I had him send the best of the
best for my listening enjoyment. The HD-642ST High
Definition 3 way component set. It was like a kid in
at Christmas! I got that package and nearly died
trying to unwrap the tape! I was so excited! This was
the most awaited set of test speakers I had on order
so far.
There were two boxes. One
holding the 4's and Tweeters, and high pass
midrange/tweet crossovers...wow those look cool....and
the other box was the 6.5's and crossovers....huh? two
crossovers? This was unique, if not very impressive! I
was VERY interested by this point, seeing multiple
crossovers per driver set....hmmmm...wow! These guys
mean business!
I quickly pulled the 4's and
tweets out first...man! These are cool! The red powder coat
magnesium baskets glistened in the light. The black
composite cone was almost sticky to the touch....ooooo....ahhhhh!
The butyl rubber surround was so supple....like glove
leather. MAN! This is definitely the stuff! The plain
black dust cap marked only by the white, subtle
"CDT" logo. Very classy! The cast magnesium
basket were powder coated in a rich red....man these
are nice! The magnet assembly was largish, covered on
either side by a billet piece of aluminum...for better
heat transfer according to CDT. They were just so
simple...yet so cool looking. The Tweeters were pretty
basic soft domes. nothing fancy, just black with a
small CDT logo on them. Two splines jutted out from
the backside where the speaker wires attached and
flush and angle mount rings came with them. The flush
mount rings even have the "3M" adhesive ring
on the back side!
I took the 6.5's next from
there box...same basic layout as the 4's...nice and
quality looking. Four hole mounting, Gold Plated posts
with positive marked in red! (you'd be surprised how
many speaker companies let you figure this on your
own!) I was so excited to get these in! I've never
seen speakers of this high quality in person!
The "Phase Perfect"
crossovers I mentioned before blew me away as
well...probably more so than the speakers did! Why?
Well, I've never seen crossovers that were shrouded by
a stamped mesh cover! (which turns out to be for air
venting!) It was so cool seeing into the
crossover....yet having them look like a high quality
piece, something that should be visible in your stereo
layout. My father in law was very disappointed I had
to cover them or hide them under the dash...as was I!
I'll save the innards and workings of the crossovers
for later, but these are definitely a work of art! Go
here for detailed info on these unique Crossovers!
The only downside to the set
was that there was no speaker wire with the kit or
hardware of any kind. Not that this is a big
deal...but some folks that would buy the set off the
net and such might find it an inconvenience if they
didn't have some wire lying around. No points lost
here! Just forewarning.
THE INSTALL:
Basic install. 4 holes on each
driver, and several mounting options as stated for the
Tweeters. The part that took some work was the
crossovers. Having 4 instead of the normal two needed
twice the space to mount. Again, not a huge
deal....just be prepared! Also the 6.5 woofer has
quite a significant magnet assembly. In my 91 I had
the door shimmed out from previous install...and
needed an additional 1/8 inch shim on that. Other
installs may be different...but this is a high end
component set, and the install will have to reflect
this.
The only thing I didn't care
for overall on the install side was the smallish screws
used to attach the speaker wire to the X-overs. This
wasn't so much a problem, but more of aesthetics and
convenience.
THE LISTENING TEST:
I was so excited to hear these
things...I did the install rather quickly,
anticipating...well, not sure what....just was very
excited! So excited actually that I unknowingly had a
wire problem....
I turned the radio on. The
sound came forth from the HD set...then stopped!? Then
came...then stopped? What the? Well, it turns out a
positive and negative on the crossover must have been
touching and the protection was turning things off. I
fixed it and went on with things. My bad!
The VERY FIRST thing I
noticed, aside from the awesome sound that came from
the speakers was that there was NO right/left bias!
Well, not NONE, but pretty darn close! In my civic I
have the 6.5 in the lower doors, 4's in the upper
doors and Tweeters on the dash. I always have
right/left bias...and use a small center fill speaker
to help with it. Not anymore! The imaging was near
flawless!
I put my IASCA competition CD
in and did an 'official' listening test. ...........
Basically that was it! I was speechless. The vocals
were crystal clear, the mids powerful and tight...I
run my 6.5's at 55hz, and they played the mid/lower
bass flawlessly!
I am still to this day amazed
at the imaging. Every track on the test disc sounded
EXACTLY as it was meant! Wood blocks here, sax there,
vocals in the corner, cymbals up front....I ran
through the whole disc and it just wow'ed me, from one
track to the next. The coolest thing was the snare
drum that started 'hitting' on the left side....worked
it's way to the center....then finished on the right.
I could swear I could 'see' the guy walking across the
front of my car! And talk about deep! The sound stage
was centered and sounded about half way down the hood!
Utterly amazing!
Conclusion:
Well, if you haven't figured
this is the finest set I've ever heard....
This is a true, pure
Audiophile component set, the reason for the HD (High
Definition) in it's name. This set will handle some
power, 200 watts RMS (@100 hz high pass) But is NOT an
SPL speaker set! This is for the Audiophile, for the
SQ competitor, or just avid sound enthusiast that
loves perfect reproduction in his car audio.
I can be an emotional
person...and after listening to these speakers for a
bit, tears almost came to my eyes. Bravo CDT! I
applaud you! For more info on CDT Audio HD or other
component sets, and there whole range of car audio
speakers, visit them at: www.cdtaudio.com or call
Steve Libin f CDT at: 805-693-1980.
If anyone has any listening or
install questions feel free to email me as
