The younger cousin has better imaging, the older cousin reaches a little lower with authority- if its woofer surrounds are sealed well. But, the decades difference make them sound like cousins, not brothers. I would compare the CSW 6 to the KLH 17, both of which I own. The Model 17 has a 5/8" polycarbonate dome tweeter and a 5 1/4''' long throw woofer. I don't know if a black grille means Made In China, but this is shown on the rear label. Early to middle ones have light gray grilles, and later ones have black grilles. I don't know if the USA ones sound better. It has the Kloss tweeter, like the Ensemble, and was made in Cambridge until production was taken to China. I don't know when the Model 6 was introduced, but it was around 1995. Still, he did not put them closer than 2 feet from the rear wall. What does this mean? Julian Hirsch said they sounded wonderful, but that the bass was lacking in comparison to other speakers which had real output at 50 hz or below. CSW claimed more output at 40 hz than any other speaker its size, and this is surely with them against a wall. I'll bet that they reach lower than the CSW 17, but I have not heard either. The coolest ones are the solid light oak cabinets. The woofer is 6 1/2 inch long throw, and the tweeter is a 1 inch dome. The first small bookshelf speaker was called Ambience, and it was physically bigger than the later Model 17. They have a smaller midrange than the Ensemble satellites. I don't know if these have the Kloss cone with center dome tweeter. I believe that these satellites stayed the same when the system was changed to Model 12- changing the dimensions and style of the bass case- but I am not sure. They are the same two-way satellites that were from the Model 11, the first incarnation of Kloss' suitcase three piece system. I have a 1990 CSW catalog, and the first surround speakers were called Model 10. Actually, I think that the circa 1993 revision might have been called New Ensemble, and this creates confusion between the two versions' names. The toggle switches were dropped on the satellites. The binding posts were moved to the back of the bass unit, from the side.
#Cambridge soundworks ensemble driver#
The bass units retained the heat sink on the driver and became cosmetically better finished. In 1998, production started in China, and the satellite cabinets were changed to molded plastic, very heavy, and with no detriment to the sound. This version had the highest price, which I think might have been $649.00. This was the modification to the 8 inch driver which was done in order to use it in the Powered Subwoofer II, and it was also used in the Ensemble. A revision in about 1993 added the Kloss toggle switch level controls for midrange and highs, and the woofer started to have the heat sink for power handling in excess of 150 watts around this time. After a few years, the formica was dropped as an option. Original prices were $599.00 with formica clad bass units and $499.00 for vinyl clad bass units. The Ensemble is still in my main system today. She immediately started listening to music again after spending all her previous months' effort in trying to get the expensive speakers to sound acceptable. One reviewer said it performed better than any speaker at twice the price ($1200.00), and the other reviewer said that it blew away her previously reviewed system, which cost about $2400.00.
A little patience could net you a great bargain compared to their regular prices.I purchased the first speaker system, the 4 piece Ensemble, after reading its review in The Absolute Sound. Doug - one of HiFi's online customer support guys - was very helpful and answered all my questions quickly.Ĭheck out HiFi's auctions on eBay for the best prices on reconditioned units.
I'd add a sixth for their customer support. In short: not the best on the market, but definitely the best for the $, so it gets 5 stars. The spring clips on the speakers are kinda cheesy too, but they're affordable and sound good for a reason. Another thing to keep in mind: the signal for the front L and R speakers are routed through the passive sub, so be sure to factor in a few extra feet of speaker cable. For my small room, it does an acceptable job, but I'll eventually replace it with a powered unit, perhaps an 8" BassCube. As I expected it doesn't pack a lot of punch. The only real complaints are with the passive subwoofer. These little guys wouldn't cut it in a larger room - and I'm sure there are better speaker systems out there - but for the $$ it can't be beat. I set them up in my small living room (roughly 10' x 15' and hooked up to an Onkyo DS575x) and they're excellent. For their size, I'm impressed with these little speakers.
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