CDT Eurosport 620 Review

[Pickzilla 10+ year member]

Hi all,

My 1st post here but I am no stranger to high end car audio. I have quite a but of experience in both installing high end systems and listening to them.

So I have spent a solid month with a pair of '06 CDT ES-620 comps with the DRT-25 1 inch silk tweeter. (Purchased new for $399... retail at $699).

They are powered by a Pheonix Gold Titanium Elite 500.4 (I have powered them both in bridged for 250 watts RMS and non bridged for 75 watts RMS).

My HU is an Alpine CDA-9833 with 4 volt preouts.

Subwoofer is a 2004 RE XXX 12" Dual 4 run at 2 Ohms via a PG Titanium Elite 800.1

Rear fill was not run.

My previous comps have been: Infinity Perfect 6.1s, MB Quart Q series, CDT EF-61s, some older Polks, Dynaudios, and some JL comps.

1st let me say that I am not a CDT fan. I was thoroughly unimpressed with the EF-61s. They sounded good yes, for an entry level comp, but were very weak in midbass. I only decided to give the Eurosports a go because of the great price I got them at. The other options for me were Seas Lotus comps, DLS Iridiums, or Rainbow Profi Vanadiums. (all were over $900).

Also, I recently got to experience a pair of CDT HD-61s, and was far more impressed than with mine...

SO I figured, what the heck, if I hate the ES 620's I'll dump em on Ebay and go with the Lotus.

Installation was a snap cause they had the same mounting depth and frame as the EF-61s.

1st Impressions: Not good. Flat. Midbass not what I was expecting. To my horror they distorted quite easily. I was utterly horrified by the mid woofer of CDT's "flagship".

But, the 1 inch silk tweeter sounded great. I always have been a fan of silk tweeters for their warmpth and lack of edginess, and this one really delivered. Hands down the best tweeter I have ever heard in a car.

SO back I go to figure out if I had screwed up the midbass setup. Nope...wiring all correct. So off I go to work on tweaking this mid woofer to do what people say it can do. I take it off 250 watts RMS and put 75 watts RMS to each. Big difference, much better, but still not great. I think the PG was prolly pumping out 300 watts as they are underrated.

SO now they are comfortable and in no danger of being overdriven. Off I go on tweaking sessions. Many of them. Cant get them to sound good. The MB Quarts blew these out of the water. They still sound flat, no mid bass.

At this point I was crossing them over at 100 Hz with a 24hz/dB slope. (where my RE would pick up at 100 Hz low pass)

SO I got even more frustrated and drove with them for a week to see if they would wake up a bit. Nope, they still sounded like the Infinity perfects (NOW THOSE sounded HORRID).

In Complete dismay I broke out some classical CDs and turned off the sub, to perfectly set the gains using Henrich Gorekski's Symphony #9. In doing so I put the head unit into Defeat Mode Which turned out to be the smartest thing I did. I then used the gains/boosts/crossovers on the amps on the PG500.4 and 800.1.

Well something about doing that set these babies ALIVE. Suddenly I was running two 6 inch BEASTS of mids. A touch more tweaking at the amp level and I was grinning so hard my cheeks were hurting. The midbass came to life and man, it was THERE and hit hard and tight. Best midbass I have yet ever heard. It was as good as my buddies HDs. Tweets sounded much better, blended wonderfully... but it is the vocals which the ES's excel at. Vocals are so amazing on these comps I cant even put it to words. Sara McLaughlin with delerium was mesmerizing!

And they just cant be distorted...if you think you hear a distortion, play it back soft, and it's on the track, not the speaker. These things just get sickly loud, but do it without losing their fine sound.

Conclusion: easily the best comps I have ever owned. Sound spectacular! Took alot of tweaking to get them to sing, but it was well worth it.

Click to read more...

 

[Towncar 10+ year member]

hmm..

