The iconic Italian speaker manufacturer returns to Mono & Stereo with a review of the Diapason Karis III Olive speakers.
My fondness for the brand dates back to its earliest beginnings, and the same excitement remains whenever there is a chance to have a close encounter with one of Schiavi’s creations. Perhaps even more so, as I had the opportunity to see how Diapason speakers are developed and made, what makes the brand tick, and how the iconic Italian company keeps its course firm and uncompromising, regardless of trends and market shifts, a few years back.
The Karis, in its III edition, is a perfect example of dedication, passion, and the continued pursuit of excellence regardless of price and size.
Diapason – Alessandro Schiavi
Perceptiveness, sharpness, and unique lucidity have guided Alessandro Schiavi, founder and driving force behind Diapason, in creating loudspeakers that capture and convey the full spectrum of information preserved in a recording.
Drawing inspiration from the enduring beauty of Italian heritage and reinterpreting its forms and proportions through decades of creative work, he has pursued harmony down to the finest detail.
Karis III
The Karis III can be regarded as the compact counterpart to the Adamantes V, carrying the same proportions and multi-faceted design language. Its geometry enables a circular emission of sound through the drivers, allowing the loudspeaker to vanish and let the music take command.
All the technological refinements have lifted performance far beyond previous generations.
At its heart, an 11-cm Diapason Direct Drive woofer delivers remarkable authority in the lower registers, seamlessly complemented by a 19-mm tweeter with a generous surround, capable of reproducing harmonics with accuracy and finesse. The crossover circuit, mounted directly onto a thick PCB at the rear connectors, ensures the most efficient signal path from amplifier to speaker, reinforcing immediacy, spatial vividness, and a holographic sense of musical presence.
The Diapason Direct Drive principle, developed with Norwegian specialist SEAS to Diapason’s exacting specifications, connects the woofer directly to the rear terminals, bypassing a traditional low-pass filter. This purist approach results in bass that is rendered with speed, realism, and tactile energy—an essential element of Karis III’s unmistakable character.
The Olive Wood
Olive wood is a typical product of Diapason’s region, with its trees among the most widespread crops along the Brescia coasts of Lake Garda and Lake Iseo. This choice reflects Diapason’s deep roots and strong ties to its territory.
Crafting a speaker cabinet from solid olive wood is a fascinating challenge—bordering on the impossible. Its natural characteristics of density and mass make it ideal for acoustic purposes, yet olive wood is also strong, sinewy, and in many ways untamable. Using it in electroacoustics requires unique techniques. Even with meticulous attention to proper natural drying times and further stabilization through vacuum oven treatments (to optimize fiber moisture content), it is impossible to guarantee cabinet integrity if the dimensions exceed those of the Karis III. It is why only the Karis III and Karis Wave can use the advantages of this extraordinary material.
The challenges do not end there. Olive wood is so hard that the tools required to work it—saws, cutters, and drill bits—must be specially made from materials far more resistant than normal.
The reward, however, is a cabinet of remarkable mass and density, which translates into audible gains in dynamics, speed, and tonal contrast. The effect could be described as “deep black,” borrowing a term usually reserved for the highest-quality video displays.
The Music
Lyle Lovett – Joshua Judges Ruth
There is something extraordinary happening in the lower registers on “She’s Already Made Up Her Mind.” The pure musical energy carries some of the most focused at-forte bass notes—natural and non-overwhelming, with a momentum that recalls electronica or hip-hop depths, yet unlike many of these recordings remaining smooth and optimally balanced.The bass feels seamlessly integrated, expertly melded into the fabric of the song.
The Karis III holds its character with surprising authority, never intruding on the midrange. While this compact Diapason stand-mount does not extend to the absolute lowest notes, it still delivers a weightier and healthier impact than expected, one that blends harmoniously with the rest of the instruments.
Most importantly, it resonates emotionally with the narrative, establishing fundamentals well beyond expectations. This bold effortlessness invites repeated listening to grasp its full essence—a virtue in itself, and one that rightly deserves high praise.
Silk Moon – Renaud Garcia-Fons & Derya Türkan
My fascination with the potency and impact of the Karis III continued with Silk Moon. This delightful affair highlighted one of the strongest qualities of these mighty minis: the way the music comes together all at once, conveyed with exceptional intimacy.
These “mini” monitors spark an interesting phenomenon, almost forcing one to reset preconceived ideas—mine included. Their sheer ability to instantly reconnect the listener with the musical core is no happy accident, and the splendidly recorded music of Renaud Garcia-Fons & Derya Türkan demonstrates this at every turn.
The Karis III Mystique goes well beyond the norm, particularly in its ability to reveal spatial cues and disappear into the room, stepping aside to let the music take center stage.
Silk Moon calls for a radiant, vibrant speaker to unfold fully. Compact yet exceptionally lively, the Diapason olive solid-wood speakers punch far above their size. Most importantly, they reveal how even the smallest musical gestures resonate within the fabric of the music. As with all Diapason speakers, the magic resides in an extraordinary accumulation of acoustic detail, fused into an utterly vibrant movement of air.
Damar Amira – Medunjanin
Amira Medunjanin’s Damar unravels with intimacy and drama, and the Karis III instantly commanded attention by revealing the juxtaposition of fragility and power.
As with every piece of music, the Italian monitors did not force Damar into a heightened presentation but shaped it into a highly enticing sonic affair, with each note of Medunjanin’s voice presented with poise and fineness.
