*Thank you everyone for stopping by. This was exciting and it was hard keeping it a secret up until now! Please spread the word* www.css-audio.com/typhon www.css-audio.com/online-store/Typhon-Priced-Individually-p504884986
This is way cool... and it is only 20 minutes away from me !!! I have no idea that such a company existed in my backyard ! I would have LOVED to host you Jay !!!
@@davidjosephgill9702 absolutely. Magnetic grills that is acoustically transparent is included :) I will go into more detail in another video but the top module also features a mechanism so that it cannot be easily tilted over. we weren't messin around for 2 + years ;)
In my opinion this is the way to sell just about anything. Give the potential buyer a window into the process and a back story. I can’t wait to hear these! See you at AXPONA!
Great content, congrats on the collaboration with CSS. I think I’m about half an hour away from CSS and at some point will visit them to audition your creation. If you are ever around again I invite you to come over and check my budget oriented system. You may be in for a dramatic surprise. Cheers!!
Hi Jay, Congratulations in producing a Wilson Watt Puppy or Sasha for the Audiophile community at an affordable price, but I still think $5,500 USD is a bit steep. But I guess raw materials have gone through the roof, specially wood. All the best, looking forward for review. Also I did not know that the caps in the cross over could make such a tremendous difference.
Regarding x overs, after years of diy speakers, I always have out board x overs right behind my amps and run the cables to the speakers, just sounds better.
IMO, this is the best video Jay has done so far. What an exciting journey to the finish product. It was definitely not a walk in the park designing the speakers, especially the crossover. I am sure there were many late night sessions. My hats off to you guys. I am putting these speakers in my shopping list.
Have to say, I'm really impressed with the presentation and story behind the development of these speakers, not to mention the fact that they look gorgeous!
This is so cool! What a fun process to take part in. Jay, you’re living the REAL audiophile dream. The guys from CSS seem like really cool dudes who are passionate about speakers and aren’t just corporate businessman trying to flip a profit. I’m almost ready to pull the trigger on one of their DIY kits.
I can personally attest to your view of the Duelunds, my Tannoy's were completely done with the Duelunds & although it was expensive the upgrade was simply mind boggling... I know there is a difference in caps but the Duelunds really stand alone. Much success in your new project Jay.
I spent $600 to replaced all the caps and resistors in the tube stage of my Schiit Freya+. I did the work myself…which was an adventure. I have to say that the sound improvements were substantial and the whole effort and expense was super rewarding! This hobby is FUN! 👍🏼😀 (My situation needed substantial break-in before all the benefits were realized).
While the performances were middling at best, the "impromptu" footage clearly concocted, the dialogue trite....you guys are just SO DAMN CUTE! And this is (in all sincerity) an absolutely fabulous collaborative product and project. Hats off! Jay you did it. It's a bucket list thing. CSS, you guys make fantastic stuff. It's like going back in time to when old school speaker designers just did it for the love of the craft.
Interesting video, hope they make a ton of these. I very much enjoyed the cap comparison. I recently upgraded the caps in my Bottlehead Single-Ended Experiment v3 kit to Jupiter caps and they made a huge difference from the polymer caps they come with.
I finally broke down and spent the money on jantzen Caps on my ok latest speakers wow what a difference people try to tell me it's a placebo but you can just feel the weight difference and the bass is deep and the tremble is so clear it's definitely worth the extra money
This sounds like an awesome project. Can't wait to hear the reviews for this! This video is also really interesting so far and the look behind the building process is also very nice.
This is absolutely awesome. I really enjoyed the behind-the-scenes development process and discussions. All three of you seem like great guys, and you did a great job with this video. Having watched most of your videos, I think the sound signature I like is similar to yours so it is exciting to see that you had so much input in the sound of these speakers, and they will be on my short list when I purchase a new pair of speakers.
This is amazing!!! I absolutely LOVE my 1 TDX speakers and I bought them because of your review. CSS being in Michigan was the icing on the cake as I live in West Michigan. It looks like I might be selling a kidney.
Congratulations Jay! Big accomplishment. I think you have developed something special. A good business lesson too. Always push for as low a cost as is possible. It’s not likely you will hit the target but the results will still be marketable. I personally think at $5500 you are in the range where audiophiles are starting to get serious. Not so sure it’s up to delivering all your 20k Luxman can dish out. Again - congratulations!
Great Job Jay the towers look very highend , Like a top tier by Dynoaudio - Love the dual cabneit desighn helps with standing waves internally. 20hz WTH !! Me love paper drivers ' Thanks Jay Time for me to become a Patron way overdue 😃
Fascinating video -- and extremely well done. Personally, I'd never spend $5500 on speakers, but if I were in that market, I'd give these a listen for sure. My most expensive speakers, Dali Menuet SEs, cost £1500 here in the UK (around $2000 in the US). But the ones that sound best to my ear are a pair of open baffle Monacor Katana-M1. These were made from a kit that cost £420 ($518) -- they're so airy and engaging, with an amazing soundstage. Maybe your design would sound better, but I find the sound of an unspent $5000 in my bank account irresistible! 🙂
Excellent job, eh? Nicely done and interesting to see your choice of the Jantzen Superior-Z caps as I'd also bought those for another GR-Research style upgrade I'm doing on an old pair of speakers here at home.
Love my 1TD-X, maybe the best small speaker I've heard in my room. The tone is wonderful. Running them with a pair of REL subs. I don't know if I'm in for another $5500, but if I was I would certainly consider them. I guess I could sell the RELs
The thing I find most amusing about amp technology is how we went super hard into digital amplification for a while in the 90's, only to now fall back on class A/B amps with their more rudimentary amplification circuit because it makes a more broadly appealing sound.
