ericksen@unc.UUCP (Jim Ericksen) (10/24/85)
I got my DAK/Cerwin-Vega subwoofer a couple of weeks ago, so i'll venture a few impressions. Overall, i would say i am pleased though a bit ambivalent about it --- but then, how could i expect anything to live up to DAK's hype? :-) Good things: - I can finally hear the bass parts of songs where i could never hear them before. I can't say exactly how low the response goes, since i suspect most recordings roll off by then. No problem with 40 Hz low E's (my favorite torture test for speakers --- "Firth of Fifth" from Genesis' _Selling England by the Pound_). - My speakers (old 2-way 8" RatShack systems) sound much smoother --- i.e. i'm no longer overwhelmed by intermodulation distortion from my 8" woofers. - Power handling capability of the speaker part of my system is undoubtedly increased (judging by sound). Not so good things: - The bass tends to be overwhelming. It shows that Cerwin-Vega is first and foremost a Disco speaker manufacturer. I have found that intelligent speaker placement helps this problem. - If you want to shake the floor, then place the unit the way it was designed to go, facing the floor. If you want to hear music, put it on its side with the woofer facing out normally. - Don't believe that "you can place it anywhere in the room", unless you want a real "simulated-stereo" effect (i.e. all the bass in one ear). - I perceive a bit of a "hole" in the overall system response (between the top of the subwoofer and the crossover frequency?) Overall: (Background) Shopping for new speakers, i was dismayed by the poor low-frequency response of anything available in the audio stores i visited. I certainly couldn't have approached the bass response of this subwoofer by spending my $180 on a new pair of speakers. All in all, it's a good deal for what you get. Don't expect a miraculous change to the sound of your system, but it will probably help most any system. Now if only i had an equalizer to back off the low bass a bit ... -- Jim Ericksen UNC Chapel Hill