Cerwin-Vega was founded in 1954 by Gene Czerwinski, then a young aerospace engineer, with a design philosophy based on high performance, durability, and value. The company became a consumer favorite and also supplied now-legendary loudspeakers to manufacturers such as Fender, Acoustic, Sunn, and Vox. Its subwoofers were literally earthshaking in many movie theater systems, and C-V even picked up an Academy Award for Special Technical Achievement. In the pro market, C-V supplied equipment for The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Peter Frampton, Emerson Lake and Palmer, and others. Its entry into the car audio market was revolutionary, and bass on wheels was never the same again.
Now the company is re-energizing its brand in the home market with products such as the Cerwin-Vega CVHD 5.1 home theater speaker system, a contemporary 5.1 surround setup. At $1,100, this speaker system has a lot of competition. So, as I pulled the speakers from the box, I wondered: Can an old dog really learn new tricks? And can there still be life left in 53-year-old values?
After wrestling with a number of heavy-duty speaker systems lately, my lower back enjoyed the lightweight CVHD-63 satellites. The plastic enclosures are very plain, with minimal embellishment, and look as industrial as many of Cerwin-Vega's PA cabinets. Each houses one tweeter and six woofers in a vertical array. They are prefaced with a built-in 150-Hz high-pass filter on the input line to keep them from having to reproduce frequencies below that point — clearly, you won't be using these without a sub. For reasons incomprehensible to me, the cabinet sides are angled so that the speakers cannot stand by themselves; they must be wall-mounted (using supplied hardware) or placed on floor stands (optional). Sure, these sats are principally designed for wall-mounting, but would it have killed C-V to add a penny's worth of plastic to make them self-standing or to supply some cheap table mounts? Perhaps they figured the slim towers were just too tip-prone. The $999 price is a killer value, but the cost of floor stands seriously undermines this.
The CVHD-63C center channel speaker looks identical to the satellites and uses precisely the same driver complement but in a horizontal array. It also shares the same confounded cabinet design and similarly begs wall mounting or an optional floor stand. In a pinch, you could probably just lay it on its side.
At 48+ pounds, the CVHD-12S subwoofer made my lower back aware of gravity's pull again. Cerwin-Vega is no stranger to subs, and this one's dual ports and traditional bright red driver surround (a company trademark, of sorts) reminded me of all the times, at home and in the car, I have rocked out to deep C-V bass. This front-firing sub has the typical niceties, including a volume control, line- and speaker-level inputs, speaker outputs, a continuously variable crossover (50 – 150 Hz), and a phase switch (selectable for 0 or 180 degrees). Per Cerwin-Vega's recommendation, I initially set the sub's low-pass crossover to 150 Hz, then later sank it a few hertz.
Some satellites are finicky about room placement, but these were not. They immediately sounded happy in my usual sweet spots and didn't complain when I shifted them around experimentally. This suggests to me that they are more amenable than most to non-ideal placement. For the bulk of my listening, I placed them against walls to mimic wall-mounting. By definition, the center channel speaker needs to accompany the screen, and I tucked this one right underneath mine. Woofers are always very finicky about location, and as I expected, this one wanted to live in my usual spot along the front wall, between the screen and left front satellite; I subsequently pulled it forward a few inches to extract a little more low-end clarity.
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The Short Form |
| Price $1,100 / cerwin-vega.com / 818-534-1500 |
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Snapshot
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| These speakers bypass style in favor of sonic substance. Ignore their plain looks and dig the trust-fund baby sound. |
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Plus
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| •High-value fidelity with a clear, forward sound •Tonally matched satellites •Classic Cerwin-Vega chest-massaging bass |
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Minus
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| •Sloping satellite cabinets require wall-mounting or optional stands •Plain appearance |
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Key Features
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| CVHD-63 •(6) 3-in woofers, 1-in soft dome tweeter; 22.5-in high; 6.3 lb CVHD-63C •(6) 3-in woofers, 1-in soft dome tweeter; 22.5-in wide; 6.3 lb CVHD-12S 12-in driver; 250-watt RMS amplifier; line- and speaker-level inputs, speaker outputs; variable level and crossover-frequency controls; phase switch; 17.8 x 16.8 x 16.5 in; 48.5 lb |
I started my audition with Robert Randolph & The Family Band's Colorblind. The snapping dynamic range of the awesome riffs on songs like "Ain't Nothing Wrong with That" makes them essentially unplayable on any dinky single-driver satellites; they just can't handle the extraordinary funk levels that are generated. As I expected, the multiple drivers in the CVHD's satellites fared much better; they positively sizzled with energy. Moreover, Randolph's rocking pedal steel guitar has a uniquely cool sound that was accurately conveyed throughout the broad midrange and treble bands. The party whistle, handclaps, and other percussion that drive this song sounded appropriately bright and crisp, and though they came close, never sounded shrill or piercing to me. These sats are like Judge Judy: At first, they seem a little too forceful, with a particularly forward-sounding upper midrange, but after awhile you begin to appreciate the clarity that provides.