The Karis III distilled a lively, interactive experience with striking intimacy, magnetically aligned with the unhurried pacing that allowed the narrative to unfold. Silence and sung passages resonated with equal weight, shaping the performance with rare authenticity.
Their remarkable ability to project instruments and vocals with equal clarity and presence left an impact that lingered long after the final note faded, creating a resounding experience that transcends time and place, echoing Medunjanin’s honesty and purity while establishing an atmosphere where every nuance counts.
The Karis III speakers fill the listening space with disarming ease, intertwining layers of acoustic cues into a critical mass that places the performers vividly in the room, never feeling too large or too small.
Diapason proudly hand-made solid olive-wood monitors convey this Balkan music with mystique and authenticity, adding nothing superficial to the narrative. Every phrase and note unfolded seamlessly—vivid, vital, and alive.
The Conclusion
Too often in high-end audio, the most important element is overlooked—the reproduction of the music’s very essence. In its purest form, it is about conveying emotions.
In high-end audio, we sell performance and emotions, not grandiloquent boxes decorated with drivers.
Diapason has long been acknowledged for producing loudspeakers crafted from immaculate solid wood chassis, designs that have stood the test of time. The iconic Italian manufacturer is equally known for its instantly recognizable sound, tuned intimately close to the music.
The cultural touchstone of any high-end loudspeaker should be its ability to resonate emotionally with the listener. The more high-end audio intertwines with luxury mechanics, the more some brands divert from this essence.
While some product offerings may feel good enough, today’s clientele is far more discerning, carrying immense expectations shaped by top-tier experiences. The only long-term recipe is the creation of something meaningful and genuine—an antidote to the stream of mediocre by-products.
It is of utmost importance that the passion for creativity is embedded in the final product. It must not only meet expectations but move beyond them.
In this era of precision, measurements, and mathematical approaches, it remains vital to keep the technical side impeccable while avoiding the trap of stripping away emotional impact.
The Karis III is a gem of a loudspeaker that, despite its size, exhibits unique control—never the kind that diminishes emotional connection.
This proud creation from Schiavi is the result of layered complexity and austerity in the selection of materials, components, and, above all, the voicing of the loudspeaker.
Achieving this level of refined simplicity—what may appear as an effortless outcome—is in fact underscored by an epistemic path and a laser-focused determination to find balance, a currency for truth. Knowing the creative mind behind the Karis III, its realization as such comes as no surprise.
From the ground up, Karis III loudspeakers have been envisioned to be exceptional. Refined through painstaking research and development, these solid olive wood loudspeakers deliver a musical center sphere and spectral imaging that many far larger and more complex designs struggle to replicate. The same holds for their ability to convey the golden trinity of timbre, tone, and color.
Sonic opacity can arise intentionally or out of inexperience, and regardless of how much faux complexity or technical ornamentation is involved, the only thing that matters is the sonic outcome. Diapason compact monitors stand as the bold antidote: a continuous stream of unadulterated music.
With the Karis III, music materializes both as unaltered energy and as undiluted sonic propagation—never at the cost of one aspect or the other. These mighty miniatures interact directly with the listener, the result of deliberate voicing without interference, reflecting the true nature of music. This uniqueness precisely separates them from mediocre speakers.
What makes the Diapason Karis III even more compelling is its combination of musical precision and emotional resonance. With each generation, Schiavi design erudition has progressively stripped away mechanical noise, producing a loudspeaker of remarkable tangibility. The Karis III radiates music energy and dynamic vitality with a rare morphing plasticity that deserves emphasis.
This small Italian speaker is far from an intermediate product. It is a solitude-standing, musically voiced two-way design with a refined character, tonal balance, and fast, uncolored transients—all wrapped in pure Italian craftsmanship, materials, and industrial artistry.
Given its sonic imprint, the Karis III surprisingly transcends the limitations of a typical mini-monitor. It casts any given material with solidity and scale thanks to conscious decisions made at every step, always in service of music’s natural courtship of tone, rhythm, and emotional truth.
At every turn, the Karis III invites the listener into mesmerizing realms and the magic of the music, with all needed paraphernalia seamlessly fused with an instantly recognizable tessellation.
With its design and voicing language deeply rooted in Diapason’s DNA, this Italian boutique manufacturer proves it understands what its customers value most: longevity, emotional connection, and the intoxicating purity of music itself.
For its musical achievement and performance, I am pleased to grant the Diapason Karis III loudspeakers the 2025 Mono & Stereo Highly Recommended Product Award. ❖
Price
- KARIS III OLIVE 4285 Euro + VAT
- 2K BLACK STAND 1175 Euro + VAT
TECHNICAL SPECS
Frequency response
60/20.000 Hz
Bass Driver Ø
110 mm Direct Drive Polymetylpentene
Tweeter Ø
20 mm silk soft dome
Efficiency
87 dB/1W/1m
Freq. crossover
3.000 Hz
Nominal impedance
8 Ohm
Min. impedance
7,2 Ohm/300 Hz
Type
rear-ported reflex speaker
Max rated input voltage
10 V a.c.
Max rated input power RMS
25 W
Max rated dynamic input power
75 W
Finish
Olive solid wood, Natural Wood finishing
Weight per speaker
4,5 Kg
Weight per stand
12 Kg
Dimensions speaker
(w x d x h) 190 x 260 x 285 mm
Dimensions speaker with stand
(w x d x h) 260 x 310 x 1110 mm
Contact
Diapason
Via Fura 40
25125 Brescia
Italy
Tel. +39.030.3701234
Email: info@diapason-italia.com