In the Criterion family, blessed as it is with a rich brood of amazing youngsters, the TAL XM may appear to be an intruder. We believe that powerful, accurate bass is an imperative component of real musical enjoyment. That is why we have never included a small speaker in the Criterion range - until now, that is. We have never felt inclined to follow the misguided path taken by many manufacturers - and magazine testers - of representing small two-way speakers as the Non-Plus-Ultra. They might have an airy nature and good dynamics, but those qualities are simply no substitute for a lack of bass. With all this in mind, we worked on the overall design, the drivers and the crossover of this model for a very long time until we decided it was worthy of inclusion in the Criterion series, as the smallest unit in the range.