Thank you for this video. We own and love our Sonus Fabers. It was interesting to see the extensive work that went into this project. Personally did not think that $3k was realistic for this level of speaker, especially considering the materials that comprise the speakers. They look pretty decent, hence I think $5.5k USD sounds very fair for the purchaser. It will be interesting how these will compare with other speakers in that price range. Of course it is a DIY Kit so that’s also a factor in the pricing. Looking forward to a comprehensive review. Thanks again Jay, very informative and educational too. 😎👍
It is not a DIY KIT! it's a finished speaker. Unfortunately this speaker is too complex of a design to put it into a DIY kit (ex. the 5 degree tilting mechanism in 1 degree increment) and DIY Kit version of this speaker won't really reduce the costs as we are not putting in labor or R&D cost into this project to reduce the cost heavily.
These look really fantastic, what a great vid but I almost choked when you missed your original price point! Still seems a pretty good deal. I hope you send a pair to Sean over at ZF for review
The standard version (which is what we are shipping with the Jantzen caps) is packing lots of value that is hard to beat BUT even if we offer external crossover in the future, it is made so that users can easily swap or we can do it for them if they ship the top module back (that's right, the lower module is pretty much done, the shipping of the top module will be a lot easier and cheaper to do for a massive upgrade and we will only offer upgrades that is audibly superior in every way)
I hope moving forward CSS makes designs using an AMT or Ribbon tweeter. To get a speaker of this sound quality and build quality is definitely no mean feat.
Hi Jay's One of the days I saw your review and where you come from in your profession (exact science if I'm wrong) in which data and parameters are constant and indeed I am impressed by the field of sounds oh variable is not constant and I really enjoyed seeing the process of examining the drivers and crossovers it's fun to see and hear, I wish you all the best May you continue to show us good systems and produce enjoyable music from good speakers,It would be interesting to keep the CSS speakers (I'm testing a lii audio driver)
I'd be curious to try Miflex caps over the Jupiter caps, I'd imagine they would be similar to Jupiter but with a little more "snap" and adding a small high-quality bypass cap will help to improve the focus. (In my experience, at least)
I have actually tried Miflex caps on my own time with a control group of friends and we found that it was smoothing things too much on my speakers much like the jupiter caps but slightly more. We may try jupiter caps with miflex bypass caps for future upgrades amongst other options for upgraded crossover options we will make available to owners. We want the upgrade to be an actual upgrade that brings a big difference
@@Jayiyagi interesting, I would also consider trying the Miflex/Jupiter with a 0.1uF Z-Cap bypass to improve focus. But from my experience, I know it's definitely tough to really see a big improvement, especially once you already have high-end caps, many times it's more "different" than "better," and will really depend on the tastes of the end user. Another option may be upgrading the primary resistors to something like Mills, and then upgrading the mid and tweeter coils to foil inductors.
Sensational video in many ways. Engaging and informative and gives you a peak behind the development process. I love my 1TDX w upgrades and very interested in these for another room. Two questions 1- how close to wall is optimal? 2-what Sonus Faber speaker would you say they sound closest to? I’m almost ready to put deposit down
1. They are fine close to wall boundaries. The video manual that I produced for these speakers will be sent to owners when they get the speaker for optimal set up in many different scenarios. 2. Electa amator and amati tradition was my inspirations
Hi Jay! Im a big fan of the channel. Imo the Jantzen sup-z is an amazing cap right from the get-go. Imo the jupiter copper/wax is 95% of the performance of the duelund cap, and far better then the sup-z in every aspect, but they need 500 hours to burn in. the Jupiters sound out of this world if jou bypass them with a Jupiter vitaminQ silvercap or duelund JDM silver cap or sometimes a V cap cutf. The Jantzen Sup-z is imo is the best bang for buck cap there is only beaten by the Jantzen Alumen-z. Also love THE miflex kpcu. This new speaker will probably sound absolutely amazing.
The problem with designing the upper portion as a 2 way monitor is that you give up sensitivity vs using a true midrange driver. I have to say they do look nice and great that you went all in on parts choice.
midrange and woofers are identical quality and paper. It was important to match the tonality as well as capability of the drivers to integrate flawlessly between different cabinets and frequencies.
@@Jayiyagi I agree with that approach, plus offers the same polar pattern. Anyway, great job. So is this a kit, or fully built, and is the 5500.00 Cad or US. Thanks
From what I’ve seen of the competition searches like legacy audio at this price point.It reminds me of but not really, but just whats involved here that speaker should be going between eight and $10,000 .what an absolute bargain😊
It’s about time you come up with something like this your opinion and review of something is extremely important to us on your channel. We rely on your judgment 100%. I’ve bought many products because of you your reviews and I’m extremely happy with them as a result.🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤
Nice Work! when you compared the CSS 1TDX vs GR Research X-LS Encore it was noted that the Encore's had a better presentation in vocals. I am looking for a lot of details in the mid-range, including proper decay structure and my only hesitation in the Typhon is that the mids might be a bit lacking as the same woofer is used in the top section. Even though the top section is sealed and isolated this woofer is significantly heavier than woofers that bring out the subtle nuances in the mid region. Can you provide an update with respect to how much of an improvement there is in the mids for the Typhon and how much of the gap was bridged compared to the Encords? Having said all of this I'm on the waiting list for the Typhons so I guess I will just return them if the mids don't meet my expectations.
if you liked the 2td-x, the Typons are at a whole new level. It is not a subtle difference and I believe both me and css team believes so as they've stated in the video "the best speaker they have ever been involved with"
Jay, now that these shipped and I've had two evenings with the Typhons, I must concur. "New level". They really disappear and the realism is just spooky. They work better in my small untreated room better than the 2TD-X. No boominess, cleaner midbass, but they go really deep when called upon and have firm grip on kick drums etc Great soundstage. Congrats, they are fantastic!
