay right. The “air” around instruments and vocalists creates an almost holographic presentation. Clarity7 truly brings out the beauty in the music.
Technology
The Clarity7 truly optimizes the most important parameters in speaker cable design, namely inductance, electrical resonance and dielectric absorption. Clarity7 has extremely low inductance because the geometry enables inductive “coupling” to occur. This coupling causes the inductance to be very low without the conductors being large. Because the conductors are relatively small, this minimizes “skin-effect”. Electrical resonance is eliminated by Anti-Resonance Terminations. Like other Empirical Audio cables, Clarity7 uses bare-wire technology to minimize dielectric absorption, which can cause dispersion or “smearing” of transient music waveforms. Thousands of simulations and measurements were performed on the Clarity7 to insure that the geometry was optimized and that the cable would be compatible with all possible amplifiers and speaker loads. The Clarity7 geometry limits the capacitance of the cable, allowing it to work well with amplifiers that may oscillate with highly capacitive loads. Many of these measurements and simulation results are posted on the electrical performance page.
You may experience an increase in loudness with Clarity7. This increase in loudness occurs because Clarity7 focuses the image better (lower phase-shift due to geometry), eliminates more dispersion than your old cable (due to bare conductors) and has much lower voltage drop (due to lower inductance). The sound of a particular event in the stereo image, instead of being spread over a wider angle, will now focused to a point, making the sound more intense. Clarity7 also improves coherence, by eliminating phase shifts. Since more of the frequency content of each sound is in phase, the sound is more dynamic and the timbre more accurate. It’s analogous to lining-up the drivers in a loudspeaker array so that they are all time-coherent.
Clarity7 speaker cables have a Patented construction that combines several key features to make it an exceptional speaker cable:
- Seven pairs of silver-plated OFC copper signal conductors are combined to make a total equivalent of 11 gauge.
- Each cable includes an Anti-Resonance™ termination. This makes the cable directional.
- All conductor pairs are identical and length-equalized to evenly distribute the current-sharing and form a balanced circuit.
- All cables are terminated by crimping to heavy gauge, direct-gold-plated OFC copper spade-lugs for either 1/4" or 5/16" posts.
- Pig-tails are 5" long. We recommend any unused pigtail be twisted together tightly to improve coupling and further reduce inductance.
This construction creates a very high-bandwidth cable, actually capable of Radio Frequency (RF) power transmission. High-bandwidth is necessary because this shifts the natural cable resonances and roll-off to very high-frequencies, allowing the Anti-Resonance™ Terminations to be effective. The Anti-Resonance Termination eliminates cable electrical resonances without impacting the audio bandwidth. The frequency and phase response of the cable remains ruler-flat in the audio band, while eliminating resonances. As a result, the Clarity7 is very high-loss at RF frequencies and extremely low-loss at audio frequencies. Read more about resonance on the FAQ page. The field-canceling geometry also eliminates the need for shielding which has the negative effect of increasing capacitance.
How much better is the Clarity7 than ZIP-cord?
Some “Objectivist experts” have claimed that standard 12 gauge ZIP-cord can’t be improved upon. We characterized ZIP-cord to see just how good it really is, by performing an exhaustive set of measurements and simulations. The data that we provide on the electrical performance page speaks for itself. This is not subjective and follows the rigors of good engineering. The results show that that 11 gauge ZIP-cord has serious limitations and that the resonances that it exhibits cannot be eliminated without seriously compromising its frequency and phase response. Even the best ZIP-cord has less than 1/5th the bandwidth of the Clarity7 speaker cable. This shows up in spades when doing listening tests. ZIP-cord is congested and unfocused. Clarity7 removes the congestion and provides crystal clarity and razor-sharp focus.
Clarity 7 Specifications
The following nominal specifications are provided for comparison purposes. They are not guaranteed and excursions in any parameter may take place due to manufacturing and material variation, however every effort is made to prevent any such excursions. Empirical Audio® reserves the right to modify any of the specified parameters without notice.
| Parameter | Value | Frequency | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DC | 100Hz | 1Khz | 10Khz | 1000Khz | |||
| 1 | Series Inductance per foot+ | .033µH | .034µH | .033µH | .031µH | ||
| 2 | Series Inductance per meter+ | .108µH | .111µH | .108µH | .102µH | ||
| 3 | Shunt Capacitance per foot+ | 117pF | 118pF | 118pF | 117pF | ||
| 4 | Shunt Capacitance per meter+ | 384pF | 387pF | 387pF | 384pF | ||
| 5 | Resistance per foot+ | 3.1mW | |||||
| 6 | Resistance per meter+ | 10.2mW | |||||
| 7 | Max. Cable Diameter | .8 in. | |||||
| 8 | Characteristic Impedance++ | 11W | |||||
| 9 | 3db Bandwidth+++ | 1 MHz | |||||
| 10 | Pull Strength | 50 lbs | |||||
| 11 | Min. Bend Radius(inside) | 7" | |||||
+Measured with an hp 4263B LCR meter
++Provided only for reference
+++Minimum based upon .2W amplifier output impedance and 3 ohms speakerimpedance (Bandwidth will be higher with lower output impedance and higher impedance speakers)
Models and Pricing
Naming convention: Clarity7 [Amp Spade Size][Speaker Spade Size]
Spade-lug sizes are A=1/4" B=5/16".
Banana Plugs are not offered because they reduce performance. Adapters are available. Empirical Audio reserves the right to adjust prices as costs increase or decrease.
Warranty
Clarity7 Speaker Cables are offered with a 30-day unconditional return policy. If the cables are not cosmetically damaged, electrically altered or abused, they can be returned for a full refund within 30 days of date of original shipment. Customer pays return shipping. Refunds will be mailed within 5 working days of product return.
Clarity7 Speaker Cables are further warranted to be free of defects in materials and workmanship for a period of 3 years from the shipment date. If a failure is found in the product, the customer must first notify Empirical Audio by Email. The customer will be responsible for shipping the product back to Empirical Audio. After evaluation of the returned product, if Empirical Audio determines that misuse, alteration or abuse did not cause the failure, the customer will be shipped a replacement cable, which may be the repaired unit or a new cable. If misuse, alteration or abuse is indicated, the customer will have the option of a repair fee determined by Empirical Audio depending on the extent of the damage. Empirical Audio will not be responsible for failure of related equipment as a result of a cable shorting due to excessive stress, compression or sharp bending. This warranty applies only to the original purchaser and is not transferrable.