The Hybrid Audio Clarus C51-2v2 is part of Hybrid Audio Technology’s “Stage IV” offering, an option that has received the praises of the mass media and users worldwide. All design cues for the Clarus series were taken from the Stage V Legatia series. Hybrid Audio Clarus C51-2v2 kit was reviewed by Car Audio & Electronics Magazine as one of the finest component sets ever tested, at any cost, in the past twenty years of the magazine’s review of car audio products. 

Each Hybrid Audio Clarus C51-2v2 kit contains a pair of 5 1/4" midbass drivers, a pair of Clarus C1 20mm soft-dome tweeters, Clarus competition-grade crossovers with nickel-plated spring- loaded terminals (suitable for display), tweeter hardware with several tweeter mounting options, connection wire, grilles, and gift box. The Hybrid Audio Clarus C51-2v2 systems are a good “step up” in performance from the Unity series, boasting higher grade materials, increased midbass authority, higher power handling, and elevated tonal and spectral balance performance.

Hybrid Audio Clarus C51-2v2 Attributes:

Hybrid Audio Clarus C51-2v2 frame is 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.

Hybrid Audio Clarus C51-2v2 Cone and Dust Cap: 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 proprietary 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 dust-cap 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 dust-cap 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 sub-bass 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.

Hybrid Audio Clarus C51-2v2 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 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.

Hybrid Audio Clarus C51-2v2 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.