Ted The Bug

Hello.

I am a poor college student on a limited budget. I currently have a Toshiba SD1200 DVD Player an a Dolby Digital Pioneer Receiver (the vsx-d557) that outputs 100watts/channel and has a line output for subwoofer.

However, for a year my roomates and I have been using a thrown-together speaker setup comprised of our parents old tower speakers from when they where in college for the fronts and rears and a random tower speaker somebody was throwing away for the center (no subwoofer).

So needless to say, its time I buy some real speakers. I was looking at the Cambridge Soundworks Movieworks 5.1 setup. For $1450, it seemed like a good deal. I liked the idea of being able to screw all the speakers into the wall to get them out of the way. However then everything went on sale, and the guy at the local Cambridge Soundworks can give me this setup for $1450:

Mains: Tower II (their second-best mains)
Center: Centerstage (their best center)
Surrounds: Surround 5.1 (their best surrounds)
Subwoofer: BassCube 10 (I don't want the 12)

So I was just wondering what peoples opinions were on Cambridge Soundworks stuff, and if this seems like a good deal.

The room the setup will be going in next year is pretty small, its the living room of an on-campus college apartment. I don't know the dimensions off hand.... I'd say its about the size of a usual testing room at a place that sells home theater stuff. Maybe slightly bigger.

Like I said, small speakers would be nice to get them out of the way of all the college partying, but i could deal with having floorstanding ones too.

I honestly don't know much about speakers, but my only real goal is to get speakers in the 1000-1500 range that will sound good for movies (music doesnt matter cause i can always use 2 of those old speakers as my B speakers to listen to music in stereo - they sound good enough for music). Actually, I guess I would say I would like the best speakers I can buy for $1000-$1500... so any opinions any one?

I know its all subjective what is "best" so I guess I can add I am most interested in accurate soundstaging, being able to hear all the sounds in the mix, and having punchy accurate bass. A really loud system or a system with crazy bass does not impress me as much as a system where the sound mix seems to come alive in the room.

Thanks in advance for any advice you guys have for me... I know most of you have setups that cost way more then $1500 but I'm sure some of you know what you should be able to buy for $1500 that doesn't sound like crap. Thanks.

jvcdvd

Ted

Great stuff but I'm not sure of the price. I highly recommend them. I have the center channel plus, the surround, and the powered sub/slave sub combo. I believe they have a 10 year warrantee. As far as pricing goes, you should consider their "B" stock goods. Go to Hifi.com and read about it. Once you get the prices, go visit Ebay and see what the local sales guy didn't tell you.

By the way, was the store in Salem, NH?

[This message has been edited by jvcdvd (edited July 10, 2000).]

daledude

I have used their ensemble I setup for several years and think they sound pretty good. I've never actually heard the tower series, but most reviews I saw gave them favorable remarks.

As far as the setup goes, I'm not so sure the 10" powered sub would add a lot of bass to the the tower mains. I suggest listening to the entire setup at home, with and without the sub. I doubt that the sub can play as low or as loud as the main.

If the new room is going to be smaller than your current one, you need to be careful about buying large tower speakers. There's a good chance there'll be a bass resonance which will lead to an excessively boomy sound.

matchpenalty

FYI, very expensive relative to other values out there.

If putting them on the wall is what is important...look at the following

Klipsch quintets/ sub. If you only want the 10" sub (I really think the 12" is the way to go, much better unit), You should be able to get the whole setup between 600-700. The quints are VERY SMALL and have mounting brackets attached.

I would also recommend NHT superzeros (size wise, the XU come with mounting brackets) and the supercenter. I believe you can get 2 pairs for about 450 (full retail is 560) and the center is probably the price of one pair.. I happen to like the velodyne sub better than the NHT, but both are very good. The whole setup should be about 1,000. If you can tolerate the bigger size, upgrade the fronts to superones (should cost about under 100).

Either way, I think you will get more for your money...

good luck...

daledude

I'm not sure I would call the Cambridge Soundworks expensive. Most people either really like them or think there average. I consider them about even with most brands.

If your willing to look at other brands, you ought to compare several diffrent brands of speakers in you setup. Most hifi dealers will allow you to test speakers at home. Try diffrent brands and buy the one you like best.

Some brands to look into are NHT, B&W, M&K, Paradigm, PSB, Boston Acoustics, Definitive Technology, and Klipsch. Choosing speakers is a subjective call, what you like will probably be diffrent from what someone else likes. Listen to as many as possible and buy what you like.

$1500 is a very good spot for value. You can get a very good setup at this price, and to improve overall sound you would have to spend considerably more. I personally like the paradigm setup with minimonitors, CC350, ADP-170, and 10" powered sub for about $1500.

Ted The Bug

jvcdvd -

no, the store was in the solomon pond mall in marlboro (or is it in northboro?) mass.

And those prices are very, very good. The msrp of all those peices is $2050, on sale they are $1600 - even hifi.com has them for $1500. The guy came in with the $1450 i might be able to talk him down even more.

daledude -

I listened to the 10 and the 12 subwoofer, and me and the sales guy both agreed that the 10 sounded better. The fact that its $100 cheaper is a major plus, in addition to the fact that I've never been a fan of crazy bass. Also, since I was looking at towers instead of just small cubes, there will be some bass coming out of the mains so i think the basscube 10 is perfect with these peices.

The new room will actually be bigger then where our set up was last year, and like i said the room is slightly bigger then most demo rooms, in which the speakers sound fine in.

xcheckers -

you seem to agree with what a lot of people at audioreview are saying - that the CSW stuff isn't bad, but for the price better values can be found.

so, as such i have decided to go around to various places and listen to other speakers before deciding on what i want. I will look at Energy, Paradigm, and Klipsch and NHT stuff if i can find em - anybody have any other suggestions for who makes good speakers in the 1000-1500 range? I will basically look at whatever the salesguys have, I guess.

Who knows I could end up with the CSW but the Energy Encore looks like a neat set.

Thanks everybody for your help and advice and i am still interested in hearing what anybody here has to say about cambridge soundworks stuff.

Thanks again!



-Jason
(who thinks its time to change his screen name)

daledude

quote:<HR>Originally posted by Ted The Bug:
jvcdvd -

I listened to the 10 and the 12 subwoofer, and me and the sales guy both agreed that the 10 sounded better. The fact that its $100 cheaper is a major plus, in addition to the fact that I've never been a fan of crazy bass. Also, since I was looking at towers instead of just small cubes, there will be some bass coming out of the mains so i think the basscube 10 is perfect with these peices.

The new room will actually be bigger then where our set up was last year, and like i said the room is slightly bigger then most demo rooms, in which the speakers sound fine in.
<HR>

What I was trying to say was that if the 10" sub isn't playing lower/louder bass then the mains, then you should save your money and not buy the sub. Later on you could buy a better sub for a little more money if you decide you really need the extra bass.

jvcdvd

Ted

You may find Hifi.com selling through Ebay as well. I saw a pair of tower II s last and the centerstage last night. Good luck in your search.