AVS › AVS Forum › Audio › Speakers › Cerwin-Vega CLS-215 -Is it the best kept home theater secret?
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:

Cerwin-Vega CLS-215 -Is it the best kept home theater secret? - Page 3

post #61 of 121
10/17/09 at 2:07pm
I wanted to go with CV when i started building my HT setup and i started with the CLS bookshelf and center speaker. The book shelfs had a decent amount of bass for such a small speaker but the center was honkey sounding and i hated it. I also found that all 3 speakers lacked the brightness i wanted. They were very warm sounding and lacked clarity.

What i planned was start with the book shelfs, and center then save for the 8" or 10" CLS version for the front and move the bookshelfs to the back but they sounded so bad i wound up selling them for about half what i paid and got the Jamos and what a difference. The jamos look and sound better with plenty of bass i can use them for music as well as a full range set of fronts that i can tune my subs about as deeps as i want and not miss anything.

The larger CLS speakers may sound better i never got that far but i wasnt about to dump any more money on the CVs with the way that center sounded.

I really like Cerwin Vega though dont get me wrong, i have a set of D5s that still sound great but i wouldnt recomend the 3 CLS speakers i had to anyone.
Reply
Reply

AVS Top Picks

post #62 of 121
10/17/09 at 3:31pm
I started a thread a few weeks ago asking about these. It wasn't met with much enthusiasm.

I wish CV would do something about that red woofer surround. I know it's CV, but damn.... It's like they go out of their way to look "CVish" (not a good think IMO),
Reply
Reply
post #63 of 121
10/17/09 at 8:49pm
The first main difference I saw with the new XLS line was the paper everything speakers. No more fiber impregnated stuff and silk tweeters. Now its just paper and cloth. The sensitivity is also less, and I would suspect that the 15" woofers have less excursion ability by the way they are described. Basically IMO the XLS line is a lot worse than the CLS line.
Reply
Reply
post #64 of 121
10/18/09 at 9:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sb1 View Post

I started a thread a few weeks ago asking about these. It wasn't met with much enthusiasm.

I wish CV would do something about that red woofer surround. I know it's CV, but damn.... It's like they go out of their way to look "CVish" (not a good think IMO),

The 3 i had you couldnt even tell they were CV none of the speakers had the red on them. The larger towers did wich i was about to get but im glad i went with jamos they sound much better to me.
Reply
Reply
post #65 of 121
10/20/09 at 3:18pm
What is the cheapest place for these Cerwin Vega CLS-215 speakers online?
I am looking to get a pair of these a.s.a.p. however the cheapest deal I've been able to find for a pair is $900 including discount and free shipping.

Has anyone found a better deal on these?
Reply
Reply
post #66 of 121
10/20/09 at 4:05pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by diamonddelts View Post

What is the cheapest place for these Cerwin Vega CLS-215 speakers online?
I am looking to get a pair of these a.s.a.p. however the cheapest deal I've been able to find for a pair is $900 including discount and free shipping.

Has anyone found a better deal on these?

That is as cheap as you are going to find them from a reputable seller. I have bought all of my Cerwin Vegas from A1 Components. I think that is who you are looking to buy from. They even freight ship those large CLS-215's to avoid damage.
Reply
Reply
post #67 of 121
10/20/09 at 4:23pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by BowerR64 View Post

The 3 i had you couldnt even tell they were CV none of the speakers had the red on them. The larger towers did wich i was about to get but im glad i went with jamos they sound much better to me.

Yeah, you said that before.

Nothing like going on someone's enthusiastic thread about a speaker to piss on it...
Reply
Reply
post #68 of 121
10/20/09 at 5:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Secret Squirrel View Post

That is as cheap as you are going to find them from a reputable seller. I have bought all of my Cerwin Vegas from A1 Components. I think that is who you are looking to buy from. They even freight ship those large CLS-215's to avoid damage.

Yeah That is who I was talking in reference to. I figured that might be the best deal on the net right now. So I guess I better figure out how I can pony up the money before their deal on these ends.

