So I received my demo pair of Criterions, and broke them out of their well-packed crate last night. I decided to put them into my HT system, which is where I am thinking about putting them. At the same time I decided to put my Mensa DI/O in the mix. So I unplugged everything, put the DI/O in and hooked it up to my HT receiver. Hooked up the Criterions, and turned everything on. Music was coming out and everything was great…for about 5 minutes. Then I start getting a crackling sound, and a popping sound and music starts to fade in and out. I turn everything off, check all my connections and wait a few minutes. Turn it all back on, same thing. Crackle, pop, and then fade in and out. Then SMOKE. Oooooooooh Noooooooooo, Nooooooooot Smooooooooooke (slow motion-like). Then silence. As I stare at my system in disbelief, I just can’t believe what just happened. To say I was bummed is an understatement.
So, I just moved into this new home. My upstairs bonus room/music room was not yet set up. So off I go to get it going. Put my rack together, put the tubes back in my pre, pull my Odyssey HT-3 out for service (since my mono’s are in transit from Klaus as we speak) and fire it up. OK, now we’re cookin. It was about 1 a.m. when I finished, so I just left everything running. It’s all been in storage for 8 months, so I am sure a couple days running will get it all back in the groove. Plus I couldn’t crank it up with the kids sleeping.
So this weekend I will be doing some listening and posting my impressions next week. From an aesthetic standpoint, the wife gave them the big thumbs up. They feel like a solid block of wood and are nicely finished. My only concern is that I have two kids ages six and three. I am just not sure that a stand-mounted monitor is appropriate in such a setting. Plus the exposed drivers are just too tempting for my little ones to try and poke and prod. The upstairs listening room is another story. That is off limits to the kids, so we shall see if they can de-throne my beloved Vandersteen 3A sigs. Should be fun.