How is the Clarisys ribbon actually manufactured?

A Clarisys ribbon is not stamped on a line — it is built by hand, in a sequence of closely controlled steps. The manufacturing and mechanical engineering takes place in Hanoi, Vietnam; Acoustic research, development, and ongoing acoustic testing is conducted in Zwingen, Switzerland. Here is how a ribbon panel comes together.

1. Foil and substrate preparation

The process begins with the selection of high-purity aluminium foil at a precisely controlled thickness — thin enough to keep moving mass in the milligram range, thick enough to carry the signal current without excessive heating. The foil is bonded to a Kapton (polyimide) film under controlled pressure and temperature, producing the aluminium-on-Kapton composite that is the heart of the bass ribbon. The midrange and trebble ribbons are pure aluminium foil.

2. Corrugation

The foil (composite for the bass section, pure aluminium for the midrange and treble) is then corrugated — pressed with a precision die to impart a series of fine lateral folds. The corrugation is not decorative: it gives the ribbon the axial compliance it needs to move forward and backward without going into tension. A flat foil under tension would resist motion and would buckle on the return stroke; a corrugated foil can extend and compress along its length while staying flat across its width.

3. Cutting and clamping

The corrugated foil — composite for the bass section, pure aluminium for the midrange and treble sections — is cut to the precise length and width for the section it will serve. The ends are clamped into the tensioning fixtures — the terminal blocks that also carry the signal current into the foil.

4. Tensioning

The ribbon is then tensioned in its frame, like a piano string, to its operating tension. This is the step that sets the ribbon's mechanical resonance and its flatness, and it is done per-ribbon, by hand, against a measured reference. (See the article on the tensioning system.)

5. Magnetic gap assembly

The tensioned ribbon is mounted in the magnetic gap — between the pole pieces of the N52 neodymium magnet circuit. The gap width is held to a tight tolerance, because the force on the ribbon (F = B·I·L) depends on the flux density B, which depends on the gap. The ribbon must be centred in the gap so that it never touches the pole pieces at full excursion.

6. The bipole second ribbon

For the midrange and treble sections, a second, identical ribbon is assembled and mounted on the rear of the frame, wired in phase with the front, completing the bipole.

7. Transformer and crossover

Each section is wired to its dedicated transformer, and the transformers are wired to the crossover network (internal on the Piccolo and Minuet, external on the Studio and above). On the external-crossover models, foil ribbon cables are fitted between crossover and speaker.

8. Acoustic testing

Every panel is measured before it leaves the factory — impedance, sensitivity, and frequency response — against the reference curves developed in Zwingen. Panels that deviate are re-tensioned or re-built.

The result is a driver that is as much handcraft as it is engineering — which is why production volumes are what they are.