 

[DDeitz 10+ year member]

so then i better be happy with mine! although i was putting one in today with my cousin and we were pretty tired anyway we had just drilled a hole in the door frame for the speaker wire to pass through and used an airgun well...being half asleep he used the airgun to screw the cdt's in........broken basket so tomrorow its time todo some fiberglassing //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/frown.gif.a3531fa0534503350665a1e957861287.gif

 

[dtavano 10+ year member]

Perhaps you needed similar tweaking to get the EF-61s to sound good, just like you did to these?

 

[djdilliodon 10+ year member]

Hi all,
My 1st post here but I am no stranger to high end car audio. I have quite a but of experience in both installing high end systems and listening to them.

So I have spent a solid month with a pair of '06 CDT ES-620 comps with the DRT-25 1 inch silk tweeter. (Purchased new for $399... retail at $699).

They are powered by a Pheonix Gold Titanium Elite 500.4 (I have powered them both in bridged for 250 watts RMS and non bridged for 75 watts RMS).

My HU is an Alpine CDA-9833 with 4 volt preouts.

Subwoofer is a 2004 RE XXX 12" Dual 4 run at 2 Ohms via a PG Titanium Elite 800.1

Rear fill was not run.

My previous comps have been: Infinity Perfect 6.1s, MB Quart Q series, CDT EF-61s, some older Polks, Dynaudios, and some JL comps.

1st let me say that I am not a CDT fan. I was thoroughly unimpressed with the EF-61s. They sounded good yes, for an entry level comp, but were very weak in midbass. I only decided to give the Eurosports a go because of the great price I got them at. The other options for me were Seas Lotus comps, DLS Iridiums, or Rainbow Profi Vanadiums. (all were over $900).

Also, I recently got to experience a pair of CDT HD-61s, and was far more impressed than with mine...

SO I figured, what the heck, if I hate the ES 620's I'll dump em on Ebay and go with the Lotus.

Installation was a snap cause they had the same mounting depth and frame as the EF-61s.

1st Impressions: Not good. Flat. Midbass not what I was expecting. To my horror they distorted quite easily. I was utterly horrified by the mid woofer of CDT's "flagship".

But, the 1 inch silk tweeter sounded great. I always have been a fan of silk tweeters for their warmpth and lack of edginess, and this one really delivered. Hands down the best tweeter I have ever heard in a car.

SO back I go to figure out if I had screwed up the midbass setup. Nope...wiring all correct. So off I go to work on tweaking this mid woofer to do what people say it can do. I take it off 250 watts RMS and put 75 watts RMS to each. Big difference, much better, but still not great. I think the PG was prolly pumping out 300 watts as they are underrated.

SO now they are comfortable and in no danger of being overdriven. Off I go on tweaking sessions. Many of them. Cant get them to sound good. The MB Quarts blew these out of the water. They still sound flat, no mid bass.

At this point I was crossing them over at 100 Hz with a 24hz/dB slope. (where my RE would pick up at 100 Hz low pass)

SO I got even more frustrated and drove with them for a week to see if they would wake up a bit. Nope, they still sounded like the Infinity perfects (NOW THOSE sounded HORRID).

In Complete dismay I broke out some classical CDs and turned off the sub, to perfectly set the gains using Henrich Gorekski's Symphony #9. In doing so I put the head unit into Defeat Mode Which turned out to be the smartest thing I did. I then used the gains/boosts/crossovers on the amps on the PG500.4 and 800.1.

Well something about doing that set these babies ALIVE. Suddenly I was running two 6 inch BEASTS of mids. A touch more tweaking at the amp level and I was grinning so hard my cheeks were hurting. The midbass came to life and man, it was THERE and hit hard and tight. Best midbass I have yet ever heard. It was as good as my buddies HDs. Tweets sounded much better, blended wonderfully... but it is the vocals which the ES's excel at. Vocals are so amazing on these comps I cant even put it to words. Sara McLaughlin with delerium was mesmerizing!

And they just cant be distorted...if you think you hear a distortion, play it back soft, and it's on the track, not the speaker. These things just get sickly loud, but do it without losing their fine sound.