There is also a guy selling some used CLSC-215's on Craigslist in my state for $500 but he's still over 500 miles away from me. Oh decisions.........decisions.
Reply
Reply
post #69 of 121
10/20/09 at 5:28pm
Will this be your first time owning Cerwin Vegas? If not, what other CV's do you have?
Reply
Reply
post #70 of 121
10/20/09 at 7:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Secret Squirrel View Post

Will this be your first time owning Cerwin Vegas? If not, what other CV's do you have?

I've had the VS-150's, E-712's, E-715's, ht-210c, E-76C, RE- 25's, RE-20's, and RE-30's. My other speakers have also ran the gambit from infinity/klipsch/polk to Def Tech/Paradigm/Mcintosh. Though I more often than not get my speakers customer made as well.

I could problably get something built similar to the cerwin cls-215's for cheaper. And my preference is for custom speakers with downfiring woofers. But something about these speakers have raised my curiosity from their professional and home user reviews over the last year. And I usually go with my gut when I can't audition a speaker first.
Reply
Reply
post #71 of 121
10/21/09 at 2:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by diamonddelts View Post

I've had the VS-150's, E-712's, E-715's, ht-210c, E-76C, RE- 25's, RE-20's, and RE-30's. My other speakers have also ran the gambit from infinity/klipsch/polk to Def Tech/Paradigm/Mcintosh. Though I more often than not get my speakers customer made as well.

I could problably get something built similar to the cerwin cls-215's for cheaper. And my preference is for custom speakers with downfiring woofers. But something about these speakers have raised my curiosity from their professional and home user reviews over the last year. And I usually go with my gut when I can't audition a speaker first.

It's good to hear that you have owned other CV speakers, as well as other brands of speakers. Yet, you are still considering returning back for another pair of CV's. I have also had other brands of speakers in the past, but have always been a fan of Cerwin Vega. I currently have a total of 16 speakers in my home from CV. From there smallest to their largest. A pair of CLS-215's. I too, took a chance on these since their is no where to sample them. Don't worry. If you take the time and spend the money to set them up properly. You will not be disappointed. Please don't expect your home receiver to power these properly. There is lots of debate on these forums on this subject. I have set them up several ways, and a pre amp/ amplifier is the way to go. Check these speakers out on You Tube and see how most people are setting them up. I will bet that you will not be able to find many that are powering them from a home receiver. It isn't enough power. Most are powering them with a pro amp. Including me. A CV2800. Before someone jumps in about maximum db. I want to clarify. It is not at all about loud. The extra wattage helps them to sound good at ALL volumes. Especially lower volumes. These speakers need power. Unless you have actually set these up with a 100watt amp, and then with a pro amp producing substantially more power. You don't know what you are missing. I don't know why so many people don't believe this, especially when they don't even own a pair of CLS-215's to try this out. Either me and the many other people on You Tube are stupid and crazy. Or we are in our right minds and have found a good way to set these speakers up. Im with the second of the two.
Reply
Reply
post #72 of 121
10/21/09 at 2:33pm
I don't really think it is the extra wattage being the main help with a separate amp, but the other factors that go along with it. The integrated amp in receivers usually have much lower power ratings than are speced, but even still you could use them to get about 100db from one of these speakers. But those integrated amps usually have somewhere between 50-100 damping factor, really bad slew rate, high distortion ratings, electrical noise, low current, and probably other factors as well. A separate amp has much better rating in all of those and can control the speakers much better, has lots of headroom, and has the current behind the wattage to push the high excursion woofers in the CLD-215s. Don't get me wrong, the extra wattage does help a lot especially if you want to really push these things, but I just think it is all the other factors that help out more.


Does anyone know what model the 15" woofers are in these speakers and/or the specs on them? I managed to break both of my CLS-15s (not the 215s) and want to replace the woofers, but I am thinking about trying out some other models just to see how I can get them to sound. But I want to know more about the specs on the stock 15" drivers before I just pick a random replacement. I think I heard somewhere, probably the manual, that the crossover point to the 15" woofer is 250Hz but I am not positive on that. Does anyone know more detailed information like the sensitivity, xmax, fs, rms power, and impedance? Oh, and Im thinking about putting in some Exodus Audio 15s as replacements...
Reply
Reply
post #73 of 121
10/21/09 at 4:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Secret Squirrel View Post

