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CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit Speaker Review

Rate this speaker:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 5 1.8%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 104 38.2%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 140 51.5%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 23 8.5%

  • Total voters
    272

amirm

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This is a review and detailed measurements of the CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit speaker. I requested a sample from the company and shipped a pair to me already built in nice veneer:
CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit Review.jpg

I believe the kit costs US $770 including an MDF flatpack. Typical of DIY kits, you get the value add of very heavy construction likely due to (3/4?) thick MDF panels. I would say it is nearly twice as dense/heavy as any speaker costing near its its KIT price. Not much to see on the back side:
CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit Back Panel Port Review.jpg


Company was a delight to work with, being highly responsive and quite patient as I got to test these speakers.

Measurements you are about to see are performed by Klippel Near-field scanner. Frequency response measurements are "anechoic." Reference axis is the tweeter center.

CSS Criton 1TD-X Measurements
Here is our usual "spinorama" CEA-2034 frequency response graphs:
CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit Frequency Response Measurements.png


The on-axis as noted is generally flat and good, sans a few dB here or there. What stands out is the directivity error around crossover point where the woofer has gotten directional but the tweeter is not. This is due to lack of large waveguide around the tweeter to match the directivities of the two drivers.

Sensitivity is less than specifications and I had to push the speaker by 4 to 5 dB to get my usual reference measurement level. Be sure to have good bit of amplification power to drive these speakers.

Near-field response shows a resonance from the port/cabinet and and another from the woofer outside of its range:
CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit driver Frequency Response Measurements.png


Early window reflections have a bit of deviation due to the directivity error:
CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit early window Frequency Response Measurements.png


But interestingly enough sum up well with on-axis to produce a good predicted in-room frequency response:
CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit Predicted in-room Frequency Response Measurements.png


As predicted from the spin, there is directivity error:
CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit Horizontal Beamwidth Measurements.png

CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit Horizontal directivity Measurements.png


The wider response can be a benefit or not, depending on your room situation. Vertical response is typical for a 2-way speaker so stay at tweeter axis relative to your ear height:
CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit Vertical directivity Measurements.png


Distortion performance was very good at 86 dBSPL and 96 dBSPL with latter above low bass:
CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit THD Distortion Measurements.png


CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit Relative THD Distortion Measurements.png


Impedance is above average which makes it an easier load for an amplifier (requires less current):
CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit Impedance and phase Measurements.png


Finally here are CSD/Waterfall and step responses:

CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit CSD waterfall Distortion Measurements.png


CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit Step Response Measurements.png


CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit Listening Tests and Equalization
Note: my allergies are acting up and my ears are rather plugged up!

First impression was fairly positive with my female vocal tracks. After a bit though, I found the sound a bit bright so applied different EQ filters and landed on these:
CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit Equalization EQ.png


Fully correcting to on-axis response in upper bass/mid-range was challenging as it improved things on some tracks, but made others boomy. So I had to back off as you see. Bass response was very good but if you cranked it up too much, it would gradually get distorted. I played with a high pass filter but at the end, I didn't like it. Proper correction in bass region requires room measurement to make sure one knows the interaction with the room modes. Other that, the sound was excellent especially on vocals, instrumental and techno music.

I was impressed by the dynamics of the speaker. That woofer has fair amount of excursion compared to what we typically see in speakers in this size. Yes, as noted, it tries to play too low of a frequency and can get distorted. Other than that though, this speaker can play loud, really loud! Despite only using one speaker, I was able to fill a very large space with very enjoyable sound.

Note that I was driving the speaker with 400+ watts of power so as noted, you need to give it fair amount of juice (if you want to listen loud).

Conclusions
The CSS Criton 1TD-X design has benefited from some good design choices such as a woofer with impressive power delivery with good on-axis and predicted-in-room frequency response. There are minor imperfections here and there but at higher level, it achieves very good fidelity. Subjective experience with a bit of filtering was very good. As a kit, it will give you the satisfaction of building something you can take pride in.

Let me also repeat the willingness of the company to have its speaker subjected to our rigorous testing where others run away fast. Or don't even respond. These things score big points in my book.