Jay, the time alignment is more important between tweeter and midbass (vocals, imaging, etc) than midbass to lowbass @ 200Hz. Try it by pulling the tweeter and move it forward and rearward from the baffle plane. It would have been cooler if you brought this idea out to your audience for their ideas in addition to yours.
The time alignment is for the tweeter and midrange. Flexible time alignment "between" tweeter and midrange is something you get in flagship wilson designs and would have required this speaker to be 3 boxes per channel or more, which would have increased price and complexity to another level on this project. Perhaps another day :)
Just a suggestion for such a nice looking, reasonably price, speaker project. I find the "CSS" plate at the bottom as being way to bold and draws attention to itself. And perhaps even your name plate Jay can be reduced to your initials without the diamond. Or maybe put it on the back. I can imagine how proud you are yet you don't want excess visual stimuli taking away from the sound you worked so hard to create with the CSS team. Good luck with your endeavor. I am actually looking to purchase a second set of speakers and will put this on my possibility list.
Congrats Jay what an awesome speaker. these actaully reminds me of my Hulgich Dukes. there they are also two cabinet design and the top (was) adjustable). these speakers are that price point i would imagine would be hard to beat.
Two different concepts: 1) axial alignment (e.g., directivity of high frequencies) and 2) time alignment. Some speaker designs will accomodate both, but time alignment is an idea that is pushed without much support, I offer. For both concepts even the smallest movement of a person's head makes all the difference in the world, and almost no one sits with their head in vise. What this speaker does is simply point the hf more towards the person's head.
due to the cost of having different finishes, we went with matt black and high quality veneer. You are free to finish them however you like. I have a friend that is looking to take these to a friend's auto shop to paint em into a car finish to match his car !
My basketball backboard has an automotive finish a guy who works on our farm applied to match my house. It looks like new after many years and much better than the paint on the house. I know who cares, haha. Great video from all of you!
Kudos on taking your knowledge and emotional love of music to the next level…Curious as to whether you tried your Thallo on these babies…I have the Thallo thanks to you…Wonder how long the buy list will be, as I’m considering!
Congrats man. This is sick! Jay I know Danny is a TAD narcissistic, but could you PLEASE review his NX Studio? That’s his top of the line and a lot of us would be thrilled to hear a review of it not done by his Neighbor/fanboy reviewer , who has only reviewed CSS original Criton 2TD , then never mentioned GR researches biggest head to head competitor again. Theoretically it looks and sounds fascinating, and arrogant or not, that dude is pretty damn smart. Please consider the NX Studio
The build and thinking uses the knowledge of past practice in this build. Take years and years to listen and compare so many speakers. This build is the culmination of alignment and sonic performance. Cabinet build is always the money you pay. . This is a blend of cabinet cost and robust drivers dampened in a bottom cabinet. The head unit must perfectly shine and play in absolute synchronization in alignment. Perfect rendering with some off axis response. This should be a true Goliath
Instead of soldering the caps in you could use Capacitor binding posts on the crossover so people can roll crossovers if they wish. I've seen a Chinese preamp with that option on the input/output caps inside the chassis.
One possibility is to use a Miflex as bypass with Jantzen Z in the tweeter components. I have a Miflex KPCU01H322J - Copper Foil Paper 0,022uF 600VDC 5% in my very modded KEF Q100. The improvement was huge, incredible.
Jantzen seemed to be a very fast cap nor was it a HUGE cap in comparison to other caps we have tried that tended to smear the image a bit with advantages in the sound staging. We didn't feel the need to use a bypass cap but we may consider it if we are using bigger caps for future upgraded crossovers that owners can swap out
Off course, first with Jantzen Z-Superior Cap. But it would be necessary to do the test with Miflex KPCU to know how close it is to the Duelund CAST Cu-Sn Loudspeaker Capacitor 100VDC - 2% tolerance
Would be interesting to actually measure all those caps swept Vs frequency with a really good LCR analyzer ! That would be ESR (equivalent series resistance) ESL (equivalent series inductance) and dissipation factor. If they sound different, there is a reason why and not just voodoo magic. Was this testing done at someones home or in some CCS facility ? Good acoustic treatment there !
Unfortunately this speaker is too complex of a design to put it into a DIY kit (ex. the 5 degree tilting mechanism in 1 degree increment) and DIY Kit version of this speaker won't really reduce the costs as we are not putting in labor or R&D cost into this project to reduce the cost heavily.
If you absolutely wanted to run The Dueland cap why not run both circuit boards housing the caps in the base cabinet for the subs since it has more room and have some sort of fancy shroud/tube to run the speaker wire to power the top driver and tweeter.
Best on the mission and hoped it could have stayed under 3500 but, that seemed lofty considering the start point and quality/cost ratio aspects. Perhaps a bookshelf down the line and look forward to audience feedback.
Cap differences and preferences are usually dependent on your equipment rooms and etc. There is no clear one best cap for all speakers. You could even mix and match different sound caps to make sound you like.
Great video. However, if the caps weren’t broken in for at least a hundred hours, it’s hard to make a valid comparison. Teflon caps can take hundreds of hours to break in, although none of these were. Ime, I haven’t found any caps better than Duelands, but they’re way expensive.
