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Cerwin vega

Ted B said:
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.


View attachment 419740


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:


View attachment 419741


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.
Click to expand...
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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Ted B said:
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.
Click to expand...
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.
 
Ropeburn said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.

CV LSD.jpg
 
Doodski said:
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.
Click to expand...

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.


D9.jpg
 
Ted B said:
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.


View attachment 419780
Click to expand...
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...
s-l1200.jpg


VictaPrime44.png

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.
 
At the end of the day, Vegas are fun.

A very good friend of mine (r.i.p.) said he couldn't listen to anything unless there was a pair of 12's per side.
The older I get, the more I'm agreeing with most of his advice.

If you like pounding dance club bass at 70 ~ 80db at listening spot for the used price for a 12" 3-way for near $500.
Probably boosted bass and treble, I don't need to boost the bass and treble for the first time (weird for me).
Not much below 60hz, but so what ? I don't need to shake the dust off the ceiling.


fun video actually
 
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A 6.5" 2-way......................
but close to +/- 3db, certainly not the flattest.
Needs a bigger box or tune a bit lower.
That one definitely needs a sub.
Thanks for posting.

I'm curious how the newest 12" / 15" 3-way measure.

Many many moons ago, I was in sears buying speakers. The vega dx line was out. What sort of blew my mind was the 10" 3-way (without eq) went the deepest, the 12" not as much, and the 15" (that I bought) didn't go as low as the 12". But it was more sensitive and could take eq. Oh the dance parties in college !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So long as some guy didn't put in Tool (lol). Disco was best to keep the male / female ratios balanced !!!!!!!!!

There is a reason why people are paying top dollar for big vegas. I'd bought and sold dx9's for $300/pair all day long 25 years ago. Now, I saw some (asking) locally for a pair for $1k.............. But, put on music, crank it up, and people smile.

And that, is about what this hobby is about.

One of skylabs video's mentions he can't keep vegas and klipschs in stock, they sell that quickly.
 
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If someone wants a sensitive and dynamic loudspeaker -- there are so many choices that sound so much better than C-V loudspeakers that are their contemporaries. :facepalm:
Admittedly, the better sounding ones won't be as cheap. One does often get what one pays for.
 
True true. Flat frequency response, clarity, dispersion, cost. Fun ?

I heard a pair of jbl l100 classic mk2, the peak near 2khz didn’t bother me. But maybe it would down the road….
 
I am thinking more of Altec -- but, yeah, classic JBL, too.
After all, the L-100 (ahem, more accurately the 4311 monitor) was aimed squarely at the then-dominant Altec Duplexes in studio monitor use.
Altec shot themselves in the foot by trying to force their market from the 604(E) to the slightly less-sensitive 605A... it was the beginning of the end for Altec. :(

1762136063894.jpeg

 
CW speakers really do rock. I have filled small warehouses with sound that made the office workers complain! I repaired them and then they got a very loud test before going back to the owner. I got them and I always asked how the tweeter or big woofer went out. The same statement by all of the owners was the same. They said, I had a party and I put the speakers outside and cranked my stereo up to 11 wide open. The sound was fantastic for around 45 minutes and then it went bad. Sometimes they had a 50 or 75 watt per channel stereo and they clipped it bad. But they all liked their big CW speakers and I did too. They just have a good sound for the average person without a lot of money. I can't say anything bad about them at all. Now Bose 901s... that is another story. I fixed a lot of them and the problem was mediocre design and cheap materials. Life back in the day......Hmmmm that was 40 years ago. Man I am getting old!
 
Had some D9's lost in a big D and loved em. Poppy bass and crispy highs. With good front end they surely sounded nice. Never got the haters but to each their own. Compared to the biggest Bose speakers or my Advent Legacy II's I surely preferred the CV's.
 
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