I am going to put the CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit speaker to my recommended list.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

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Cars-N-Cans

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Interesting about the brightness. Usually the dip in the cross-over region followed by the slight hump in the treble is what can sometimes make it bright with some speakers for me. But here other than the upper treble it seems to sort of spend an equal amount of time above and below the trendline in the predicted in-room response, so the relative deviations may not be big enough to be a problem.
 

Prana Ferox

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Glad to see this measuring well. This kit always looked appealing to me but I've already got a DIYSG Helix kit (that I still haven't finished) and this seemed too similar. Note there's a version with a different tweeter that's only $549.
 
OP
amirm

amirm

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Interesting about the brightness.
Truth to be told, I could not fully identify the source of this. But it did get better when I pulled down the lower treble. As I was writing the review, I remembered the resonances from cabinet and woofer. In the past, pulling those down would help here.
 

alex-z

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It is $775 without the cabinet, $935 with the MDF flat-pack.

For that reason I think it is actually poor value. A pair of Revel M16 is $1000, and have regularly dropped to $700. I feel if CSS had included a waveguide on the tweeter it would elevate this kit enough to justify the price.
 

Cars-N-Cans

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It is $775 without the cabinet, $935 with the MDF flat-pack.

For that reason I think it is actually poor value. A pair of Revel M16 is $1000, and have regularly dropped to $700. I feel if CSS had included a waveguide on the tweeter it would elevate this kit enough to justify the price.
The fully furnished and completed pair is quite costly at $2,350 USD. As for the waveguide I would assume that this is an off-the-shelf tweeter so it may not be feasible unless they change drivers, but it may be a custom unit built to their specs, in which case they could redesign the tweeter package to include the waveguide (edit: Different waveguide since the package does have one). Not sure...
 
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badspeakerdesigner

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Yeah I don't feel this is the best value for DIY. I expected better from the tweeter, especially considering that they're pretty expensive tweeters. Little bored of the typical two ways in the DIY world, once you've heard one like this you've kinda heard them all, typical mid range bloom on the non-waveguided tweeter, looks like the cabinet edges are causing problems too.
 
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Cars-N-Cans

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Yeah I don't feel this is the best value for DIY. I expected better from the tweeter, especially considering that they're pretty expensive tweeters. Little bored of the typical two ways in the DIY world, once you've heard one like you've kinda heard them all, typical mid range bloom on the non-waveguided tweeter, looks like the cabinet edges are causing problems too.
Yeah and by the time you round the offending edges off and add the waveguide in, its basically this speaker. In that regard, the value is not so great, anymore.
 

norman bates

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weird..............

" Symmetrical motor structure for optimal drive force balance with built-in aluminum field-stabilizing ring reduces even order harmonic distortion
Centre pole copper cap reduces voice coil inductance and minimizes variations in inductance relative to voice coil position "



To be fair, where should we cross a 6.5"-7" if we are making a 2-way ?
I think dispersion is fine, plenty for a couch at 7'.

And a 1" dome tweeter. Let alone the micro horn which may help phase by moving tweet back, distortion is also higher than I'd expect for xbl tweeter motor.......


seems subjectively was good, but I'd like to see acoustuf for more fill, but I am an overstuffer, lol.
Waterfall looks good also.

For roughly $2k in an unfinished unassembled pair, I'd look elsewhere though.

Due to the price, I vote not terrible.
I'd vote better if it was cheaper, flat packs need to be cheaper.
 
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droid2000

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weird..............

" Symmetrical motor structure for optimal drive force balance with built-in aluminum field-stabilizing ring reduces even order harmonic distortion
Centre pole copper cap reduces voice coil inductance and minimizes variations in inductance relative to voice coil position "



To be fair, where should we cross a 6.5"-7" if we are making a 2-way ?
I think dispersion is fine, plenty for a couch at 7'.

And a 1" dome tweeter. Let alone the micro horn which may help phase by moving tweet back, distortion is also higher than I'd expect for xbl tweeter motor.......


seems subjectively was good, but I'd like to see acoustuf for more fill, but I am an overstuffer, lol.
Waterfall looks good also.

