Assembly guide
General assembly guide
We’re updating step-by-step guides for every kit. Until yours is ready, this guide covers every CSS flat-pack kit. Call or email us with any questions along the way.
Enclosure
Check every cabinet part arrived.
Clear dust from the corners of all panels — debris in a joint stops it closing tight and flush.
Dry-fit the cabinet without glue.
Disassemble and lay out the panels for assembly, following the cabinet-layout PDF for your kit.
Optional: pre-drill pilot holes for the crossover board on the bottom or rear panel, clear of the binding posts and a few inches from any woofer magnet.
Glue the mating seams one at a time, using the cabinet-layout PDF as your guide.
Once cured, fill gaps with wood filler or Bondo and sand flat. Finish with veneer, vinyl or paint.
Crossover
Check every crossover part arrived.
Place each component in its labelled spot on the SmartNode board and secure with zip ties.
On the back of the board, solder together leads that share a letter.
2TD-X only: the crossover is split into separate woofer and tweeter boards. Run two input pairs from the binding posts, or jumper the boards in parallel at the input.
Cut three wire lengths — binding posts, woofer and tweeter to the board — with enough slack to reach the drivers outside the cabinet.
Match quick connects to their terminals before crimping: red for positive, black for negative. Crimp, and solder if you like.
Connect tweeter wires to T+ / T−, woofer wires to W+ / W−, and input wires to IN+ / IN−, soldering each to its letter.
Final assembly
Binding posts: tap them into the rear panel, through-wire openings vertical, then fit nut, lock washer, terminal ring, lock washer, nut. Towers: fit the terminal cup in the 3″ hole after wiring the board.
Ports: set the length for your model (see the table), fix with a single wrap of thin tape or glue, insert and screw in.
Mount the crossover board on the back or bottom panel with the ¾″ screws, clear of the binding posts and woofer magnets. Red input to the red ring, black to black.
Foam: line the walls behind the woofer first, then the sides and bottom, keeping at least 2″ clear around the port. Towers: put the denim on top of the brace below the second woofer cutout.
Connect the drivers and screw them in.
Test
Connect to your amplifier and play something quiet.
Troubleshooting
No sound from the whole speaker
Usually a problem on the amplifier side of the crossover. Check the input wires are properly connected at the crossover (including ground wires returning to the negative connection) and at the binding posts. Make sure stray wires or other metal aren’t shorting positive to negative.
No sound from one driver
Most often a bad connection in the crossover. Check that only matching letters share a connection point, that inductors are connected on the tinned (silver) lead and not over the insulation, and that nothing is loose.
Crackling sound
Usually a loose connection. Check every driver and binding-post connection, and that solder joints are solid with no movement in the joint. Look for bare wire touching where it shouldn’t. If you can’t find the source, contact us.
Amplifier shuts down
Likely a short — the amp is seeing little or no load. Look for bare crossover wiring touching where it shouldn’t, and make sure the binding-post terminals aren’t touching each other. If you can’t find the source, contact us.
Lack of bass
Check polarity is consistent inside and outside both binding posts — one inverted speaker cancels bass. Keep foam clear of the port openings, confirm the woofer is on the W +/− section of the SmartNode board (not T +/−), and that the port is cut to the correct length.