My Crites CS-1T's

Just wanted to post some pics of my first speaker build. Im totally happy with th results. Still need to make the grills


P1010527 by brian6751, on Flickr

P1010524 by brian6751, on Flickr

P1010523 by brian6751, on Flickr

P1010525 by brian6751, on Flickr

These will be my side surround channels And I'll make another for my center. I'm going to customize the Lascalas you see in the pics to match the CS-1T's. The look I'm going for here is basically a "Pottry Barn" rustic theme. My wife seems to like it as well. Not sure if I'm going to make two additional for my sixth and seventh channels or Just go with some in walls.

Here's the cloth I'm using for the grills. It's FR905. Top right.

http://www.acousticalsolutions.com/acoustone-speaker-grill-cloth-color-chart/display_lightbox/prod_266
Edited by brian6751 - 8/31/12 at 1:13pm

thanks. I used your pics during my build. they were helpful. I used a preconditioner first. the finish is one coat of Minwax Dark Walnut and four coats of Arm R Seal with some steel wool sanding in between.
Edited by brian6751 - 9/1/12 at 6:52am

the idea of showing the entire back of Bobs crossover came from me cutting the binding post hole at the wrong end. there are components of the network that are too tall for it to be upside down. the horn driver goes back too far. so instead of having two square holes in the back and looking like an obvious mistake, I opened the entire back up. bad part is that I had to glue it in. the screws alone were not enough to seal it.

I had thought about selling my Lascalas and building cornscalas but decided to just customize the Lascalas instead.

I actually made more than a couple mistakes on these but they still turned out the way I wanted. I learned a lot building them.

One mistake I made was putting the blocking in before assembling the panels. Bad idea because the panels were not cut perfect so then my blocking did not line up. Worst one was the one in the picture showing the back. You can see the different patterns in the wood. That's because the top left corner stuck out a good quarter inch. I had to sand the back panel down and then flush cut the outer panels to it. Then I filled the gaps in on the inside with PL Premium.

I have a tip for you if your going to do the two ways with the Tractrix horn. Look for YouTube videos on drawing an oval using three nails and a string. Use this method to make yourself a template for the horn cutout.

I have some more build pics that I'll post later. I wish I took a pick of that corner. It was really bad. I must of been too embarrassed and didn't want any proof lol.

Also Smokarz, I used a pre conditioner before I stained it.

As far as the sound. They sound really good. They get very loud. Great dynamics. The Tractrix horn seems to have a little better dispersion than the old Klipsch's but I don't Have them set up very well right now so it's hard to directly compare. They are on top of the Lascalas so, up too high. The CS-1 don't seem to smack you in the face with their dynamics as much as the Lascalas but they are closer then I expected. I know its not a fair comparison, but a lot of people that are interested in these are also into the heritage Klipsch stuff. My verdict is they match up really well tonally. Im sure the Cornscala would get much closer to the Lascalas but for center channel and surround duties, these will work great IMO. They would also make great mains in a less insane system.

The best speakers I can compare them to personally after the Lascalas would be my old 6T's and it's not even close. the CS-1 are way more dynamic and clear. Much bigger sound. Not even a fair comparison.

Just an update.

You know what they say about speakers. Location, location, location!

I moved them down onto the floor atop some slant risers I made and that makes a HUGE difference. More bass. More detail and crispness in the highs. The Tractrix horn needs no tow in. Very big sweet spot. This is the way I would have them in a two channel setup. Not up on stands, but closer to the floor tilted up. It reinforces the lower frequencies better.

I'm very impressed with these and I highly recommend them.

im using the Selenium D220Ti OMF HF Drivers with the Selenium Faital Pro LTH102 Tractrix Horns in the CS-1T's. My La Scalas are all stock. im going to sell them and build Tractrix 2 way Cornscalas