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Without stands the Arabesque Mini weighs a healthy 18 kilos. For a speaker shaped a bit awkwardly, it was optically far less intrusive and on the elegant transparent stands seemed even smaller to appear as though floating in the room. While at the specs, Crystal publishes a frequency response of 40Hz to 40kHz (-3dB) while the crossover point is around 2kHz. An amplifier will see a nominal 8Ω load and should provide 50wpc or more to get the 86dB efficient speakers’ attention. For a mid-sized stand mount these numbers are not spectacular but numbers don’t tell the whole story.
It is up to the user whether to place the Arabesque Mini with its wing or pointy tip of the comma facing in or out. Just as with the distance from the back and sidewalls some experimenting is required to have the speakers ‘click’ with the room. In our 1000² feet upstairs listening room the effect of wings in was an extra deep soundstage whilst wings out provided more width and more realistically proportioned images. The latter is the default position.
For starters we lined up a Devialet D-Premier fed by a PS Audio PWT transport and Feickert Blackbird turntable with a DFA 1o5 arm sporting a Zu DL-103 cartridge. Loudspeaker cables of choice were of course Crystal Cable just as the power cords and balanced interconnect. For speaker connection the user has choices - spades, bananas or bare wire to the WBT Nextgen terminals or the special Crystal Cable option of their proprietary 4-pin mini connector. Using the latter means that the splitter tails of the speaker cables must be detached. We opted for this to bypass the comparatively large terminals.
Around front the ScanSpeak Illuminator tweeter with its grate cover protecting a 99% pure 26mm Beryllium dome has a large mounting plate trimmed with a silvery ring. This articulated flange with its 6 large mounting bolts matches the size and sturdy looks of the 140mm ScanSpeak Illuminator long-throw mid/woofer with matching trim. Combined with a small shiny liner trim at the bottom of the enclosure the Arabesque Mini scores very high in the looks department without yet having played a single tone.
That tone can be influenced by a switch on the back enabling a 1dB cut or boost of the tweeter output. A lively or somewhat dull room one can benefit from this option but we left it in the neutral middle position. After the initial setup the first music played was Ludovico Einaudi—yes the composer of the score for the French hit film The Untouchables—but here with his Divinire. Between the Minis a Steinway emerged that with a little help of the RF remote control grew into the true full size. Though in essence minimalist and repetitive, this recording with added orchestra hints at Debussy and wasn’t it Claude who wrote Two Arabesques? Next was Zita Swoon Band in a Box, a great live recording performed in the empty De Vooruit venue of Ghent/Belgium.
Just like with the previous CD, the Arabesque Mini proved very capable of displaying things that weren’t there. There was no piano in the room, no orchestra and no Belgian collective either. It all came down to a successful illusion created by the equipment as fed by a recording. In this act of make believe, the Mini played a huge role. There was no bigger bass than is possible with other quality smallish speaker but the need for a subwoofer was nonetheless obviated. Without artificial bass enhancement displayed by many modestly sized speakers which boost the upper bass output a bit, Crystal’s design instead enabled a clear open look into the complex substructure and meaning of the music without getting analytic or cold.
