S 230 Floor Standing Speakers User Manual

: June 14, 2024
: Support

Table of Contents

S 230 Floor Standing Speakers
Product Information
Product Usage Instructions
Frequently Asked Questions
Safety notes
Getting started
Scope of delivery
Unpacking and assembly of the speakers
Installing spikes or furniture gliders
Bass attenuation – Inserting the bass absorber
Positioning
The listening room
Connecting
Maintenance
Specifications
Contact
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

S 230 Floor Standing Speakers

Product Information

Specifications

Model: Criterion S 230
Type: Floorstanding loudspeaker, 3-way transmission line
Power Handling: 200 Watts (continuous), 300 Watts (peak)
Impedance: 4 Ohms
Frequency Response: 29 Hz – 45000 Hz
Sensitivity: 87 dB
Drivers: 2 x 170 mm woofers, 2 x 150 mm midrange, 1 x 25 mm tweeter
Crossover Frequencies: 200 Hz / 2000 Hz
Dimensions: 118 x 26 x 44 cm (including base plate and spikes)
Weight: 37.5 kg

Product Usage Instructions

Safety Instructions

Ensure to follow all safety guidelines provided in the manual to prevent any accidents or damage while using the Criterion S 230 loudspeakers.

Getting Started

Unpack the speakers and set them up according to the instructions provided. Use the included tools for assembly if required.

Positioning

Place the speakers in an optimal position within your room to achieve the best sound quality. Consider factors like distance fromwalls and room acoustics.

Connection

Connect the speakers using the recommended cables. Follow theinstructions for standard connection, bi-wiring, or bi-amping based on your setup.

Breaking In the Speakers

Allow the speakers to play at moderate volume levels for acertain period to break them in and optimize their performance.

Maintenance

Refer to the care instructions provided to ensure the longevity and optimal functioning of your Criterion S 230 loudspeakers.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How do I use the Bass-Absorber included with the\ speakers?
- A: The Bass-Absorber is designed to lower the lower bass range and requires inserting it appropriately to enhance bass performance. Refer to the manual for detailed instructions.
Q: What is Bi-Wiring and Bi-Amping, and how do I set it up with the Criterion S 230 speakers?
- A: Bi-Wiring and Bi-Amping are advanced speaker connection methods that involve using separate cables for different speaker components or amplifiers. Follow the manual’s guidelines for proper setup.

Welcome

We are delighted to welcome you to the world of T+A. Since our founding in 1978, curiosity and desire have driven us to push the boundaries of what‘s possible just a little further each day. It was the desire not just to follow technological progress but to shape it ourselves. The result of our endeavor stands before you today with your new Criterion loudspeakers. As one of our most enduring product lines, the Criterion name has stood for nearly 40 years for extraordinary transmission line loudspeakers, distinguished by superior bass reproduction, excellent imaging properties, natural sound, and fine dynamics. Why have you made a good choice by selecting Criterion loudspeakers? Our name represents top quality, innovative technology, and excellent sound enjoyment. With a focus on every detail of audio reproduction and a passion for perfection evident in every component,\ you can be sure that your T+A loudspeakers will bring to life your music in unparalleld ways. Welcome to the world of T+A. In this user manual, you will learn how to assemble, position, and connect your speakers. Furthermore, it describes what you should consider when breaking in the speakers and how to care for them. To ensure uninterrupted music enjoyment, we kindly ask you to carefully follow the instructions in this manual.

Safety notes

The operation instructions, the connection guidance and the safety notes are for your own good – please read them carefully and observe them at all times. The operating instructions are an integral part of this device. If you ever transfer the product to a new owner please be sure to pass them on to the purchaser to guard against incorrect operation and possible hazards.

The loudspeaker is extremely heavy
- caution is required when unpacking and transporting it.
Always lift and transport the device with two persons.
Legal requirements pertaining to the lifting of heavy loads prohibit the transport of the device by women.
Ensure that you have a firm, secure hold on the device.
Do not let it fall.
Wear safety footwear when moving the device.
Take care not to stumble.
Ensure an unobstructed area of movement by removing obstacles and possible hindrances from the route.
Take care when lowering the device! To avoid your fingers being crushed, ensure that they are not trapped between the device and the support surface.

