I bought a pair of Cerwin Vega VE 10s and LOVe the deep, clear sound they produce. How do these speakers rack up against others?
I bought them with having a two speaker system driven by a Pioneer VSX-819 hk A/V receiver, in mind. I didnt want them to be a home theatre. I bought them to channel my iPod touch's music content to the speakers. And an ocassional CD. I also have the Pioneer BDP-20 BD hooked up. What do you guys think of Cerwin vega! speakers. I personally LOVE them, but what does the audiophile community think of them? I'm curious.
to answer your question though... some like them, but most do not.
but if you like them, that is what matters! My current choice of speakers is not at all the favorite among Frank, who has admitted that in several threads. I think he called them "nasty sounding" when someone asked his opinion of KEF speakers (which I own).
It all comes down to personal preference. What I like, you may not. We all hear differently.
This is not to say you can not purchase better speakers. You certainly can.
I've listened to Magnepans for 3 decades. Who cares? I'm probably the only person who posts here who has 'em...though I think some others have owned them in the past.\
Enjoy your CVs.
Perhaps the only universally reviled speaker system is Bose, at least among those who actually listen
My original Maggies were MG-1s. Kept 'em for 20+ yrs and thru a White Bear Lake rebuild. Sold a couple years ago and replaced with 1.6s. and then the amp.....and then the CD player
I change equipment infrequently, as you can tell.
What are you doing w/the 1c ? How much power are you running? You always hear more/better, but I'm not sure, especially if you play below nose bleed levels.
Hey Leo. The Maggies are my second pair of speakers. My first were a pair of B&W 601 S1. I currently have a Soundstage Vacuum Two as my preamp and a Mitsubishi DA-A7DC with the DA-M10 meter which is supposed to run 200W RMS at 4 ohm. I had a chinese made EL34 tube amp running the maggies for a while and had both of them hooked up bi-amping the Maggies as well. It is interesting how the speakers fit exactly what I wanted. I made custom X-overs for them which would not have been possible with the newer ones.
The tubes had enough for my taste and room size. The room is I would say like 12' by 20' and it fills pretty well. I have tried blasting Carmina Burana(spelling) and it was not very satisfying. Other than that it worked well. I tried bi amping with a low wattage tube amp for highs, EL84, with the chinese one as mids and the volume was just pathetic. I need to find a use for that low wattage amp as I don't have any speakers with a sensitivity that is high enough that will play well.
I have visited the site and got some ideas like the semi-circle of corrugated acoustic foam behind the speakers.
Isn't that a wonderful thought - that there exists gears even more enjoyable than the ones you own... and if you ask in sights like this one and do some research, you can probably get gears that are more satisfying for not too much more money...
James Lee- It IS a wonderful thing to come to a site ike this to help steer me in the direction of good quality and tests first hand by people who actually use the recommended components.
I think I already am an audiophile! lol. I love my music coming out of these Cerwin Vega!s being driven by a suggested A/V receiver recommended by someone here. I almost spent waaaay too much money for something that actually did less than the Pioneer i use now. Thanks to all for helping me assemble this dream stereo system!!
As a 15 year owner of Cerwin Vega speakers also with many friends with different year/models of Vegas and moving up into the higher end brands I suppose I can give some input.
First song I fired up when I brought home a set of B&W 684's was in the beginning of the song had some birds chirping. I could notice right away the much more detailed and airy highs of the B&W tweeter. As the rest of the song started playing you could easily notice the more 3D-like imaging, more subtle detail, clarity and natural real life-like sound. Now I took home the B&W 684's on a whim/7 day in home trial one day because I was bored and had nothing else really to do and was just curious of the higher end brands and even told the salesman beforehand that I just wanted to "try them out of curiosity" and would be bringing them back for sure. He was cool with this and let me take them home.
Well that goes without saying that after the first song I played on them I decided I was definitely keeping them and not bringing them back. Looking at the 684 visually before listening to them it was apparent that I wasn't going to like them with their unintimidating looking thin cabinets and small bass drivers compared to the monstrous Cerwin Vegas that where 19" wide/deep with huge 400 watt 15" woofers. Me and a friend actually would comment on how they don't make speakers like they used to (referring to huge cabinets with 12"/15" woofers). The little 684's surprisingly put out some good tight clean bass for such small drivers - I was shocked at how loud and clear they could play! They could reach volume where you couldn't hear yourself talk! They sure didn't look it! So volume output wise, they also weren't a disappointment. I thought they would break up way before you got to the volume where you couldn't hear yourself talk (again by their unintimidating looks).
You see for a long time I wound up listening to two channel music through headphones because my loudspeaker system just didn't have the ultra fine detail and clarity that my headphones had. I found the fine detail and clarity out of a set of decent headphones much more satisfying (addicting) than what the Cerwin Vegas where capable of. And this is normal everyday popular music and not specialty 'audiophile' tunes. Try this for yourself - put on a good middle road set of headphones and listen to your normal music - I bet you can hear tons more fine detail clearly through headphones than your speakers. The jump to B&W was a jump in the direction I always wanted out of a loudspeaker system but honestly didn't think was possible because headphones are so right up close to your ear and you sit away from your speakers. I was wrong. The B&W's can throw those fine details across the room just like a headphone right up to your ear can!
Two weeks after my initial B&W purchase I upgraded to the next up, the B&W 683 (the top speaker in their current 600 series). Again I noticed another jump in clarity and detail with the FST midranges and they also had deeper and stronger bass. Within another year - now I'm on B&W's flagship lineup, the 800 series (804S for my front mains). And this is coming from someone who's intentions was just to try out a higher end brand out of curiosity for a few days in-home then bring them back.
I too was very happy with my Vegas for years until I started listening to some halfway decent headphones. Once I heard all the extra detail that I was missing through my loudspeakers I could never be as happy with them again. You really can't compare a true high end (audiophile?) speaker to something like a Cerwin Vega or other big box store speaker. They're not even really comparable.
Another problem I had with my Vegas was the cabinet started coming apart and I had to re-glue it. But to be fair, out of everyone I personally know with Cerwin Vega's mine where the only ones I know of where the cabinets came apart.
I am still a fan of Cerwin Vega, but the higher end speakers like B&W are a totally different ball game (all for the better)... They make vocals sound more natural and real life, they image more 3D, they have tons more subtle detail and clarity and will still play LOUD enough clearly to where you can't even hear your own voice - it really is a totally different listening experience.
I'll give you a tip for Cerwin Vegas since I've been through a lot of gear with mine. If you have the older 4-ohm ones, and even though they're ultra efficient (mine where 102dB 1w/1m) meaning they will get very loud with minimal watts, but with a lower end receiver they'll sound very flat and thin with lack of current. The best sound I got from my Vegas is when I had them hooked up to a dedicated Carver TFM-35x power amp. When I went to a Sony receiver for surround, I noticed a difference in sound right away. If you where buying something brand new today, I'd look into a Emotiva power amp for your Vegas.
