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CDT Stage Front™ UpStage™ System
M500-Series and SX1000 Midrange shape module:
By: Ziad Kepone Aunallah |
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Before I start the review, it is important to know that I did not order a full stage front kit, only the M500 stage front modules, since I planned to use them with my LPG Tweeters.
First Impressions
1. Upon opening up the box, actually 3 small boxes, I was actually not surprised at allŠthe modules are in the exact same case as the Eurosport crossovers, which is cool and not cool at the same time. Cool because they look great, not cool because they are huge, just like the ES-200 crossovers. |
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If you have never seen Eurosport crossovers, prepare for a shock, they are huge. I am pretty sure that unless you run MB Quart QSD¹s , Boston Acoustic Z series speakers or Alpine Type X speakers, you have never dealt with crossovers this big. Now, I have to deal with 5 of them total!
2. Build quality, like all CDT products, is completely outstanding! The modules look like they are built with top-notch components, I only wish that the PCB was yellow, like on the ES-200 crossovers, that¹s a small and superficial gripe though, as most people that install these will not have Eurosports, and the black PCB wont stick out in their installs.
3. These things look complicated, but don¹t be swayed, once you get past the initial shock of seeing jumpers where you have no clue what they do, everything makes more sense.
4. The manual for these things do a great job of explaining how to wire them up, but there is no mention of what the jumper settings actually do. Again, I will mention that I only bought the modules and not the retail boxed kit, the kit might come with a more detailed manual.
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Installation
I am going to kill all the mystery behind these products, and tell you exactly how to wire them up.
Firstly, power goes from your amps, into the inputs on the M500 modules.
There are two outputs on the M500¹s, one goes to you¹re A-Pillar Tweeters, the other goes to your existing passive crossovers, in my case , the ES-200 crossovers.
Secondly, on the A-Pillar Tweeter output on the M500, there are 3 different outputs you can use. The positive terminal stays put in one place, but there are 3 different terminals you can screw the negative terminal into (or perhaps this is vice versa, I don¹t have the manual on me, in any case it doesn¹t matter, that would just change the phase if you wired it backwards) . There is a negative terminal for High, Medium, and Low .
IMPORTANT NOTE: The High, Medium, Low outputs are not High, Medium, and Low attenuation! They are High, Medium, and Low volume for the A-pillar Tweeters. So if you want the most attenuation, put it on the low setting, I believe that is 9Db attenuation, or at least it seems like near that much.
Third, power goes from the output of the M500, to the main input of your existing passive crossovers. Simple. Your main Tweeters are powered off the main Tweeter output from your passive crossovers. If you have CDT crossovers, the Image Enhancement Kit output on your CDT crossovers IS NOT USED!
Fourth, the Midrange output of your passive crossovers, go into the inputs on the Sx1000 Midrange module. NOTE: One Sx100 module controls both your left and right side midrange, there is a left input and output, and a right input and output. Contrarily, there is an individual M500 module for each side. Power then goes from the midrange output of the sx1000 to your actual midrange speakers. Easy as pie right?
Setup and Tuning
The M500 and Sx1000 both have jumper settings that are unique to only them.
The Sx1000 has jumpers for individual attenuation for each midrange, adjustable in 1db steps, from 1db to I believe 7-8db, again, I do not have the units in front of me right now, but I¹m sure they go to at least -6db.
There is also a bypass mode for the attenuation. The Factory setting is 1db for both channels. I changed this setting to bypass the driver side, and leave the passenger side at 1db. The other jumper setting the Sx1000 has, is a ³ Taper² control, also individually adjustable for the left and right channels. The settings are Bypass, Min, Med, Max. To be honest, I have NO IDEA what the taper setting does, but I found that everything sounded the best when I used the Medium setting on both sides. I should put in a call to Ken at CDT again to find out what exactly it does.. it makes a difference though.
The M500 has a few jumpers of its own, I left all of them alone because the factory settings sounded great. It has one jumper for ³ bypass or protect² ( factory setting is protect ), another jumper for ³ Dampening², settings are high and low, factory setting is low, and a third one for ³frequency², settings are high and low, factory setting is low. As mentioned earlier, I did not change any of these settings, once I have had more tuning time I will elaborate on these settings.
After installation, I ran into some phasing problems. Previously, my Midranges were out of phase, and all 4 Tweeters were in phase, but after installation of the M500¹s and Sx1000, I got best results by putting everything back in phase, and putting the passenger side A-Pillar Tweeter out of phase. Whenever I have the time to, I will use a phase test track to make sure everything is set properly. But, it sounds great now.
Initial Listening Impressions
As soon as you play these things for the first time, the difference is readily apparent. These things are not just hype, they live up to every little bit of the hype, and then some. They do exactly what CDT says they do, they make your speakers disappear. Everything now comes clearly from the front of the car, and the soundstage has depth that never dreamed was possible in a car! I thought the Eurosports were fantastic before, now the stade depth and width is so realistic it¹s almost sick! If I sit in my car and close my eyes, I can not tell where the sound is originating at all. Speaker locations are now TOTALLY TRANSPARENT! The biggest surprise was the newfound depth though. I popped in some David Grisman Quintet, a super well recorded CD ( not quite Sheffield Labs quality ) . There are no vocals on this CD, its all instrumental. The band consists of a cello player, a violin player, a stand up bass player, a nylon string guitarist, and a percussionist, with occasional cameo¹s by a second guitarist, a few barking dogs (???) and a jazzy style beat-boxer. The definition between instruments is clear, and best of all, it sounds like the windshield is no longer a physical acoustic barrier. The stage stretches so far past the windshield it is incredible.. I am hearing all kinds of new sounds that I didn¹t even know were there before, like echoes within the recording studio. For the first time in any car system I¹ve heard, I have a genuine impression of size.
Need-less to say, I am very impressed.
One last thought, just to re-iterate how good thing¹s sound now, I was going to buy an Alpine Pxa-H700 processor before I got theseŠ. Now I am not even considering it! The state front kit has totally removed my need for any kind of time correction!
Final Thoughts:
Overall, I am very pleased with this system. It is easy to install to any semi experienced installer, and easy to tune. The results are excellent, I have to say that I am amazed that sound can be changed this much by passive filtering alone. Hats off to CDT for a great system!
I would change only one thing if possible, and that would be to include a more informative manual. But again, I will say that I did not order the whole kit, and the actual kit may come with a detailed manual.
One last thing, Ken for president
That¹s all for now, look out for my extended review in a few weeks.
Thanks for reading
Ziad Kepone Aunallah
Email: Ziad Aunallah ziadaunallah@hotmail.com
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