The spikes have extremely sharp points which could cause injury; please handle them with great care, and keep them well away from children. The spikes feature sharp points which may damage delicate surfaces (e. g. parquet flooring or tiles). The device is designed to operate in a temperate climate and altitudes up to 2000 m above sea level. The range of permissible operating temperatures is +10 … +35°C. This device is designed exclusively for reproducing sound and/or pictures in the domestic environment. It is to be used in a dry indoor room which meets all the recommendations stated in these instructions. Where the equipment is to be used for other purposes, especially in the medical field or any field in which safety is an issue, it is essential to establish the unit’s suitability for this purpose with the manufacturer and to obtain prior written approval for this usage. If the unit gets very cold (e. g. when being transported), condensation may form inside it. Please do not switch it on until it has had plenty of time to warm up to room temperature so that any condensation evaporates completely. If the device has to be stored, place it in its original packaging and store it in a dry, frost-free location. Storage temperature range 0…40 °C If you need to clean your speaker cabinets, simply wipe the surfaces with a soft dry cloth. Never use powerful cleaning agents or solvents! Before operating the unit again, make sure that there are no short circuits at the connection terminals and that all connections are correct. Very loud continuous listening to program material via earphones, headphones and loudspeakers can lead to permanent loss of hearing. Prevent health risks and avoid permanent hearing at high volume. The terminals can carry high voltages. Always avoid touching terminals and sockets and the conductors of cables connected to them. Unless ready-made cables are used, all cables connected to these terminals and sockets must always be deployed by a trained person. The only permissible method of disposing of this product is to take it to your local collection centre for electrical waste.

Registration according to the EU directive “Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment”
WEEE-Reg.-No.: DE 72473830W In its original condition the loudspeaker meets all currently valid European regulations.

It is approved for use as stipulated within the EC. By attaching the CE symbol to the unit T+A declares its conformity the EC directives and the national laws based on those directives. The declaration of conformity can be downloaded from www.ta-hifi.com/DoC. The original, unaltered factory serial number must be present on the outside of the unit and must be clearly legible! The serial number is a constituent part of our conformity declaration and therefore of the approval for operation of the device. The serial numbers on the unit and in the original T+A documentation supplied with it (in particular the inspection and guarantee certificates), must not be removed or modified and must correspond. Infringing any of these conditions invalidates T+A conformity and approval, and the unit may not be operated within the EC. Improper use of the equipment makes the user liable to penalty under current EC and national laws.

Getting started

General information

Carefully unpack the loudspeakers and store the original packing material carefully. The carton and packing are specially designed for this loudspeaker and will be needed again if you wish to move the equipment at any time. If you have to transport the loudspeaker, it must always be carried or sent in its original packaging in order to prevent damage and defects. If the loudspeaker gets very cold (e. g. when being transported), condensation may form inside it. Please do not switch it on until it has had plenty of time to warm up to room temperature so that any condensation evaporates completely.

The information in these operating instructions are marked as follows:

Caution

Risk of injury

Notice

Risk of damage of objects

This marks text passages that provide you with additional notes and background information and are intended to facilitate understanding

Scope of delivery

Unpacking and assembly of the speakers

To unpack, place the box upright
Open the box upright as shown below and remove the protective corners
Then carefully pull the speaker upright out of the box
Place the speaker on one side together with the moulded foam parts
A carpet or something similar should be placed underneath for protection
Remove the top and bottom foam moulding (X)

Installing spikes or furniture gliders

The speakers are designed for use with spikes or furniture gliders.
The combination feet included in the scope of delivery can be used as spike or furnituregliders.
Place the foam parts (X) on the floor as shown below.
Position the loudspeaker with its textile protective cover on the foam parts.
When setting-up on delicate floors (e.g. parquet or tiles), to prevent damage the spikes can be removed using the tool supplied. The upper part of the foot serves in this case as a furniture glider.
Turn the feet into the base plate as shown in the illustration below and then secure them with the locknut.
When everything is correctly assembled, the speaker can be set upright.

Caution – extremely sharp points

In order to avoid injuries,

handle the spikes with great care,
keep the spikes away from children

Notice

In order to avoid damaging the speaker or other objects,

the speaker should be installed and set up by two people
pay attention to the edges of the base plate when lifting up the loudspeaker. If necessary, place a piece of soft material underneath for protection.
use the furniture gliders of the combination feet instead of the spikes on delicate floors.

