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Cerwin vega

Cerwin Vega is a somewhat sad story. I was introduced to the company in the '80s, when it produced very good and equally reliable pro audio enclosures. From the beginnings until around the end of the 1970s, the company made a serious effort in the home HiFi market with designs that were truly innovative at the time, such as the 12TR, with its 12" downward firing woofer, dhorm, ambience tweeter. and with an attractive furniture-like aesthetic. These are still around and fairly collectible if in good condition.


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Perhaps the last gasp of reaching for a more upscale clientele with innovative design was the stately 2000 series, launched in 1985 and now a collector rarity:


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Unfortunately, Cerwin Vega's other 80s-90s models consisted of mostly redundant SKUs with no real innovation, each being the same basic dimensions and layout, with slightly rejiggered combinations of familiar drivers and changed crossovers. This was done ostensibly to give each distribution channel its own line to avoid self-competition.

By 2002, the overwhelmingly top heavy company was bankrupt and rescued by Stanton, who hired the late Bill Bush, formerly of Audio Research and NHT, to create the CLSC and later the revised CLS series. As can be seen in the Soundstage measurements in the article posted previously, he did a fine job with the acoustics, but that relationship ended with the onset of "The Great Recession."

CV was recently bought by its more successful car audio namesake and is producing very decent home audio speakers (e.g. LA Series) that feature modern acoustical design with good build quality and hardware for the money.
I retailed CV for years and every time that I wanted some fun, thump and loud'n proud rock and roll I went to the D-9 CV towers speaker.
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CV was recently bought by its more successful car audio namesake and is producing very decent home audio speakers (e.g. LA Series) that feature modern acoustical design with good build quality and hardware for the money.
Most importantly they continue to have red colored surrounds on their woofers! :D
 
That recent LA series is nothing but the rebranded Heco Victa lineup with red surrounds and a CW logo. It's being phased out by Heco and I guess they just sold the designs.
 
That recent LA series is nothing but the rebranded Heco Victa lineup with red surrounds and a CW logo. It's being phased out by Heco and I guess they just sold the designs.

If accurate, I was unaware of it. In any case, the design and construction is definitely a step up from the 80s-90s era enclosures, the assembly of which was often somewhat slipshod.

Meanwhile, there is a new series in the works, the LSD line. This is the only preview image I could find.

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I retailed CV for years and every time that I wanted some fun, thump and loud'n proud rock and roll I went to the D-9 CV towers speaker.

The D9 (1982) and the AT15 (1987) are almost certainly CV's two most widely sold and well known big box models from the pre-2002 era. Just about all the others (and there were many) that came afterward are just a riff on these two. The on-axis frequency response of the D9 (credit: Preston Epp) is actually not too bad considering how poorly some much acclaimed speakers fare in modern testing. The HF horn (which was also used in other CV models) tends to drop like a rock beyond 14.5kHz, but no one seemed to notice or be bothered.


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The D9 (1982) and the AT15 (1987) are almost certainly CV's two most widely sold and well known big box models from the pre-2002 era. Just about all the others (and there were many) that came afterward are just a riff on these two. The on-axis frequency response of the D9 (credit: Preston Epp) is actually not too bad considering how poorly some much acclaimed speakers fare in modern testing. The HF horn (which was also used in other CV models) tends to drop like a rock beyond 14.5kHz, but no one seemed to notice or be bothered.


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I'm surprised. I imagined the frequency response would be worse by a wide margin. I am a treble head and always crank that up so this would not phase me too too much.
 
I mean...
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The lineup and even available colours are identical - except the Vegas being available in white additionally, and the subwoofer uses a different amp module. These are definitely the same models from the same factory. The Prime series was made until 2022, shortly after the LA series came out.

I mean, why not, usual business in the industry. For being super budget, these are good speakers. Not crappy at all and good value, with proper construction and drivers as good as small money gets.
 
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