The satellites' clean sound and enunciation were an open window into inner musical lines on other tracks as well. Dave Matthews does backup vocal duties on "Love Is the Only Way" and Eric Clapton contributes a second guitar to a cover of the Doobie Brothers' hit "Jesus Is Just Alright." In both cases, the subtle vocal sighs and string-caressing details characteristic of these artists were clearly audible. On some speakers, it's some guy playing second guitar; on accurate speakers, it's Clapton.
"Ain't Nothing Wrong" also proved to be a showcase for the CVHD's subwoofer. The bass line and kick drum (echoed with bass vocals) sounded strong and distinct. This sub's musical tone was excellent — more than just thumping impact, I could hear each bass note, properly pitched in the bottom octave, as plain as notes on paper. When I cranked it up, the kick sounded positively massive and the sub held together without an audible downside except for a little port chuffing. I wish all songs had the same kind of kick-ass bass that this one does, and that all subs had this much guts.
Although I'm not a huge fan of Styx, or 70's music in general, the band's new DVD-Audio release, Cyclorama, provides a great workout for surround systems. The revisited version of "Fooling Yourself (Palm of Your Hands)" is an inventive acapella remix ideally suited for the CVHD system. The system uses identical speakers, so the male vocals in this boy-band treatment were matched and balanced as they panned through the surround speakers. Similarly, Tommy Shaw's voice is panned to the front and center speakers, and the balance and tonality was maintained across the front soundstage. Non-matching rear speakers, as in systems with dipole surrounds, would have thrown off the sonic symmetry here. A final note: Vertical line arrays usually provide good horizontal dispersion and solid imaging; that proved to be the case here, for both stereo and surround playback. Moreover, there was a decent sense of depth to the soundstage. In contrast, many wall-mounted speakers struggle to provide distinct imaging or any soundstage depth.
The action/comedy Night at the Museum is a Jumanji-type film set in the New York Museum of Natural History where literally, history comes alive and chases after Ben Stiller. More to the point, its sound design is as creative as its computer-generated visual effects. Chapter 5 presents a terrific subwoofer test: When the T-Rex exhibit comes out to play; the combination of the sound effect of the fossil foot hitting the ground and the double-bass notes of the orchestral score produce quite a jolt. The CVHD-12S subwoofer kept the two sounds separate and distinct as the dinosaur was chasing around the museum. The sub's musicality was evident throughout the film as it pumped out the bottom octave of the orchestral score.
The satellites were as lively as the museum's exhibits; the dynamics of both score and effects sounded appropriately punchy. As in music-only listening, the sats were more aggressive in the upper midrange than I usually prefer, but they were also exciting to listen to. And the same excellent dispersion I heard on music was evident here in the system's enveloping sound field. The center speaker's intelligibility was spot-on, contributing a little coloration on male voices but nothing that really got in the way. Its horizontal dispersion was about par, with typical treble roll-off and increased coloration on the edges of my sweet spot. And though it's true that direct-firing surrounds such as these can't provide the same degree of nonlocalized ambience as dipoles, these weren't bad. If you hear hot spots, a little creative re-aiming should solve the problem.
The best showcase for the CVHD system was in Chapter 22 of Night at the Museum, as the exhibits return to their proper places within the museum. This scene demonstrates the importance of having satellite speakers that can handle a little bit of low end without relying entirely on the subwoofer. When the massive elephant walks across the balcony, the impact of its footsteps is panned across the speakers to follow the action. On some systems that don't achieve smooth blending of the subwoofer and satellites, all of those low frequencies would come from the sub, and the panning effect would be lost. But the CVHD satellites are nicely integrated here and handle just enough upper bass to allow the elephant's deep, pounding footsteps to follow his (her?) movement across the screen.
Many times when people visit my listening room or lab, the review equipment elicits oh's and ah's and tactile responses to hand-buffed lacquer. That clearly was not the case with this Cerwin-Vega system. The sub commands a bit of visual respect, but the sats are just nondescript plastic boxes. This system must stand on its sound quality alone. And, it does.
Yes, I do prefer darker-sounding speakers as a matter of personal taste, and the Cerwin-Vega CVHD 5.1 home-theater speaker system pushed my brightness envelope a bit, but I grew to appreciate their aggressive sound. I suspect that if these sats were saddled with the usual slacker subs on the market, their forward sound would be too much. But when teamed with the bass-rich CVHD sub, the soaring high end was well matched to the solid bass foundation. In that respect, given the relatively low price, the fidelity is remarkable. When wall-mounted, these sats, with sub, comprise a system that delivers excellent value. If you need to pop for floor stands, the value quotient drops a bit. But either way, this system will please many listeners — particularly those who can listen past its plain looks and appreciate old-school fidelity.
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