Conclusion: easily the best comps I have ever owned. Sound spectacular! Took alot of tweaking to get them to sing, but it was well worth it.

I noticed you said these have the drt25 tweeters, Does your set have the yellow frames and 480dt xovers? Sounds like you have an older set. The new ones have orange frames and fiberglass woven cones and drt26 tweeter with 560 xovers. Its a good step above from the older ones. Here is a pic of a new model 5.25" set i have laying around which are new //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

 

[QtrHorse 10+ year member]

I thought the 06 models were the yellow frames?

Anyway, maybe now someone will buy my still new in the package yellow frame 06 model set. I have tried to sell them for about 6 months now.

Great review by the way.

 

[mike11202 10+ year member]

I have the SAME EXACT problem with my CDT Audio HD 62's.. the DRT-25 tweeters are amazing, I just have NO MIDBASS.

I have a Pioneer Premier Headunit, and eD NINe.2x 200rms x 2 underated.. what is defeat mode?

 

[djdilliodon 10+ year member]

I have the SAME EXACT problem with my CDT Audio HD 62's.. the DRT-25 tweeters are amazing, I just have NO MIDBASS.
I have a Pioneer Premier Headunit, and eD NINe.2x 200rms x 2 underated.. what is defeat mode?

Are your doors sound deadened? Did you mount the speakers to the door solid with a baffle? What is your HP filter set at ?

 

[djdilliodon 10+ year member]

I thought the 06 models were the yellow frames?
Anyway, maybe now someone will buy my still new in the package yellow frame 06 model set. I have tried to sell them for about 6 months now.

Great review by the way.

If your ES yellow frame set has a black cone then they are an 06 model. If they use a yellow frame and cone they are older. Just put them on ebay someone will take them on there.

 

[QtrHorse 10+ year member]

If your ES yellow frame set has a black cone then they are an 06 model. If they use a yellow frame and cone they are older. Just put them on ebay someone will take them on there.

I believe they are the black cones. It's actually the 620US set w/ the 200 xovers. I just need to take some pic's and do that.

 

[snb778 5,000+ posts]

MB Quart sucks. thanks for the detailed review

 

[helotaxi 5,000+ posts]

I've had the '03 set in my car since early '04 in fiberglass door pods. Never had a lack of midbass with them at all. Rebuilt the door pods and switched amps and lost a bit of midbass. Replaced the mids with ES-06+ midbasses and love the new sound. Currently running the front stage full range (gotta love the 15mm Xmax on the midbasses and the fact that they are really subs that can play high enough to blend nicely with a tweet). Never had a complaint about my CDTs.

 

[onefastsi 10+ year member]

I've owned CDT HD62's for about 10 years, great stuff! I ran them in 3 way mode, which was the original setup with an OLD xover and the mid bass really came alive! letting the 6.5" play just mid bass was the ticket!

Might try a DLS set next however as I'm due for something new...

 

[Pickzilla 10+ year member]

I noticed you said these have the drt25 tweeters, Does your set have the yellow frames and 480dt xovers? Sounds like you have an older set. The new ones have orange frames and fiberglass woven cones and drt26 tweeter with 560 xovers. Its a good step above from the older ones. Here is a pic of a new model 5.25" set i have laying around which are new //content.invisioncic.com/y282845/emoticons/smile.gif.1ebc41e1811405b213edfc4622c41e27.gif

Yes, they are the '06 models with the 480dt crossovers and the yellow frame with black cone.

 

[Pickzilla 10+ year member]

Perhaps you needed similar tweaking to get the EF-61s to sound good, just like you did to these?

Man I tell you what. I did everything known to man to make those EF-61s sound good.

Ok, let me clarify... they actually sounded very good, just had a relative large hole in the midbass area. They were a big upgrade to the infinity perfect 6.1s.

I was running them baffle with extensive deadening in the doors, at 75 watts RMS from the PG 500.4.

Simple fact is, they are a mid level comp, and I was just eager for a top end comp.