They look like awesome speakers Jay. I might pick them up if you create a center channel. Also have you guys tried putting in a rear facing speaker? I noticed a lot of high end speakers are adding them to improve depth and space.
At first I thought the price point was a little high for a kit. (with a flat-pack). I can't blame myself because looking at the cabinets alone, the angled CNC cutting involved etc - well, you might get my point (or not). After having looked at the CSS website I discovered that this price is for a finished pair. Ergo, considering everything I've learned here - the price seems to be spot-on. My concern is that, relevant to Jay's original idea that the 2 lower drivers are act as sub-woofers AND the fact that good subs (Rel) can be tuned separately then it raises a slight concern regarding the fixed frequency range of this configuration. I suppose that a good equalizer (Schiit Lokius or Lokimax) may be a solution if (room response) requires a little tweaking but I am by no means an audio expert so ... ? In any case, I love the collaboration involved here and your willingness to share the evolutionary path by which the 3 of you arrived at your final offering that may not be final at all. Congratulations ... these speakers are beautiful and I hope to hear them in my home.🇨🇦
Although I didn't hit my goal as many economic and supply issues totally railed my price point, I don't feel too upset about it as many experts I consulted told me that this type of speaker performance at this price is insane and that even during normal economic times, this would have been hard to pull off. There is no secret here, all it was that we took R&D and time spent from both parties in the span of 2+ years out of the equation when calculating cost I will go into more detail about the speaker design, placement and all that and "manual" for the speakers will be me in a video explaining optimal set up process in almost every scenario. The typhons were designed so that it can be put into smaller rooms, close to wall boundaries and large rooms. The speaker performs incredibly well in many situations with control thanks to the flared port system for the bottom module as well the top module being a sealed design. My goal isn't just to make a great speaker and sell it, it is to have them sounding heavenly in every room for anyone that purchases it. Obviously if you room is WAY too small, I'd not advise these speakers but I do really mean... really small like speakers are few inches away from each other haha
@@Jayiyagi I look forward to learning everything I can about these speakers. Beside the fact that they are beautiful and as well, developed in concert with CSS - tells me that this project was a serious venture to bring high-end audio to market at (what I consider) to be a very reasonable cost. I take my hat off to you and those like you (rare) who have the tenacity and drive to do such. Thomas and his development of the Galion is another developer in the same league as you. Stay the course and I wish you the ultimate success.
Such a great design! And great video overview. Not to defeat the purpose, but curious if the top adjustable portion could be sold on its own as an option for those that really enjoy 2.1 with monitors (on stands in a small room). Congratulations regardless!
*Thank you everyone for stopping by. This was exciting and it was hard keeping it a secret up until now! Please spread the word*
www.css-audio.com/typhon
www.css-audio.com/online-store/Typhon-Priced-Individually-p504884986
This is way cool... and it is only 20 minutes away from me !!! I have no idea that such a company existed in my backyard ! I would have LOVED to host you Jay !!!
Does it sound better than Wilsons and Magicos? Yes or No? A single word answer is sufficient. Thanks.
@@wa2368 I will not compare my own design with other speakers on the market. Thank you for your understanding
Hey Jay, do they offer grills for us that have Children?
@@davidjosephgill9702 absolutely. Magnetic grills that is acoustically transparent is included :) I will go into more detail in another video but the top module also features a mechanism so that it cannot be easily tilted over. we weren't messin around for 2 + years ;)
In my opinion this is the way to sell just about anything. Give the potential buyer a window into the process and a back story. I can’t wait to hear these! See you at AXPONA!
Great content, congrats on the collaboration with CSS. I think I’m about half an hour away from CSS and at some point will visit them to audition your creation. If you are ever around again I invite you to come over and check my budget oriented system. You may be in for a dramatic surprise. Cheers!!
Hi Jay, Congratulations in producing a Wilson Watt Puppy or Sasha for the Audiophile community at an affordable price, but I still think $5,500 USD is a bit steep. But I guess raw materials have gone through the roof, specially wood. All the best, looking forward for review. Also I did not know that the caps in the cross over could make such a tremendous difference.
The price is phenomenal - pair this with Schiit Tyrs and you are D O N E. : )
If these are 90% as clean and articulate as Wilson, I'd probably talk myself into buying a pair.
I can hear Danny now saying he could make your speaker sound better...... 😜
Sure hope there are no sand cast resistors in there!
😂😂😂. I love Danny, but that is funny as hell.
Regarding x overs, after years of diy speakers, I always have out board x overs right behind my amps and run the cables to the speakers, just sounds better.
😂😂😂
@@arunindc6145 no sandcast resistors
IMO, this is the best video Jay has done so far. What an exciting journey to the finish product. It was definitely not a walk in the park designing the speakers, especially the crossover. I am sure there were many late night sessions. My hats off to you guys. I am putting these speakers in my shopping list.
100% agree. Top-level production all the way. Very impressed.
Well said
See you all at Axpona!
Cool- happy for you! Can’t wait for your review of Danny’s flagship towers you promised ❤
Coming soon
Have to say, I'm really impressed with the presentation and story behind the development of these speakers, not to mention the fact that they look gorgeous!
This is so cool! What a fun process to take part in. Jay, you’re living the REAL audiophile dream. The guys from CSS seem like really cool dudes who are passionate about speakers and aren’t just corporate businessman trying to flip a profit.
I’m almost ready to pull the trigger on one of their DIY kits.
I can personally attest to your view of the Duelunds, my Tannoy's were completely done with the Duelunds & although it was expensive the upgrade was simply mind boggling... I know there is a difference in caps but the Duelunds really stand alone. Much success in your new project Jay.
