"Aria Maestrale" - 12" 2 way

A finished pair

Project completed in April 2022. In October 2025, a major retrofit was performed on the internal tuning system. Available in stock.

The Aria Maestrale (AM) are inspired by the Aria stand-mount speakers, sharing the exact same transducers. However, they magnify their performance through a specialized alignment design and the implementation of a highly advanced crossover, offering multiple options for in-room emission tuning.   

 

First and foremost, the 160-liter internal volume grants an incredible low-frequency extension. The bass is authentic—produced by a 30 cm driver moving just a few millimeters, precisely thanks to its large radiating surface area. Throughout these pages, I have often tried to explain why Clinamen considers the use of small, long-excursion woofers incompatible with true high fidelity: it is impossible to design a long-stroke driver with high flux density in the magnetic gap, to say nothing of transient response speed and Doppler distortion.

The enclosure tuning features Clinamen's proprietary TDR (Tuned Distributed Reflex) system. It utilizes a large-area rear grid that vents outward through a broad panel with differentiated length sections. Technically, the advantages are immense. The resulting bass is remarkably fast and articulated, rich in harmonics, and completely free of the monotone character common to conventional bass-reflex designs.

 

Standing waves in tower speakers are unfortunately often overlooked: settling in a frequency region that affects the upper-bass/lower-midrange (between 120 and 200 Hz, depending on speaker height), they impart a highly annoying coloration to the low frequencies, rendering them muddy, poorly harmonic, and often monotone. Many designers resort to notch filters—reactive crossover components designed to attenuate the frequency region in question. However, these elements continuously shuttle energy back and forth within their reactive component, capacitors and inductors, where the remedy is arguably worse than the disease.

At Clinamen, we addressed the standing wave mode (specifically at 147 Hz, corresponding to the internal vertical length of 110 cm) through a pure acoustic approach: a precisely calculated acoustic resonator, optimized in geometry, volume, and positioning. Its effectiveness is outstanding, allowing the Aria Maestrale to reveal all the low-frequency majesty and harmonic richness it is capable of.

 The graph below illustrates the meticulous development carried out to filter the standing wave using natural physical means. It shows the near-field acoustic pressure, measured via MLS impulse response, at the reflex port (with the rear tuning panel removed, placing the peak reflex contribution at 75 Hz—much higher than its actual operating point). It is clearly visible that without the resonator, the port exhibits a pronounced contribution right at the standing wave frequency. The un-damped resonator produces a deep notch, fully absorbing the resonant frequency. By softening the Q-factor of the resonator with natural wool, its intervention is broadened across a wider frequency band, giving the corrective action the ideal balance.

 

2025 Retrofit: Internal Helmholtz resonator for longitudinal standing wave dissipation 

Design and Aesthetics

The Aria Maestrale is also the result of meticulous design research, making it a remarkably elegant and refined speaker: the stunning grain of the birch plywood is left visible and protected by a scratch-resistant finish. Striking details include the top-mounted tweeter support bracket crafted from mirror-polished AISI 304 stainless steel, matched by the AISI 304 rear tuning grid and the impressive pedestal designed to maximize footed stability.

 

The rear tuning panel is a touch of true sophistication, crafted from 20 mm thick methacrylate that reveals the beautiful tuning grid beneath. Furthermore, it is adjustable using calibrated spacers, allowing for precise fine-tuning of the speaker's tuning frequency within the listening room.

Another major upgrade over the stand-mount Aria is the implementation of emission level controls for both the tweeter and the lower-midrange/midrange presence.

The tweeter is a 4-inch paper-cone unit with a "locked" suspension—a classic technique from golden-era transducer design. Driven by an exceptionally powerful motor assembly behind a moving mass under 3 grams, its sensitivity reaches an impressive 97 dB/W/m. It radiates into the room via a front waveguide while operating as a dipole to the rear. The sheer naturalness of the high frequencies produced by such a driver is virtually unattainable with standard compression drivers.

The tweeter assembly and its wooden appendages are mounted onto an AISI 304 stainless steel frame, decoupled from the main cabinet via a mechanical low-pass filter with an extremely low resonant frequency. Its sensitivity level can be adjusted across 5 distinct positions INDUCTIVELY, preserving full dynamic contrast and tonal purity with zero energy loss.

The adjustment panels are crafted from mirror-polished AISI 304 stainless steel with precision laser engraving. Tweeter attenuation is handled inductively—avoiding any resistive losses that could degrade dynamics or tonal purity. The remaining crossover components (wax-impregnated Jantzen air-core copper foil inductors, professional Italian selector switches, and Jantzen audio-grade resistors) are of undisputed quality, reflecting their critical role in shaping the final sound.

 The cabinet is crafted from premium-grade 24 mm thick birch plywood, featuring 45-degree miter joints reinforced with hardwood dowels along the entire joining perimeter. The wooden accents surrounding the transducers feature a hand-distressed oxidized bronze finish.

 

 

PRICING

The price for this stunning pair of Aria Maestrale is €12,000 plus shipping costs

 

DIMENSIONS

 

• Height: 120 cm (excluding tweeter frame, including pedestal) | 140 cm (overall)

• Width: 49 cm (cabinet only) | 65 cm (including pedestal)

• Depth: 43 cm (cabinet including rear tuning panel, excluding pedestal) | 60 cm (including pedestal)

 

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