Speaker Review - Crystal SSX 615
June 1, 2005
By Paul Sonoda
Designing an audiophile type speaker on a budged can be challenging. Obviously, you cannot have all the performance and features of more expensive component system. Or can you? Crystal mobile has introduced a new line of coaxial speakers called SSX 615. Walking a thin line between performance and cost, the SSX 615 offers high performance at an entry level price. How well does it perform? Let’s find out.
First Look
The Crystal SSX 615 is an entry level priced 2 way coaxial speaker system using a 6.5 inch midrange and 1 inch tweeter. The 6.5 inch midrange cone is made from Kevlar® (the stuff they use to make bullet proof vests). A 1 inch titanium tweeter is mounted on a molded bridge that attaches to a circular trim ring around the outside of the basket. The outer trim ring and tweeter housing is flared to minimize the effect the grille and tweeter has on the dispersion of the midrange. The crossover is a “Stow-and-go” outboard unit that has a 12 dB per octave high-pass slope for the tweeter and a 6 dB per octave low-pass slope for the midrange. The crossover is designed to be hidden in the installation near the speaker. The maximum power handling of the speaker system is rated at 150 watts.
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topCloser Look
In
spite of its entry level positioning, the SSX 615 has
design features usually reserved for more expensive
component speakers. The magnet on the woofer uses NeoRadial
technology.
Originally developed by Aura Systems, the motor structure
uses radial charged neodymium magnets arranged around
the peripheral edge of the motor structure. This accomplishes
two things. Due to the strength of the neodymium magnets,
the motor structure generates up to five times more
magnetic energy than standard ferrite magnets. The orientation
of the magnets exhibits a magnetic field that focuses
the energy inward towards the voice coil. Since all
the
magnetic energy is focused inward, the motor structure
of the SSX 615 is inherently magnetically shielded.
While this feature is generally not necessary for car audio
applications, it is cool. On of the drawbacks of neo
motors are its susceptibility to heat. To address this
concern, the Crystal SSX 615 uses a sixteen fin radial
spoke heat sink to dissipate the heat. Pretty cool.
(Sorry
about the pun) The motor structure is only half the
equation. The midrange cone uses Kevlar to reduce weight.
Combined
with a butyl rubber surround, the Kevlar cone of the
SSX 615 is able to react quickly to changing input
signals from the amplifier. The result is a speaker that
is able
to reproduce the nuance and detail of music.
The titanium tweeter also deserved closer inspection.
The light weight of the diaphragm allows the SSX 615 to
easily reproduce frequencies up to and exceeding 20 kHz.
To tame the inherent ringing associated with titanium dome
tweeters, the tweeter dome has ridges that increase the
structural rigidity and helps prevent breakup modes. There
is also a phase cap over the dome to control to flatten
the on-axis frequency response and control dispersion.
Installation
During the installation, I noticed that the shape of the trim ring and the height of the tweeter bridge make back loading the speaker difficult. Back loading a speaker is when the speaker is attached to the mounting baffle from behind. Also, I noticed that the angled trim ring covered additional holes on the basket. However, front mounted installations pose no limitations. The small and narrow magnet structure makes clearance in factory locations a breeze. The Crystal SSX 615 includes all the hardware and enough speaker wire to easily interface with a factory audio system. To extract the maximum performance of the SSX 615, it is recommended to have an authorized factory Crystal dealer perform the installation.
Manuals/Web Support
The manual was easy to understand and provided all the necessary information required to install the Crystal SSX 615. The website, www.crystalmobilesound.com, featured the SSX 615 series of products on the front page. There is a wealth of knowledge about the SSX 615. Although there is a information page download containing all the relevant specifications of the SSX 615 and other Crystal speaker, the installation manual was not available for download at the time this article was written.
Sound Q & Performance
Here is where the Crystal SSX 615 really shines. I auditioned the SSX 615 with 75 watts per channel with the high-pass crossover set to 80 Hz. The midrange quality was excellent. These speakers have an open airy sound that usually comes with speakers costing significantly more. I was impressed by the tweeter detail. Even though my installation locations were lower in the door, the SSX 615 has full frequency extension without sounding harsh. The midbass output was adequate and blended well with my subwoofer.
The only shortcoming of the SSX 615 is its lack of user setting for fine tuning sound quality. There is no tweeter level setting. The nature of the crossover makes it very difficult to switch the polarity of only the midrange or tweeter. Fortunately, the SSX 615 sounds great out of the box.
On the testing side, the frequency response was quite impressive. The SSX 615 delivered frequency response fell within a plus or minus 5 dB window from 65 Hz to 16 kHz. That window narrowed to a plus or minus 3dB window from 400 Hz to 16 kHz. A dip at 5 kHz suggests that is the actual crossover frequency of the system.
Summary
The Crystal SSX 615 is a coaxial speaker system that offers top shelf materials, design and performance in a “no frills” package. The sound quality of the SSX 615 does indeed live up to its claim of high performance. The only downside is the lack of system tweaking controls. Given the price point of this system, this shortcoming is easy to overlook. If you are looking for great performance speaker system on budget, the Crystal SSX 615 deserves a serous look. You will not be disappointed.
4
out of 5
3
out of 5