I spent $600 to replaced all the caps and resistors in the tube stage of my Schiit Freya+. I did the work myself…which was an adventure. I have to say that the sound improvements were substantial and the whole effort and expense was super rewarding! This hobby is FUN! 👍🏼😀
(My situation needed substantial break-in before all the benefits were realized).
The Jay speaker , the Thomas amp, and a Sean sponsorship of underarm hats = an endgame setup
Hell yeah
While the performances were middling at best, the "impromptu" footage clearly concocted, the dialogue trite....you guys are just SO DAMN CUTE! And this is (in all sincerity) an absolutely fabulous collaborative product and project. Hats off! Jay you did it. It's a bucket list thing. CSS, you guys make fantastic stuff. It's like going back in time to when old school speaker designers just did it for the love of the craft.
the sweat and tears were real. Sometimes frustration but we did it and I couldn't be happier
I mean, I come across as robotic and fake to my wife so how do expect me to be in a video 😂
@@kerryarmes2786 unfortunately I can totally relate..particularly when I'm saying this like,"honey, this is the best. Dinner. Ever."
Interesting video, hope they make a ton of these. I very much enjoyed the cap comparison. I recently upgraded the caps in my Bottlehead Single-Ended Experiment v3 kit to Jupiter caps and they made a huge difference from the polymer caps they come with.
I finally broke down and spent the money on jantzen Caps on my ok latest speakers wow what a difference people try to tell me it's a placebo but you can just feel the weight difference and the bass is deep and the tremble is so clear it's definitely worth the extra money
This sounds like an awesome project. Can't wait to hear the reviews for this! This video is also really interesting so far and the look behind the building process is also very nice.
The price point you guys settled on is very fair! I’ll keep my eyes on these.
Oh man this speaker looks beautiful 😻
These look awesome, Jay. Would be very interesting to display them at Axpona powered by Thomas’s Galion amplifier!
Well...what did you think?
Congratulations on conceiving a well-balanced design and shepherding it through to fruition!
Wow, Jay takes it to the next level 👊🏻 But with some excellent help from the guys at CSS. Really interesting stuff!
This is absolutely awesome. I really enjoyed the behind-the-scenes development process and discussions. All three of you seem like great guys, and you did a great job with this video. Having watched most of your videos, I think the sound signature I like is similar to yours so it is exciting to see that you had so much input in the sound of these speakers, and they will be on my short list when I purchase a new pair of speakers.
You dove head first into a very competitive field at that price point. Very ballsy. I like it!
I really love your humour and cinematography for this entire thing! Wonderful story telling and scene editing =)
.. Absolutely swesome. ! =)
The upgrade path for these ... Have An external Cross-Over box with all the larger parts - tweakers heven =)
Excited to see some reviews of these towers. Love my CSS 1TDX with EX-M1. Really a great match once you add a nice DAC.
This is amazing!!! I absolutely LOVE my 1 TDX speakers and I bought them because of your review. CSS being in Michigan was the icing on the cake as I live in West Michigan. It looks like I might be selling a kidney.
Stop in for a listen sometime
Visit them and give them hell. I give you full permission 😂
These look stunning. It's cool to hear everything that went into the development of the speakers.
Can’t wait to meet you and Thomas at Axpona! Looking forward to hearing the speakers and the TS120! Woowoo!
Congratulations Jay! Big accomplishment. I think you have developed something special. A good business lesson too. Always push for as low a cost as is possible. It’s not likely you will hit the target but the results will still be marketable. I personally think at $5500 you are in the range where audiophiles are starting to get serious. Not so sure it’s up to delivering all your 20k Luxman can dish out. Again - congratulations!
Great Job Jay the towers look very highend , Like a top tier by Dynoaudio -
Love the dual cabneit desighn helps with standing waves internally. 20hz WTH !!
Me love paper drivers '
Thanks Jay Time for me to become a Patron way overdue 😃
Fascinating video -- and extremely well done. Personally, I'd never spend $5500 on speakers, but if I were in that market, I'd give these a listen for sure.
My most expensive speakers, Dali Menuet SEs, cost £1500 here in the UK (around $2000 in the US). But the ones that sound best to my ear are a pair of open baffle Monacor Katana-M1. These were made from a kit that cost £420 ($518) -- they're so airy and engaging, with an amazing soundstage. Maybe your design would sound better, but I find the sound of an unspent $5000 in my bank account irresistible! 🙂
That lines and dots wall panel will make really good studio speakers for consideration to place behind speakers on front face
I have made a few speakers myself. It is a never-ending endeavor and journey. RIght now I just buy stuff and do certain upgrades and that is it.
External crossover, so many options that way and so easy to change. In my speaker projects I use external and you can do active if you want to!
Excellent job, eh? Nicely done and interesting to see your choice of the Jantzen Superior-Z caps as I'd also bought those for another GR-Research style upgrade I'm doing on an old pair of speakers here at home.
These guys are hilarious. Nice departure from typical channel content
Love my 1TD-X, maybe the best small speaker I've heard in my room. The tone is wonderful. Running them with a pair of REL subs.
I don't know if I'm in for another $5500, but if I was I would certainly consider them. I guess I could sell the RELs
Hi Jay, very well done video. I'm looking forward to listening to your speakers at Axpona.
This is a great idea for a new reality tv show. "DIY Speaker Wars"
You should send these to Erin at Erin’s audio corner to get a full spin on the Klippel done.
The thing I find most amusing about amp technology is how we went super hard into digital amplification for a while in the 90's, only to now fall back on class A/B amps with their more rudimentary amplification circuit because it makes a more broadly appealing sound.
