Building your own high performance speaker, CSS Criton 2TD-X tower kit.

i think it is a safe assumption that most of us would like to spend a thousand dollars on a speaker and get five thousand dollar performance but from my experience i believe you get what you pay for in the speaker world now i'm not so sure about the amplifier world anymore but today we are talking about speakers for sure the best value for the money is going to diy route do it yourself for those of you who follow me you know one of my audio buddies is mr diy i gave him that nickname because he has built his own speakers his current speakers can easily compete with high-end 20 000 speakers and it did not cost him anywhere close to that to build of course diy can be easy and it can be hard it is simply more than just putting a few drivers into the cabinet but if you get it right the reward is quite big the problem with diy is getting it right and i guess just like any commercial product you have good diy and bad diy products now recently i made a video on my modified focal 836w speakers the person who modified it built a new crossover for it and also worked on improving the cabinet the end result is you have a speaker that although originally cost four thousand dollars can now compete with ten thousand dollar plus speakers so the idea of diy and modifying speakers has always interest me now one creative sound solution reached out to me asking if i would be interested in reviewing their speaker kit i was extremely excited because i wonder would i get four thousand dollar performance by spending only a thousand five hundred dollars i requested their top of the line carton 2d dx speaker and the idea behind the company is you get a kit and you build the speakers yourself which as a result saves you a lot of money after all you save on the labor now before i go into the main topic let me tell you a story there was one email i got from css that was very interesting they told me they have this client that told them at times that client would prefer his css speaker with a subwoofer over his wilson sabrina for those of you who don't know wilson sabrina these speakers are over ten thousand dollars i reached out to the client which happened to be a subscriber of mine and the email i got from him was very special he sent me some photos and told me why the css speakers are special to him he has built it with his children and he wanted to teach them they can get good stuff good quality stuff too by building it themselves you don't always have to buy commercial finished product to get the good stuff as a father myself i can appreciate the lesson now this exchange was done before i received my speakers so at the time i have not yet heard the css speakers but in my head i was telling myself there must be something special with these css speakers now the logical me knows that i don't expect an affordable speaker to outperform a high-end speaker well objectively in that sense my expectations were realistic and i had a theory and so once i power up the css speakers i was like oh i see so today let's talk about the kryten t2tdx speaker [Music] so before we begin in case you do not know a few of my audio buddies and i also have a passion for photography in case being an audiophile has not drained your wallet dry and you are looking for another hobby another expensive hobby you can give photography a try the reason i'm mentioning this today is that the sponsor for today's video is skillshare yes i get to earn coffee money skillshare an online learning community where millions come together to take the next step in their creative journey with thousands of inspiring classes for creative and curious people on topics including illustration design photography video freelancing and more it's curated specifically for learning meaning there are no ads and they're always launching new premium classes so you can stay focused and follow whatever your creativity takes you now given i am interested in photography i took a look at their courses and i found this course from jessica kobesie which was quite interesting now the first thousand of my subscribers to click the link in the description we'll get a one month free trial of skillshare so you can start exploring your creativity today so back to the css i wanted the best of the best respects from them so i received the crediton 2 tdx with superior upgraded parts it costs 1474 before finishing with the kit you get everything you need to build the speaker and you can finish it any way you want for those who don't know a speaker's finishing is a big factor in the final selling price if you look at their seven hundred dollar ish kraton one t d x speakers the price difference between the finish and unfinished versions is over a thousand bucks the reason i got a finished pair instead of a kit is because i told them look man i don't have time to build it myself and you know i have never soldered ever now these speakers are rated from 30 hertz to 20 kilohertz with a nominal impedance of 6 ohms and a sensitivity of 90 db i did ask them to send me the measurements so for the speakers and let me put it up on screen here to describe how the css sounds top end is very smooth some might find it a bit too rolled off and not detailed enough interestingly usually i find rolled off speakers have a hint of dryness but in this case it does not it is still somewhat extended despite it not being hyper detailed nor does it sparkle like other speakers i own i find the smoothness on the top end affecting the mids which is also really smooth and warm that's definitely good body in the mids bass is the star for me and it is fast deep and nuanced instrument separation and sound stage is good too very good which i'll come back later now it does stretches slightly beyond the speakers the sound stage on both sides and you can create a holographic 3d sound stage behind the speakers in short this is how i would describe the sound and i'll break it down further with the glowingly positive reviews online is it all hyped is this a good speaker well let me ask you what does good means to you for those of you who follow me you know for the sake of easier discussion i like to categorize speakers into analytical speakers and musical speakers analytical speakers would be vocal speakers right where you can hear the pin dropping effortless detail and sparkles like note tomorrow with musical speakers by my definition are slightly rolled off on the top and so you don't spend too much time analyzing the music but rather you just listen to the music for example my son's favorite toy speakers are what i consider musical speakers let me tell a story i remember one night my audio buddy and miss decanter like me and him were a b testing a pair of focal against the sony's faber toy and after the addition mr canto was so impressed that he borrowed the sony's favorite toy home you see when we switch from the focal speakers to the sony's favorite toy we notice suddenly everything becomes quieter we're no longer constantly bombarded by information and we're saying things like man this is so much more relaxing for those of you who don't know us today