Bass attenuation – Inserting the bass absorber

Transmission line loudspeakers are a special type of loudspeaker that use a complex cabinet design to increase the soundpressure level at low frequencies and improve the quality of the bass response. Bass attenuation using additional damping is a technique that we apply to our transmission line speakers in order to control and optimize the sound pressure in the bass range if necessary.

The idea behind the bass attenuation is to reduce the lower bass range and thereby minimizing unwanted room resonances. These can occur if the loudspeaker is operatedin a room that

allows standing waves due to its geometry,
is relatively small,
requires the speakers to be positioned close to the walls or in the corners, thereby increasing the bass response.

As a result, the bass range can sound overemphasized or even unpleasant. Closed cabinets offer the best bass reproduction, but the sound pressure in small cabinets is too low. For this reason, various methods such as bass reflex are used to\ utilize the energy generated by the rear of the bass cones to amplify low frequencies. We have opted for the transmission line principle because it not only increases the sound pressure level at low frequencies, but also has a significantly better impulse and transient response. T+A has been developing and building Criterion speakers using precisely this principle since 1982. A transmission line works in a similar way to a large wind instrument or an organ pipe by generating standing waves in the long sound guide inside the cabinet, which lead to a strong additional radiation of low frequencies from the outlet opening below the woofers. If this is too strong for the reasons mentioned above, it is possible to reduce the bass response by 2-3 dB by inserting the bass plugs supplied into the front sound outlet openings.
Here you can see a schematized frequency response:

Please use the supplied line port removal tools.

Slide the tools as shown in the edge area of the line port through two of the holes.
Pull the line port forward carefully.
Once the line port has detached from the fastening, remove it with your fingers.
Squeeze the absorber slightly and tilt it backwards.
Insert the absorber about 5 cm (2 inches) deep into the bass tube, leaving a gapof a few centimeters between the absorber and the line port.
Tilt the absorber forward again and release it.
Once the absorber has returned to its original shape, bass reduction will be achieved.
The intensity of the bass reduction can be adjusted by varying the position of the absorber, for example, by inserting it diagonally or laying it flat.
Reinsert the line port by gently pressing on the frame on both sides of the ine port.

Notice

To avoid damage, do not exert excessive pressure on the line port.

Positioning

The position of the loudspeakers is non-critical since their radiation pattern is excellent. Provided that you keep to a few basic rules it is easy to determine the ideal position for them.

They should be positioned in such a way that the two speakers and the listener form the three points of an approximately equilateral triangle.
On no account set up the speakers too far apart.
The treble and mid-range units should be set up roughly at ear level.
Angling the speakers in towards the listener may improve the sound quality.
The minimum listening distance is three metres (9.8 ft) and we do not recommend that you position yourself any closer to the speakers than this. To fulfil the equilateral triangle rule this implies a minimum distance between the speakers of three metres (9.8 ft).

Wood exposed to direct sunlight is subject to natural colour changes.

The listening room

When positioning floorstanding speakers, several factors should be taken into account in order to achieve optimum sound quality. Here are some important points that may vary depending on the conditions of the listening room:

Positioning in the room
Ideally, the speakers should be positioned so that they allow for even sound distribution in the room. They should normally be arranged in a symmetrical setup to the listening position
Distance to the wall
The distance between the speakers and the wall influences and enhances the bass response. As a rule, a certain distance (at least 0.5 m to 1 m/ 1.6 to 3.2 ft) should be maintained to avoid unnatural increase in the bass and low frequency range. This can vary depending on the speaker design and room conditions.
Distance to the listening position
The optimum distance of the speakers from the listening position may vary depending on the size of the room and personal preferences. In a larger room, the speakers may need to be further apart to ensure good stereo reproduction. The special arrangement of the Criterion speakers‘ mid/high range system (Symmetric Directivity Technology) reduces reflections from ceilings, floors and walls and thus enables greater listening distances without losing the good imaging properties due to increasing indirect sound components.
Acoustic treatment of the room
The acoustics of the room can have a considerable influence on the sound quality. The use of carpets, curtains or acoustic panels can help to reduce unwanted reflections and improve the sound.
Listening position
The position where you usually listen to music should be taken into account.The speakers should be aimed at this position to ensure optimum sound quality.
Angle and orientation
The speakers should normally be aimed slightly inwards or towards the listening position for more accurate stereo imaging.
Testing and fine-tuning
It is important to try out different positions and settings and check the sound to find the best possible set-up. Sometimes small adjustments can make big improvements. These guidelines can serve as a starting point, but it is important to note that the optimal placement of floor-standing speakers depends heavily on the individual characteristics of the listening room and personal preferences. It may also be helpful to consider professional advice or room acoustic measurements to achieve the best possible results.