Thank you for this video. We own and love our Sonus Fabers. It was interesting to see the extensive work that went into this project. Personally did not think that $3k was realistic for this level of speaker, especially considering the materials that comprise the speakers. They look pretty decent, hence I think $5.5k USD sounds very fair for the purchaser. It will be interesting how these will compare with other speakers in that price range. Of course it is a DIY Kit so that’s also a factor in the pricing. Looking forward to a comprehensive review. Thanks again Jay, very informative and educational too. 😎👍
It is not a DIY KIT! it's a finished speaker. Unfortunately this speaker is too complex of a design to put it into a DIY kit (ex. the 5 degree tilting mechanism in 1 degree increment) and DIY Kit version of this speaker won't really reduce the costs as we are not putting in labor or R&D cost into this project to reduce the cost heavily.
@@Jayiyagi LOL, it's good you mention it!
These look really fantastic, what a great vid but I almost choked when you missed your original price point! Still seems a pretty good deal. I hope you send a pair to Sean over at ZF for review
External crossover as an upgrade is a great idea, also builds confidence in buying the speaker.
The standard version (which is what we are shipping with the Jantzen caps) is packing lots of value that is hard to beat BUT even if we offer external crossover in the future, it is made so that users can easily swap or we can do it for them if they ship the top module back (that's right, the lower module is pretty much done, the shipping of the top module will be a lot easier and cheaper to do for a massive upgrade and we will only offer upgrades that is audibly superior in every way)
That alexa skit was perfection 😂😂👏
Ingenious design. Way to go Jay! 👍
Very impressed.
I hope moving forward CSS makes designs using an AMT or Ribbon tweeter. To get a speaker of this sound quality and build quality is definitely no mean feat.
certainly something consider perhaps in the future for them. I do like AMT tweeters.
Yes. The original designer had some.
Hi Jay's
One of the days I saw your review and where you come from in your profession (exact science if I'm wrong) in which data and parameters are constant and indeed I am impressed by the field of sounds oh variable is not constant and I really enjoyed seeing the process of examining the drivers and crossovers it's fun to see and hear, I wish you all the best May you continue to show us good systems and produce enjoyable music from good speakers,It would be interesting to keep the CSS speakers (I'm testing a lii audio driver)
can't wait for html audio. i heard java script audio is quite good..
I use Parasound Halo A21 amplifier and they are not horrible. I have a NAD M10 v2 in my other system and love them both in different ways.
Love this skit on how the process went down.
CONGRATS Jay! So happy for you.. Phenomenal job on the design and can't wait to hear these at Axpona!
Like a DCM Time and Half Time from the 80's.
Some day Steve Eberbach will be recognized for his advanced speaker design.
I'd be curious to try Miflex caps over the Jupiter caps, I'd imagine they would be similar to Jupiter but with a little more "snap" and adding a small high-quality bypass cap will help to improve the focus. (In my experience, at least)
I have actually tried Miflex caps on my own time with a control group of friends and we found that it was smoothing things too much on my speakers much like the jupiter caps but slightly more. We may try jupiter caps with miflex bypass caps for future upgrades amongst other options for upgraded crossover options we will make available to owners. We want the upgrade to be an actual upgrade that brings a big difference
@@Jayiyagi interesting, I would also consider trying the Miflex/Jupiter with a 0.1uF Z-Cap bypass to improve focus. But from my experience, I know it's definitely tough to really see a big improvement, especially once you already have high-end caps, many times it's more "different" than "better," and will really depend on the tastes of the end user.
Another option may be upgrading the primary resistors to something like Mills, and then upgrading the mid and tweeter coils to foil inductors.
Sensational video in many ways. Engaging and informative and gives you a peak behind the development process. I love my 1TDX w upgrades and very interested in these for another room.
Two questions
1- how close to wall is optimal?
2-what Sonus Faber speaker would you say they sound closest to?
I’m almost ready to put deposit down
1. They are fine close to wall boundaries. The video manual that I produced for these speakers will be sent to owners when they get the speaker for optimal set up in many different scenarios.
2. Electa amator and amati tradition was my inspirations
wow, I own both the 1TD-x and the 2TD-x and I want this. Not sure where they will go but darn, they look sweet.
It appears that I will need to be saving up $$$$ for my next love...
Nice work Gentleman 😎👍
Hi Jay! Im a big fan of the channel. Imo the Jantzen sup-z is an amazing cap right from the get-go. Imo the jupiter copper/wax is 95% of the performance of the duelund cap, and far better then the sup-z in every aspect, but they need 500 hours to burn in. the Jupiters sound out of this world if jou bypass them with a Jupiter vitaminQ silvercap or duelund JDM silver cap or sometimes a V cap cutf. The Jantzen Sup-z is imo is the best bang for buck cap there is only beaten by the Jantzen Alumen-z. Also love THE miflex kpcu. This new speaker will probably sound absolutely amazing.
The problem with designing the upper portion as a 2 way monitor is that you give up sensitivity vs using a true midrange driver. I have to say they do look nice and great that you went all in on parts choice.
midrange and woofers are identical quality and paper. It was important to match the tonality as well as capability of the drivers to integrate flawlessly between different cabinets and frequencies.
@@Jayiyagi I agree with that approach, plus offers the same polar pattern. Anyway, great job. So is this a kit, or fully built, and is the 5500.00 Cad or US. Thanks
I really want to hear these. They are priced just right assuming they sound half as good as you guys described.
I'll be in Axpona this year again, I'll check it out.
MiniDSP on the bottom module and Passive Z-Cap on the top module would be cool!
I recapped my B&W Matrix 805s with Superior Z Caps, and the resulting sound is amazing.