because you don't follow me we are the biggest focal fanboy on the planet i have owned all the focal up to the sopra 2 and also after trying 90 pairs of speakers at my home i realize both analytical and musical speakers can equally be engaging and not one is better than the other some people might associate the word analytical as a negative word but for me it is just a description i personally am more into the analytical speakers but i can appreciate musical speakers so to answer the question is it good if you're looking for a musical presentation where the emphasis is on long listening sessions it is excellent if you're looking for a speaker where you can push the volume without getting listening fatigue it is excellent in my case it took me a while to get used to the presentation and why did i take the time after trying over like after trying many speakers i learned one thing every speaker has something to offer and you need to give it a chance to really understand it you know a bit like i like chinese food and if i try french food and i don't like it as much it does not mean it is not good or not as good it means i need to spend more time trying it to appreciate it speakers for me are the same that is why you see me using these css speakers a lot in the b-rolls of my other videos recently because i spent a lot of time listening to these speakers i wanted to get it what do these speakers have to offer let me give you a tip if a speaker impresses you in the first three minutes it can be a red flag so after spending weeks with the css eventually i came to this realization if you are focused speaker lover these are not for you but if your focal speaker lover these are also for you if you're looking for a second speaker and wanted a completely different presentation come on guys i bet most of you have more than one pair of speakers at home let's do an exercise put in the comments what speakers you have at home today if i had to guess the subscriber who had those wilson speakers part of the reason why he likes these speakers is that it is the other extreme compared to the sabrina speakers you have your moment for analytical listening and you have your moment for you know just enjoying the music what i realized with these css speakers is because the top end is not like the main star i find myself focusing on the mid-range and the bass so that brings me to why i like these speakers now because these speakers are not hyper detailed i find myself noticing less the saliva of the singer the exchange of the breath and this is great if you're looking more for that euphonic smooth mid-range with almost no sibilance you know that sound you don't you don't have it with the speakers also because i am not drawn to the top end i find myself focusing on the lower mids and bass this is where the speaker rocks the base is nuanced fast dynamic and digs pretty deep it can pressurize my room pretty good and i can feel the chest pounding force when i push the volume with the right electronics of course and speaker positioning i see that every sound stage forming at the back of the speakers with especially with two apps now to get it to sound good for a phone call lover like me i spend weeks mixing and matching electronics if there's one negative i can say about these speakers this is a smooth sounding speaker so you need a bit of volume to bring it to life in the beginning man i would listen to it at low volume driving it with my macintosh mac6700 and i find myself easily falling asleep i had to get my more analytical gear back from my audio buddies to balance out the smoothness of these speakers the un s8 plus my moon 34i integrated amp was a good match now for those of you who don't know the un s8 and 34i moon are hyper detail and analytical with the css speakers it had a good balance another good pairing is the wilson r800 plus my xsl e28 that with the jcat linear power supply plus stack audio link 2 network bridge the key with that pairing was the stack audio because that streamer does wonders to transient and leading edges i well i use it not as a streamer but i use it as a reclocker and a usb jitter remover and it brings a lot of clarity to the presentation now i'll review it someday and guys wait for that review fantastic with the css speakers finally the same setup as the wilsonton r800i but with the doge10 that setup is omg with my modified doge10 running kt 120 tubes the base was fast controlled strong dynamic and detail man it is the detail in the bass that really impressed me i hear things i don't usually hear with entry-level speakers i also realize man these speakers are not so easy to drive as the specs suggested to get real dynamics out of them you need a bit of juice because in the beginning i was like ah the dynamics is just okay why did that cheap audio man told me these creightons would punch me in my face but combined with the doge 10 listening to the wonder woman album i was like wtf this is not what a thousand dollar 400 dollar speaker can do with the doge 10 and wilson r800 on top of that you will get your airy 3d soundstage if you pull those speakers away from the wall now of course i did pair it with electronics that are a bit more expensive but my point is this these speakers can scale up with more capable electronics not all speakers can do that you can either do let me pair it with very revealing front end or you can go the other way which is the pair with smooth sounding front end gear both can be fantastic depending on your taste so let me wrap it up here now some of you have told me you are planning to buy it and you're waiting for my review let me ask you one thing what is the most important thing you have to be aware of if you plan to buy these speakers they are good but if your first answer is not these speakers are very smooth and not hyper detailed you might be not happy when you first power it up you must really understand this point for me this move sounding characteristic is a very good thing if this is what you're looking for so don't buy it just because many youtubers say it is good but because this is what you want in a speaker hours of listening never have to worry about listening fatigue not many speakers go for this kind of voicing these days right these days there's so many analytical speakers out there that i don't come across many musical speakers today it's all about resolution and hyper detail and although i am one of those who prefer that kind of sound like a lot of detail i find my taste changing recently and i noticed i appreciate now both equally i guess this is what happens when you get old one final thing i have heard from a few people that css gives excellent customer service and i think this is one thing worth calling out and with that said i think that's it i will see you next time [Music] i never think i never know i'm stuck and left alone i've been lost i've been fine my cause is [Music] will you kiss me [Music] oh [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Thomas & Stereo

Views: 123,708

Keywords: Stereo, hifi, speakers, audiophile

Id: T7uHVSXl2NI

Length: 18min 22sec (1102 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 27 2021