CSS Criton 1TD-X Kit Speaker Review

[badspeakerdesigner]

If your source is a computer EQ is free, if not then it costs money.

I'd argue if you're looking for an upgrade that fits your placement without EQ, you'll want something with a similar roll off to the 3020i, but also something with better dispersion. The real shortcomings of the 3020i and Criton are that they are typical dispersion mismatched speakers, common problem of trying to run 6" woofers to a 1" dome tweeter. Basically anything with a waveguide on the tweeter will alleviate the problem.

 

[VladimirJ]

If your source is a computer EQ is free, if not then it costs money.

I'd argue if you're looking for an upgrade that fits your placement without EQ, you'll want something with a similar roll off to the 3020i, but also something with better dispersion. The real shortcomings of the 3020i and Criton are that they are typical dispersion mismatched speakers, common problem of trying to run 6" woofers to a 1" dome tweeter. Basically anything with a waveguide on the tweeter will alleviate the problem.

Unfortunately, it's not a computer, but a streamer, so the eq would need to be a hardware one.
I will try out some speaker solutions, as much as it will be possible, but I do hope I will be able to change my room situation a bit as well.
Thank you!

 

[droid2000]

Unfortunately, it's not a computer, but a streamer, so the eq would need to be a hardware one.
I will try out some speaker solutions, as much as it will be possible, but I do hope I will be able to change my room situation a bit as well.
Thank you!

If you can't move the speakers away from the front wall, then plug the speaker ports with socks to see if that helps.

DSP is the way to go though if you can swing it. I'm using a cheap Mac Mini for DSP. Others have had success with standalone hardware units like this https://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/minidsp-2x4-hd

 

[maty]

What would be regarded as a "large" room?
At least, large enough for the 1TD-Xs?

Leaving aside the larger or smaller size of the room for a speaker that drops so much in frequency, what is evident is that it needs separation from the rear and side walls.

The lower in frequency a speaker is, the easier it is to excite nodes in the room.

Once you have the speaker or have built it, it is best to try plugging the rear bass-reflex if you can not get it far enough away from the walls.

 

[VladimirJ]

Leaving aside the larger or smaller size of the room for a speaker that drops so much in frequency, what is evident is that it needs separation from the rear and side walls.

The lower in frequency a speaker is, the easier it is to excite nodes in the room.

Once you have the speaker or have built it, it is best to try plugging the rear bass-reflex if you can not get it far enough away from the walls.

Thanks, I will do that once I get them back from a loan.
I was asking about the room size since the other speakers I'm interested in are the Whatfedale Linton 85s and I'm affraid they might be an overkill in my room.

 

[maty]

- QA 3020i speakers (which I wanted to upgrade)
My room is 5 x 3,5 x 2,7 meters, with an opening towards the kitchen (on the right hand side, from my seating position).

Maybe, if you live in NA: Ascend Acoustics Sierra-2EX V2 https://ascendacoustics.com/products/sierra-2ex-v2-pair?variant=40390917750838

-> You need watts

Old model (V1, crossover not optimized)

 

[MabeHall]

Not sure exactly why u are hearing this. I have the 2td-x and don't feel this way. I do have some acostic treatment in my room.

I told my wife about ur comment and she agreed with me. There is no boomyness at all. My speakers are set up a good 3 1/2 feet from the wall.

 

[VladimirJ]

I told my wife about ur comment and she agreed with me. There is no boomyness at all. My speakers are set up a good 3 1/2 feet from the wall.

Unfortunately, that is a no-go in my listening room. I simply don't have the space needed for that.
On the other hand, I found them bass-heavy in my other listening room, where they were removed approx. 2 feet from the back wall and at approx. 5 feet from side walls.

 

[Paweł L]

Bass heavy, no a problem. Just lower the value of the large inductor and it will bring the mids up a bit. Can't remember what was the original value, but I think lowered it by 0.5mH. Also increasing the length of the port by 2-3cm will tune the port lower with less upper/mid bass energy. Might work better for some rooms. Then closing the port with foam will turn the design into aperodic closed box, where the cut off frequency is higher but the slope is shallower.

 

[Paweł L]

What would be regarded as a "large" room?
At least, large enough for the 1TD-Xs?

Stop looking at this graph as it doesn't show the baffle step diffraction effect. This measurement is taken a few cm from the membrane of the particular driver and has nothing to do with anechoic measurement at a distance larger than 0.5m. I bet that measured at 1-2m the speaker is almost flat from 100 to 1kHz. Most likely the boominess comes from the way your speakers are set up, listening position and room itself.

 

[Ricardojoa]

Just plug the ports and see how it sounds

 

[D!sco]

Too much bass for you? Just get used to an adequate amount of bass already! Or just EQ! How hard is that?

 

[VladimirJ]

Too much bass for you? Just get used to an adequate amount of bass already! Or just EQ! How hard is that?

No need to be snapy... I didn't mean to offend anyone.

 

[VladimirJ]

Just plug the ports and see how it sounds

Plugged the ports. Sounds better to me. Thanks!

 

[paulgyro]

For some reason this review does not show up within the review index. Might be something good to fix so that it's easily findable.