It's good to hear that you have owned other CV speakers, as well as other brands of speakers. Yet, you are still considering returning back for another pair of CV's. I have also had other brands of speakers in the past, but have always been a fan of Cerwin Vega. I currently have a total of 16 speakers in my home from CV. From there smallest to their largest. A pair of CLS-215's. I too, took a chance on these since their is no where to sample them. Don't worry. If you take the time and spend the money to set them up properly. You will not be disappointed. Please don't expect your home receiver to power these properly. There is lots of debate on these forums on this subject. I have set them up several ways, and a pre amp/ amplifier is the way to go. Check these speakers out on You Tube and see how most people are setting them up. I will bet that you will not be able to find many that are powering them from a home receiver. It isn't enough power. Most are powering them with a pro amp. Including me. A CV2800. Before someone jumps in about maximum db. I want to clarify. It is not at all about loud. The extra wattage helps them to sound good at ALL volumes. Especially lower volumes. These speakers need power. Unless you have actually set these up with a 100watt amp, and then with a pro amp producing substantially more power. You don't know what you are missing. I don't know why so many people don't believe this, especially when they don't even own a pair of CLS-215's to try this out. Either me and the many other people on You Tube are stupid and crazy. Or we are in our right minds and have found a good way to set these speakers up. Im with the second of the two.

Thanks for the info. I already checked out the many, many youtube vids of these speakers a few days ago. I intended to use my old flagship onkyo tx-nr1000 receiver rated at 150 watts a channel at 8ohms and 200 watts a channel at 6 ohms and a Crown xs500 2 channel amp rated at 400 watts per channel at 8 ohms; 500 watts per channel at 4 ohms. I figured between these two beasts the job should get done.
Reply
Reply
post #74 of 121
10/21/09 at 10:18pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by psgcdn View Post

Yeah, you said that before.

Nothing like going on someone's enthusiastic thread about a speaker to piss on it...


Yeah well if i had listened to the people on this forum i would of saved myself $350. but i didnt i wemt with my heart because ive always been a fan of CV till now.

Not trying to piss on the thread just saying that the CV sound isnt for everyone. music maybe home theater sound forget about it.
Reply
Reply
post #75 of 121
10/22/09 at 8:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by diamonddelts View Post

What is the cheapest place for these Cerwin Vega CLS-215 speakers online?
I am looking to get a pair of these a.s.a.p. however the cheapest deal I've been able to find for a pair is $900 including discount and free shipping.

Has anyone found a better deal on these?

Checked with my distributor and they said this speaker has been discontinued.

Checked with CV, and they have confirmed the same and the replacement line will be "XLS".
Reply
Reply
post #76 of 121
10/22/09 at 9:38am
Quote:
Originally Posted by bioforce View Post

Checked with my distributor and they said this speaker has been discontinued.

Checked with CV, and they have confirmed the same and the replacement line will be "XLS".

Thanks. i figured as much. So I thought I might be able to get a pair on the cheap since they are discontinued and the remaining sellers who still have them just need to get rid of them to make way for the XLS series.
Reply
Reply
post #77 of 121
10/22/09 at 3:39pm
Has anyone tried the pro version of these speakers? There are some cheap deals for them on the web right now. Much cheaper than the cls-215's. I don't see any major drawbacks except for these are 2-way speakers and the cls-215 is a 3 way speaker.

http://www.cerwinvega.com/intense252.php
Reply
Reply
post #78 of 121
10/22/09 at 6:55pm
The Intense line is NOT the pro version of these, they are completely different. The closest comparison I can give to CV's Intense line are the JBL Soundfactor series speakers.
Reply
Reply
post #79 of 121
10/23/09 at 12:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ENiGmA1987 View Post

The Intense line is NOT the pro version of these, they are completely different. The closest comparison I can give to CV's Intense line are the JBL Soundfactor series speakers.

Do you know if the intense line is a palpable substitute to the cls series. Could these int-152's have about the same sound quality as the cls-215's. And also what would your best guess be as to what is the minimum power necessary to power the int-152's.
Reply
Reply
post #80 of 121
10/23/09 at 8:12am
Well you can get 100db with a single watt of power, which means they can be run off of just about anything. These do not have the option to bi-amp, the multiple inputs are because those are the most common speaker inputs in the pro-audio world, and they have a second one of each for daisy chaining out of the speakers into other ones. My guess would be that although these speakers will work and be plenty loud off of a regular AVR, you will need a seperate amp with some extra current behind the wattage to properly push the intense speakers.