For roughly $2k in an unfinished unassembled pair, I'd look elsewhere though.

Due to the price, I vote not terrible.
I'd vote better if it was cheaper, flat packs need to be cheaper.
How would you rank them if they were less than $1K?
 

RMW_NJ

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It is $775 without the cabinet, $935 with the MDF flat-pack.

For that reason I think it is actually poor value. A pair of Revel M16 is $1000, and have regularly dropped to $700. I feel if CSS had included a waveguide on the tweeter it would elevate this kit enough to justify the price.
Agree. And once you factor in finishing the cabinet and the time it takes to complete the project, I think there are better values.
 

AndreaT

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Fair fr, easy impedance, low efficiency. I am left to wonder why the speaker’s cable connectors are so close together. Curved shape of the front baffle might have helped tweeter’s behavior. Probably a pass considering the more polished offers of Revel, Genelec and Neumann (no need for power amp in the last two) in a similar price range. However, in kit form the price of $ 774 for a pair is competitive.
 
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voodooless

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This thing would really benefit from a waveguided tweeter. Also, why the drainpipe reflex tube? Use something with a flare! It can’t be that hard to find…

Overall though, this looks alright.
 

GWolfman

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Do the sharp edges of the box account for some of the directivity errors?
 

ROOSKIE

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This measures about what I would have guessed.
Do the sharp edges of the box account for some of the directivity errors?
Not nearly as much as the issue of the driver size mismatch at crossover.
Mid is beaming while tweeter is super wide. Typical issue with these driver sizes and no waveguide.
 
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Cars-N-Cans

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Do the sharp edges of the box account for some of the directivity errors?
If you compare the horizontal directivity of this speaker to a studio monitor the sharp corners cause a lot of high frequencies to diffract and add a lot of "junk" off to the sides of the response. Can see that in the directivity between +/-100-150 degrees in that there is regions of red at higher frequencies that would normally not be there. Naturally like poor directivity these will color the sound.

index.php



Compare to the Neuman KH420 which doesn't have this issue. There is pretty much nothing outside of the listening window since the waveguides along with the smooth edges on the cabinet do a good job of controlling things, albeit the listening window is narrower than most hi-fi speakers as its a studio monitor.

index.php


Edit: Not to add too many references to the ES20 since I already linked to it in an earlier post, but it does show what smoother edges and a reasonable waveguide for the tweeter would get this speaker. Can see its more uniform without the "bloom" and there isn't as much energy going beyond the listening window as with the CSS kit speaker.

index.php
 
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ROOSKIE

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If you compare the horizontal directivity of this speaker to a studio monitor the sharp corners cause a lot of high frequencies to diffract and add a lot of "junk" off to the sides of the response. Can see that in the directivity between +/-100-150 degrees in that there is regions of red at higher frequencies that would normally not be there. Naturally like poor directivity these will color the sound.

index.php



Compare to the Neuman KH420 which doesn't have this issue. There is pretty much nothing outside of the listening window since the waveguides along with the smooth edges on the cabinet do a good job of controlling things, albeit the listening window is narrower than most hi-fi speakers as its a studio monitor.

index.php


Edit: Not to add too many references to the ES20 since I already linked to it in an earlier post, but it does show what smoother edges and a reasonable waveguide for the tweeter would get this speaker. Can see its more uniform without the "bloom" and there isn't as much energy going off-axis as with the CSS kit speaker.

index.php
$10,000+ USD a pair.
Not exactly Apple to Apple on this set.

I don't believe that the slightly rounded corners do anything here for the KH420.
The wavegided tweeter and mid do not likely see the edge and that roundover is to small to affect much anyway.

Looks nice though.

Ps I have the ES20. It is not exactly an amazing sounding speaker IMO. I be curious to put it up against the CSS.
 
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ROOSKIE

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If anyone is interested the woofer is a variation of a 'famous' Wavecore model
The Wavecor WF182BD10.
These run $185 each@PE so the CSS rebrand is a good relative value.
 
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