NHT C3 Carbon

Experience the real High End sound at a modest price with the NHT C3 Carbons

The NHT C3 Carbon Fiber is a particularly interesting compact loudspeaker, because it isn't a conventional two-way bookshelf speaker. It is a three-way, sealed-box design with three dedicated aluminium drivers.

NHT C3 Carbon Fiber — what makes it special?

The NHT C3 Carbon Fiber is the premium/limited-edition version of NHT's C3. It was developed from the Classic Three, which had been one of NHT's best-selling designs.

Its basic recipe is unusual:

3-way acoustic-suspension design
6.5-inch aluminium-cone woofer
2-inch aluminium-dome midrange
1-inch aluminium-dome tweeter
Sealed cabinet
87 dB claimed sensitivity
6 Ω nominal impedance
4 Ω minimum impedance
Approximately 13.75 × 7.5 × 10.125 inches
Approximately 16 lb / 7.2 kg per speaker
Recommended amplification of approximately 50–150 W/channel.

The three-way design is quite unusual today, as most stand mount loudspeakers are 2 way.

woofer/mid → crossover → tweeter

The C3 instead has:

woofer → midrange → tweeter

That gives the dedicated 2-inch midrange driver responsibility for vocals and much of the critical midband.

That's one reason the C3 can produce such a convincing presentation of vocals, guitars, piano, strings and acoustic instruments.

How does it sound?

The C3 is a transparent sounding loudspeaker, it can a bit bass light to some ears or room due to the sealed enclosure. However the sound is crystal clear and vocals are beautifully realistic. They present a beautiful soundstage and imaging is a strong point.  

It's fast, punchy and neutral, rubbish in, rubbish out with these speakers. 

Imaging is one of its biggest strengths

With a good recording, you can get fantastic separation, excellent left to right streo imaging and a sound that projects from the loudspeaker, in other words the loudspeakers themselves sonically dissapear and you are left with stunning music. That's very much in keeping with the traditional NHT approach.

What about the bass?

It doesn't try to produce huge, bloated bass from a small enclosure.

The sealed cabinet gives the bass a tight, controlled character, but the speaker doesn't have the sheer low-frequency weight of a large floorstander. We recommend using a subwoofer with the NHT C3, it really does take them to the next level, believe us! 

We here at Eden Audio would describe the sound as

Tight, fast and controlled rather than big and boomy.

The amplifier is important

The C3 Carbon Fiber is rated at only 50–150 W/channel, but its impedance can fall to 4 Ω.

 A powerful, clean amplifier can give the C3 enormous dynamic headroom.

The advantage is having plenty of reserve rather than constantly running the amplifier near its limits.

Where the NHT C3 makes most sense

 The C3's are particularly attractive for someone who wants serious stereo sound without having two enormous speakers dominating the room. Rooms such as 15sqm -20 sqm are ideal for these speakers.

They are also sealed, which can make positioning near a wall more forgiving than many rear-ported designs. 

They're ideally used on proper stands, with the tweeters approximately at ear level.

What music suits them?

 The NHT C3 to our ears here at Eden Audio sound particularly good with:

🎸 Rock
🎤 Vocals
🎷 Jazz
🎹 Piano
🎻 Classical
🎼 Acoustic music
🎵 1970s/80s recordings
🎤 Singer-songwriter
🎧 High-quality digital recordings
💿 Vinyl

In other words, the C3's sound pretty damn good with all genres of music.

 The NHT C3 Carbon Fiber is a very serious little loudspeaker. Its party trick isn't enormous bass—it's precision, speed, transparency and imaging from a remarkably compact three-way design.

And paired with something like the Audimaxim MA2300 power amplifier, it has the potential to make a very interesting high-performance compact system.