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What We Think
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| Despite cost-saving cosmetics in its "budget" version, this is a very good system for the price. |
Crystal's speakers embody several classically "British" design elements probably most closely associated today with B&W. One is the T3 tower's "2.5-way" driver array, an arrangement in which one of multiple 6.5-inch woofers reproduces some midrange as well (for smoother response at no penalty to deep bass potential). Two others are cone materials incorporating superstrong Kevlar man-made fibers and front-speaker tweeters mounted in separate, "free-air" spheres atop the main cabinets (to reduce treble-roughening diffraction effects).
SETUP
Setup required attaching the supplied square base plates to the towers but was otherwise simple. I placed the T3s on either side of my 50-inch Samsung DLP screen and the center speaker on my low stand, bringing its tweeter just to the display's bottom edge. The surrounds went on high shelves straddling the listening position (though the speakers also offer keyhole slots for wall-mounting), and the sub went in my well-established spot behind and to the left of the left-front tower.
The tweeters on the flanking T3s permit lateral swiveling over about ±20° of arc, but I'm afraid this feature is useful mostly for appearance. Why? A dome tweeter is already the widest-dispersion driver at high frequencies in any multiway design; it's the cone-midrange — in this case, the topmost 6.5-inch mid/woofer — that tends to "beam" its treble contributions (which extend up to 3 kHz or so) over a narrow angle. Since this is well into the "low-treble" region, listeners may find (as I did) that modestly toeing in the left-right pair will maximize mid/treble openness and focus the stereo imaging.
Crystal offers the THX-3D12 system in two finishes and at two very different prices: silver vinyl (which I reviewed) for the aforementioned $1,999, and a high-gloss piano black (pictured) at $2,799 for those to whom cosmetics matter as much as sound. I loved the gray-flannel-look grilles on the budget system — just different enough to grab a little attention, but not too much. I was less impressed by the generic cabinet finish. But no problem: With those investment-banker grilles in place, the Crystals looked quietly elegant just the same.
MUSIC PERFORMANCE
For my initial auditions, I followed my usual custom of listening to the T3 towers alone, in full-range stereo. My first impression was Goldilocks-esque, a good sign: not too bright, not too warm, not too bassy or too lean, but clear, neutral, and balanced. On further close listening I discerned just a slight bit of warm-ification — almost entirely pleasing, rather than coloring — from the Crystal T3s, at least as compared to my long-term speakers. For instance, on direct comparisons, Rickie Lee Jones' breathy twang was about a half-shade less nasal than it ought to be on tracks like "Easy Money," while the celesta at the end of the same song was slightly but noticeably less shimmery. The string bass sounded tight and quick, but with a smidge of upper-bass romancing. The towers performed very well at high powers: clean, dynamic material retained good clarity and punch even quite near the full potential of my system's 150 watt-per-channel output.
The Crystal system worked very well on natural-surround music. An Austin City Limits high-def program I DVR'd from PBS featuring Alison Krauss & Union Station sounded simply great. (Yeah, I don't like lip-gloss on my bluegrass either, but the musicianship is beyond question, and Jerry Douglas is the undisputed Paganini of the Dobro.) Clarity and natural transient "snap" of the banjo and Dobro were impressive, Krauss's voice was beautifully open and stable from the center speaker, and the flattop guitar, mixed precisely half-right (between the center and front-right speakers), was rock-steady in its position in the mix, a sign of good timbral matching across the front trio. The THX-D surrounds served up lifelike spaciousness and "air" without calling undue attention to themselves.
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The Short Form
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| $1,999 ($2,799 as shown) / www.crystalaudiovideo.com / 443-569-3569 |
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Plus
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| •Very good front integration •Natural, accurate tonal balance •Excellent center-channel performance |
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Minus
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| •"Dipole" surrounds aren't •Sub lacks some bottom-octave grunt •Inexpensive finish (but nice grilles!) for budget version  |
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Key Features
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| •THX-T3 tower front left/right ($999 a pair) 1-in dome tweeter, 3 x 6.5-in woofers; 41.3-in high; 40 lbs each •THX-C center ($199) 1-in dome tweeter, 2 x 6.5-in woofers; 21.3 in wide; 19 lbs •THX-D surrounds ($399 a pair) 2 x 1-in dome tweeter, 6.5-in woofer; 13.3 in high; 18.5 lbs •THX-12SUB active subwoofer ($599) 12-in driver; 120-watt amplifier; 20.5 x 13.8 x 19 in; 65 lbs •Price $1,999 (matte silver finish); $2,799 (painted gloss black) |
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Test Bench
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| The Crystal Acoustics THX-3D12 system exhibited similar timbre across models and controlled directivity that serves well for home theater use. The front and center speakers have a rising treble response and may benefit from a treble cut in some listening rooms or positions; their pivoting tweeter is unlikely to be useful except in heavily damped or acoustically dead rooms. The center channel was completely free of typical off-axis lobing and would provide uniform sound to on-axis and off-axis listeners. The subwoofer had strong, uniform dynamic capability above 25 Hz. —Tom Nousaine Full Lab Results |
Two keystones of quality home theater sound are excellence from the center speaker and a subwoofer with genuine power and range. Crystal's setup delivered both. Being a simple two-way design with no horizontally twinned drivers to create response-rippling off-axis "lobing," the THX-C center remained clear, balanced, and articulate on a full range of male and female voices from any practical angle — even well off-center, it also yielded an excellent tonal match to the T3s for a smooth, wide spread across the front soundstage. In Spider-Man 2, there's lots of whooshing from side to side, but I never heard any noticeable changes in emphasis or depth as effects panned across the stage.
The THX-12SUB is an average-size 12-inch design that delivers most of what I expect from such bulk: substantial, dynamic output to well below 30 Hz. Scenes like Spider-Man 2's Chapter 46, with a deep-bass slide that accompanies Doc Ock's fusion ball ramping up, delivered the visceral, throat-loosening effect I expected. But the sub struggled to keep up with the rest of the system when I pushed the overall levels into big-cinema territory, and the amount of upper-bass rumble and flutter increased a bit — probably port-noise from the Crystal's dual vents. When I replayed the same sequences using my everyday (and vastly more expensive) Velodyne 12-inch sub, I heard an easily recognizable improvement in bottom-octave content, and less coloration in the upper bass, even at more normal volume. Sometimes there's just no substitute for dollars and watts.
As movie-surrounds, the THX-Ds — with their THX Select designation — proved quite capable, but not as unobtrusive as the true dipoles required for THX-Ultra certification. The THX-D has dual tweeters but a single woofer firing toward the listener, while a true dipole would have no midrange energy aimed straight at your ears. So it calls attention to itself more often than fully dipolar designs. With effects like Spider-Man shooting one of his hundreds of web-strands sideward as he swings past (who cleans those up, anyway?), the pfffffwittt! sounds tended to shrink into one or the other surround as the image flew by, rather than simply zipping more generally rearward as was the case from my long-term (and, again, far more expensive) Snell dipoles. But the THX-Ds generally worked fine, absorbing ample power without any audible faults in tonality, range, or dynamics.
BOTTOM LINE
All told, there's not much to fault in Crystal's $1,999 layout. Sure, we'd all like real wood veneers and furniture-grade cabinets. But to the true buff, sound quality is incalculably more important. And the Crystal Acoustics THX-3D12 home theater speaker system delivers that in spades, with balance, spaciousness, range, and impact, at a very attractive price.
Read the Full Lab Results
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