Very Cool ! Great idea !
The new ClarityCap PUR would be an interesting cap to test
From what I’ve seen of the competition searches like legacy audio at this price point.It reminds me of but not really, but just whats involved here that speaker should be going between eight and $10,000 .what an absolute bargain😊
Really enjoyed the video. Looking forward to see them at axpona!
It’s about time you come up with something like this your opinion and review of something is extremely important to us on your channel. We rely on your judgment 100%. I’ve bought many products because of you your reviews and I’m extremely happy with them as a result.🎉🎉🎉❤❤❤
Sounds exciting, guess we will wait for the reviews, unless we can get to a show.
Nice Work! when you compared the CSS 1TDX vs GR Research X-LS Encore it was noted that the Encore's had a better presentation in vocals. I am looking for a lot of details in the mid-range, including proper decay structure and my only hesitation in the Typhon is that the mids might be a bit lacking as the same woofer is used in the top section. Even though the top section is sealed and isolated this woofer is significantly heavier than woofers that bring out the subtle nuances in the mid region.
Can you provide an update with respect to how much of an improvement there is in the mids for the Typhon and how much of the gap was bridged compared to the Encords?
Having said all of this I'm on the waiting list for the Typhons so I guess I will just return them if the mids don't meet my expectations.
I'm so glad I can finally afford the time alignment discs on this speaker. One day hopefully I can afford to buy the speakers...
ha. join the club.
I built the 2td-x and the bass was so good I ditched my Rhythmik 12" sub. Yours must be outrageous!
if you liked the 2td-x, the Typons are at a whole new level. It is not a subtle difference and I believe both me and css team believes so as they've stated in the video "the best speaker they have ever been involved with"
Jay, now that these shipped and I've had two evenings with the Typhons, I must concur. "New level". They really disappear and the realism is just spooky. They work better in my small untreated room better than the 2TD-X. No boominess, cleaner midbass, but they go really deep when called upon and have firm grip on kick drums etc Great soundstage. Congrats, they are fantastic!
Damn. I double checked and counted on my fingers to see if its april fool. Would love to have these speakers in my country
Proud Daddy Jay! Congrats!
It would also be very interesting to sell with an Active Crossover
Jay, the time alignment is more important between tweeter and midbass (vocals, imaging, etc) than midbass to lowbass @ 200Hz. Try it by pulling the tweeter and move it forward and rearward from the baffle plane. It would have been cooler if you brought this idea out to your audience for their ideas in addition to yours.
The time alignment is for the tweeter and midrange. Flexible time alignment "between" tweeter and midrange is something you get in flagship wilson designs and would have required this speaker to be 3 boxes per channel or more, which would have increased price and complexity to another level on this project. Perhaps another day :)
@@Jayiyagi Nah man, it's not that hard. Just try the test for yourself and then we should talk...
@@Jayiyagi we all know this was all “pre-planned” out. It’s the Version 2 in the making. 😉👍
Just a suggestion for such a nice looking, reasonably price, speaker project. I find the "CSS" plate at the bottom as being way to bold and draws attention to itself. And perhaps even your name plate Jay can be reduced to your initials without the diamond. Or maybe put it on the back. I can imagine how proud you are yet you don't want excess visual stimuli taking away from the sound you worked so hard to create with the CSS team. Good luck with your endeavor. I am actually looking to purchase a second set of speakers and will put this on my possibility list.
They look amazing, pretty sure thy sound equally good. Any thoughts about offering these as a DYI kit at a lower price point?
Congrats Jay what an awesome speaker. these actaully reminds me of my Hulgich Dukes. there they are also two cabinet design and the top (was) adjustable). these speakers are that price point i would imagine would be hard to beat.
Two different concepts: 1) axial alignment (e.g., directivity of high frequencies) and 2) time alignment. Some speaker designs will accomodate both, but time alignment is an idea that is pushed without much support, I offer. For both concepts even the smallest movement of a person's head makes all the difference in the world, and almost no one sits with their head in vise. What this speaker does is simply point the hf more towards the person's head.
That’s was fantastic. A painted matte finish would be my preference.
due to the cost of having different finishes, we went with matt black and high quality veneer. You are free to finish them however you like. I have a friend that is looking to take these to a friend's auto shop to paint em into a car finish to match his car !
My basketball backboard has an automotive finish a guy who works on our farm applied to match my house. It looks like new after many years and much better than the paint on the house. I know who cares, haha. Great video from all of you!
Kudos on taking your knowledge and emotional love of music to the next level…Curious as to whether you tried your Thallo on these babies…I have the Thallo thanks to you…Wonder how long the buy list will be, as I’m considering!
Congrats man. This is sick!
Jay I know Danny is a TAD narcissistic, but could you PLEASE review his NX Studio? That’s his top of the line and a lot of us would be thrilled to hear a review of it not done by his Neighbor/fanboy reviewer , who has only reviewed CSS original Criton 2TD , then never mentioned GR researches biggest head to head competitor again. Theoretically it looks and sounds fascinating, and arrogant or not, that dude is pretty damn smart. Please consider the NX Studio
The build and thinking uses the knowledge of past practice in this build.
Take years and years to listen and compare so many speakers. This build is the culmination of alignment and sonic performance. Cabinet build is always the money you pay. . This is a blend of cabinet cost and robust drivers dampened in a bottom cabinet. The head unit must perfectly shine and play in absolute synchronization in alignment. Perfect rendering with some off axis response.
This should be a true Goliath
Instead of soldering the caps in you could use Capacitor binding posts on the crossover so people can roll crossovers if they wish. I've seen a Chinese preamp with that option on the input/output caps inside the chassis.
