OK guys, I’m a long time reader, first-time reviewer. I am not very well versed in audiophile lingo, so hopefully I will be able to convey my thoughts in an understandable manner. Here goes:
Fit, finish and overall workmanship
These speakers are dead solid. The knuckle rap test produced a very dead sounding “thud” and they feel like they are made out of lead. They are very heavy for their size. Overall finish and workmanship is good, but upon close inspection, the driver holes were not perfectly round and there is some wear evident, probably from making the rounds. (I swear that huge scratch was there when I got them). My only reservation about the design is the exposed drivers. I have a three and a six year old, and I am just very nervous about those drivers being out there for little fingers to prod and poke. These speakers have a very high WAF and now that I see there are matching stands the WAF just got higher. BTW - I was just kidding about the scratch.
My Room
I have a room that is 24 x 18. I have them on the long wall, but not centered in the room. The first 6 feet of the room is taken up with our office, so everything is centered in the 18 x 18 space to the side of the office. There is a large “L” shaped sofa, french doors on one side and a window on the other. I feel room treatments are in my future, but WAF is important and I am still trying to convince her that it will look cool.
My Equipment
Odyssey Xtreme Monoblocks
Sonic Frontiers Line-2
nOrh CD-1 as a transport
Perpetual Technologies P1A/P3A with Modwright Level II mods and P3 power supply.
Music Hall MMF-7 w/Grado Sonata Cartridge
EAR 834p phono stage
Zu Varial interconnects
ZU Xaus phono interconnect
ZU WAX bi-wire speaker cables.
Zu Mother power cables
Music Tastes
I tried to run the gamut as far as musical selections go. Art Pepper, Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderley, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Jack Johnson, Lenny Kravitz, Saliva, Puddle of Mudd, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, David Bowie, UB40 and a whole bunch of different classical recordings. I had the Criterions for a week and half, so I really got to play a lot of stuff, which was great fun. I used both CD and Vinyl.
Sound
Strengths - These speakers have a very smooth and non-fatiguing sound. They image with pinpoint accuracy and soundstage extends well beyond the speakers. With just a little time adjusting the toe-in, I made them do the disappearing act in my room. Very cool!!!
They certainly played loud enough for me and worked well on all types of music. These speakers are very detailed and transparent and poorly recorded music is presented in all of its poorly recorded glory (or lack thereof). Well-recorded music just flows from these babies, smooth as silk.
Weaknesses – Deep bass. When I first hooked them up, I did not use a sub. The bass they do produce is very clean and tight, and for many types of music, they work just fine by themselves. Small Jazz ensembles, or classical string quartets and the like are just fine. But throw in some hip-hop where you want to feel it pulse, and they don’t quite get there for me. As soon as I hooked up the Criterions to my stereo subs, they came alive and shone in all of their glory. My system uses two Vandersteen 2Wq subs, which high pass the amplifier at around 80hz. This setup frees the amp and the speakers from trying to reproduce the lower end. The difference in the Criterions before and after adding the subs was night and day. I would highly recommend using these with a sub or two. The added weight in the lower registers left me wanting for nothing.
Comparison to My Own Speakers
After a week and half with the Criterions and only listening to them for that period of time, I finally unpacked my Vandersteen 3A Signatures. These are fully broken in, but have been in storage for 8 months. I ran them for 24 hours before listening to them. On my final night with the Criterions I had my wife join me for a little comparison. She is not into this little hobby at all, but she does like listening to music. So we spent an hour or so putting on different things. First we listened to the Vandersteens, and then the Criterions. We played four or five different tracks of different types of music, then switched speakers and listened to the same tracks again.
So after we get done listening, she says, "Do you really hear a difference in these speakers? I'm going to bed." So, a convert she is not.
Now, my impressions of these two speakers might be a little ambiguous, but here goes. The Vandersteens and the Criterions are like two different women. The Criterions are like the good-looking blonde in a short skirt, high heels and tight sweater. She’s built for speed and you don’t have to guess what’s under the hood. You know from the start that she is going to be fun, and she doesn’t disappoint. As long as you are up to the task, she will perform.
The Vandersteens on the other hand are very unassuming, like the good-looking brunette librarian in dowdy clothes that gives no hint as to what’s beneath them. But when you get her home, take off the glasses, let her hair down and undress her, she is a gorgeous woman with large, ahem, well you know and a great body. Very different from the blonde, but no less enjoyable.
To be a little less ambiguous, I think the Vandersteens are detailed without being analytical and project a very large soundstage with good imaging. From my past experience with these in a different room, imaging is something that has to be fiddled with until you get it just right, and I still have some fiddling to do. I think they are more forgiving of poorly recorded material than the Criterions. They have a top to bottom coherence that I really enjoy and when matted with the stereo subs, they are just glorious.
The Criterions strong suit is their imaging and transparency. They produce a nice, tight and clearly defined image and they are easy to place to get it just right. I think that image is slightly smaller than the Vandersteens, which is no big deal. Treble is sweet without any harshness. I think I enjoyed the top end of the Criterions slightly more than my Vandersteens. It’s just so crisp and clean without being harsh at all.
To Sum It Up
The Criterions are a fantastic speaker. They sound great, look cool and would be very satisfying in my system, provided I pair them with a sub or two. I would highly recommend a listen if you can get on the list.
Now I want to hear the Diluceos. I might as well get my checkbook out if I do listen to them.