Connecting

Amplifier

The Criterion S 230 can be connected to all amplifiers designed for a load impedance of 4 ohms. To bring out the full acoustic potential of these speakers, we recommend load-stable power amplifiers with a high current delivery capacity >10 amps. In principle, an amplifier should not operate permanently at the limit of its performance but should have sufficient power reserves. If the electrical signal exceeds the maximum power limit of the amplifier, clipping may occur. This causes the peaks of the signal to be cut off, resulting in distortion and undesirable sound.

Speaker cables

The cable that is used has a decisive influence on the sound of the overall system. T+A has therefore developed its own range of cables, which includes the right cable for every application. These cables are matched to the special properties of our loudspeakers. All cables used should be of the same length!

Standard wiring

In the standard wiring arrangement, only one speaker cable is required for each loudspeaker. The linking bridges between Bass and Mid / High must be left in place.

Bi-Wiring

Bi-wiring provides better sound by separating the bass (Bass) signal and mid- range/treble signals (Mid/ High). Two speaker cables are required for each loudspeaker. If your power amplifier has two loudspeaker outputs (A and B), the speakers are connected as shown in the illustration below; If the power amplifier has outputs for only one pair of loudspeakers, connectboth cables to these outputs in parallel.

Notice

In bi-wiring arrangements, the cables bridging of the woofer (Bass) and mid/high (Mid/High) input terminals\ must be removed

Bi-Amping

For bi-amping, the signal paths of the low and mid/high ranges are separated before the power amplifiers. One stereo power amplifier takes over the amplification of the low frequency range for both channels while the other stereo power amplifier drives the mid/high frequency range of both channels.

Notice

In bi-amping arrangements, the cables bridging of the woofer (Bass) and mid/high (Mid/High) input terminals must be removed!

Running in the speakers

Please note that loudspeakers require a break-in period of up to 100 hours because the mechanical parts, such as membranes, suspensions and centerings run in during this time and develop optimum vibration behavior. This break-in period improves the sound quality, as any initial tolerances are reduced and the components reach the desired final reproduction characteristics.

Protection cover

The covers included in the scope of delivery can be fitted to protect the loudspeaker drivers. The covers are acoustically optimized. For the best possible sound quality, we recommend that you remove the covers during playback. The covers are fixed with integrated magnets. To attach, align the covers to the edges of the housing and let them snap into place on the housing. To remove the covers, carefully pull them off towards the front.

Environmental aspects

In the development of Criterion loudspeakers, we concentrate on innovative solutions to problems, and solid, well-thought-out designs, but these are not our only concerns. We place equal importance on the maintenance of all German and European safety norms and standards. We are able to guarantee that our products are of the highest quality, and meet all our specifications in full, because we carry out strict quality checking of all materials, employ \painstaking production methods controlled by highly qualified staff, and carry out a fully automatic, computer-controlled final quality control procedure. At the earliest stage of development, we also emphasise the importance of avoiding environmentally harmful materials and methods of working. For example, we avoid the use of materials that are injurious to health, such as chlorine-based solvents and CFCs. We also aim to avoid the use of plastics in general, and PVC in particular, in the design of our products. Instead we rely upon metals and other non-hazardous materials which are easy to recycle. The sound-absorbent wadding used in our loudspeakers is made of 100 % polyester fibres, in conjunction with a binding fibre. This material has been tested for harmful ingredients to Eco-Tex Standard 100; the same test is used for clothing, bedclothes, pillows, mattresses, household textiles etc. The wadding we use has passed the test entitled ‚textiles tested for harmful materials‘ and fulfils the currently valid humane-ecological requirements. It has even successfully met the very exacting requirements of the standard test for baby clothing.

Maintenance

Notice

In order to prevent damaging the surface of the speaker,

only wipe the surface of the speaker with a soft, dry cloth for cleaning
never use harsh cleaning agents or solvents

The front grille can be carefully cleaned with a vacuum cleaner if necessary. Please note that the speaker chassis of some speaker types are mounted directly behind the cover. Therefore, do not press too hard against it with the vacuum cleaner to avoid damaging the sensitive speaker chassis.