39:22 Cheap drivers can sound really good but what you tend to not get is efficiency and power handling.
One possibility is to use a Miflex as bypass with Jantzen Z in the tweeter components. I have a Miflex KPCU01H322J - Copper Foil Paper 0,022uF 600VDC 5% in my very modded KEF Q100. The improvement was huge, incredible.
Jantzen seemed to be a very fast cap nor was it a HUGE cap in comparison to other caps we have tried that tended to smear the image a bit with advantages in the sound staging. We didn't feel the need to use a bypass cap but we may consider it if we are using bigger caps for future upgraded crossovers that owners can swap out
Off course, first with Jantzen Z-Superior Cap. But it would be necessary to do the test with Miflex KPCU to know how close it is to the Duelund CAST Cu-Sn Loudspeaker Capacitor 100VDC - 2% tolerance
Duelund also has a polypropylene version much much more affordable but no idea how good it is.
Great job Jay and CSS!
Would be interesting to actually measure all those caps swept Vs frequency with a really good LCR analyzer !
That would be ESR (equivalent series resistance) ESL (equivalent series inductance) and dissipation factor.
If they sound different, there is a reason why and not just voodoo magic.
Was this testing done at someones home or in some CCS facility ?
Good acoustic treatment there !
Is there going to be a DIY Kit available for these? I think I'd go for the external crossover idea as well.
I agree on the DIY kit, owning them would be awesome, but building would be the most fun!
+1 for the kit
Unfortunately this speaker is too complex of a design to put it into a DIY kit (ex. the 5 degree tilting mechanism in 1 degree increment) and DIY Kit version of this speaker won't really reduce the costs as we are not putting in labor or R&D cost into this project to reduce the cost heavily.
Hey great video like it alot 👍 what tweeter did you use?
If you absolutely wanted to run The Dueland cap why not run both circuit boards housing the caps in the base cabinet for the subs since it has more room and have some sort of fancy shroud/tube to run the speaker wire to power the top driver and tweeter.
Quick search for the Dueland caps and $750+ ouch. I need to hear em now. Sheesh, can i visit your shop?
Best on the mission and hoped it could have stayed under 3500 but, that seemed lofty considering the start point and quality/cost ratio aspects. Perhaps a bookshelf down the line and look forward to audience feedback.
Cap differences and preferences are usually dependent on your equipment rooms and etc. There is no clear one best cap for all speakers. You could even mix and match different sound caps to make sound you like.
Great video. However, if the caps weren’t broken in for at least a hundred hours, it’s hard to make a valid comparison. Teflon caps can take hundreds of hours to break in, although none of these were. Ime, I haven’t found any caps better than Duelands, but they’re way expensive.
They look like awesome speakers Jay. I might pick them up if you create a center channel. Also have you guys tried putting in a rear facing speaker? I noticed a lot of high end speakers are adding them to improve depth and space.
At first I thought the price point was a little high for a kit. (with a flat-pack). I can't blame myself
because looking at the cabinets alone, the angled CNC cutting involved etc - well, you might get my point
(or not).
After having looked at the CSS website I discovered that this price is for a finished pair. Ergo, considering
everything I've learned here - the price seems to be spot-on. My concern is that, relevant to Jay's original
idea that the 2 lower drivers are act as sub-woofers AND the fact that good subs (Rel) can be tuned separately
then it raises a slight concern regarding the fixed frequency range of this configuration. I suppose that a
good equalizer (Schiit Lokius or Lokimax) may be a solution if (room response) requires a little tweaking
but I am by no means an audio expert so ... ? In any case, I love the collaboration involved here and your
willingness to share the evolutionary path by which the 3 of you arrived at your final offering that may not
be final at all. Congratulations ... these speakers are beautiful and I hope to hear them in my home.🇨🇦
Although I didn't hit my goal as many economic and supply issues totally railed my price point, I don't feel too upset about it as many experts I consulted told me that this type of speaker performance at this price is insane and that even during normal economic times, this would have been hard to pull off. There is no secret here, all it was that we took R&D and time spent from both parties in the span of 2+ years out of the equation when calculating cost
I will go into more detail about the speaker design, placement and all that and "manual" for the speakers will be me in a video explaining optimal set up process in almost every scenario. The typhons were designed so that it can be put into smaller rooms, close to wall boundaries and large rooms. The speaker performs incredibly well in many situations with control thanks to the flared port system for the bottom module as well the top module being a sealed design.
My goal isn't just to make a great speaker and sell it, it is to have them sounding heavenly in every room for anyone that purchases it. Obviously if you room is WAY too small, I'd not advise these speakers but I do really mean... really small like speakers are few inches away from each other haha
@@Jayiyagi I look forward to learning everything I can about these speakers. Beside the fact that they are beautiful and as well, developed in concert with CSS - tells me that this project was a serious venture to bring high-end audio to market at (what I consider) to be a very reasonable cost. I take my hat off to you and those like you (rare) who have the tenacity and drive to do such. Thomas and his development of the Galion is
another developer in the same league as you. Stay the course and I wish you the ultimate success.
Just noticed the selling price is $5500 per pair. I really hope they perform, a lot of competition is that price range.
He has massive competition between $2,000 and $4,000
Such a great design! And great video overview. Not to defeat the purpose, but curious if the top adjustable portion could be sold on its own as an option for those that really enjoy 2.1 with monitors (on stands in a small room).
Congratulations regardless!
unfortunately that we do not do as that would defeat the purpose of the design
@@Jayiyagi Understood. I figured. But just had to ask.