Radiant Acoustics Clarity 4.2

On the first page of the Radiant Acoustics Clarity 4.2 Welcome Guide, Radiant Acoustics founder Peter Lyngdorf states, "The first thing you'll notice when listening to these speakers is the absence of distortion."

- HERB REICHERT

Seeing that, my brain responded: I hope not. When I listen to records, the first thing (or things) I want to notice is, who is singing what song and where might they be singing it?

I say this without cynicism. I understand that an engineering-focused company is likely to frame the virtues of their products in technical terms. But when I sit down to listen, I want the first thing I notice to be the music and its qualities.

Radiant Acoustics of Denmark is a technology-forward enterprise. Its declared intention is to make small, room-friendly speakers that put out clean, full-range bass and play loud with low harmonic and intermodulation distortion.

Radiant’s website explains, “Founded by Peter Lyngdorf, [Radiant Acoustics] brings together three of his esteemed companies: HiFi Klubben, PURIFI, and Nordic Hi-Fi, combining over 80 years of expertise. This partnership unites PURIFI’s cutting-edge technology, HiFi Klubben's industry knowledge and infrastructure, and Nordic Hi-Fi's direct-to-consumer model to create top-tier audio products at a reasonable price.”

Attaining Clarity

The Radiant Clarity 4.2 ($2998/pair) is just 10.24" tall. It comes packed as a pair in a 14" x 12" × 18" cardboard box. They were tricky to remove from their packaging without sticking a finger through a driver: Each cabinet is inside a white bag, and every side I touched had little drivers on it. I kept feeling for a side with five-way binding posts, but there wasn't one, which puzzled me.