I dont think these would be comparable to the CLS line at all as the tweeter is COMPLETELY different, and it has no dedicated midrange driver so the mids will try to be handles mostly by the big 15s. The 15s arer just too large to properly reproduce all of those midrange frequencies because it wont be able to vibrate fast enough due to its weight. But they will make low frequencies very nicely

The tweeter in the Intense line is a titanium compression driver, which sounds very different than the silk dome tweeters used in the CLS line. Much more "harsh" sounding.
Reply
Reply
post #81 of 121
10/23/09 at 8:47am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ENiGmA1987 View Post

Well you can get 100db with a single watt of power, which means they can be run off of just about anything. These do not have the option to bi-amp, the multiple inputs are because those are the most common speaker inputs in the pro-audio world, and they have a second one of each for daisy chaining out of the speakers into other ones. My guess would be that although these speakers will work and be plenty loud off of a regular AVR, you will need a seperate amp with some extra current behind the wattage to properly push the intense speakers.

I dont think these would be comparable to the CLS line at all as the tweeter is COMPLETELY different, and it has no dedicated midrange driver so the mids will try to be handles mostly by the big 15s. The 15s arer just too large to properly reproduce all of those midrange frequencies because it wont be able to vibrate fast enough due to its weight. But they will make low frequencies very nicely

The tweeter in the Intense line is a titanium compression driver, which sounds very different than the silk dome tweeters used in the CLS line. Much more "harsh" sounding.

That is not true, a well designed 15 can handle mid frequencies.
Reply
Reply
post #82 of 121
10/23/09 at 3:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ENiGmA1987 View Post

Well you can get 100db with a single watt of power, which means they can be run off of just about anything. These do not have the option to bi-amp, the multiple inputs are because those are the most common speaker inputs in the pro-audio world, and they have a second one of each for daisy chaining out of the speakers into other ones. My guess would be that although these speakers will work and be plenty loud off of a regular AVR, you will need a seperate amp with some extra current behind the wattage to properly push the intense speakers.

I dont think these would be comparable to the CLS line at all as the tweeter is COMPLETELY different, and it has no dedicated midrange driver so the mids will try to be handles mostly by the big 15s. The 15s arer just too large to properly reproduce all of those midrange frequencies because it wont be able to vibrate fast enough due to its weight. But they will make low frequencies very nicely

The tweeter in the Intense line is a titanium compression driver, which sounds very different than the silk dome tweeters used in the CLS line. Much more "harsh" sounding.

Thank you very much for the info.
Reply
Reply
post #83 of 121
10/23/09 at 7:49pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MKtheater View Post

That is not true, a well designed 15 can handle mid frequencies.

A very well designed one can, but a smaller dedicated driver would handle it much easier. And the Intense line of speakers aren't really well designed speakers in the first place. But thanks for correcting me, my general statement that "a 15" woofer is just too large to properly reproduce all of those midrange frequencies" is a bit too broad and not entirely correct.
Reply
Reply
post #84 of 121
10/27/09 at 3:44pm
Well I think I might just wait a bit and opt for the xls-215. I'm seeing the prices drop drastically on these already.
Reply
Reply
post #85 of 121
11/5/09 at 9:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by wae5 View Post

You're still quibbling. All the music mentioned here is found in Amazon's classical music section. To say atonal music rather than 20th century classical music is pedantic in a forum like this. Furthermore, everyone including you knows exactly what I mean so please stop splitting hairs on a bald head. BTW, I owned Tatrai's Haydn quartets on Hungaroton in the seventies.

Well... it appears you are rather comfortable in your ignorance. I wouldn't have bothered, on a forum like this, to get involved with a music literature discussion except you expressed that you had an interest in music. So be it! Go to the "20th century classical" section of your favorite store, but never take an interest in finding out what those composers were doing for 100 years.
Reply
Reply
post #86 of 121
11/23/09 at 7:19am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by gsmollin View Post

Well... it appears you are rather comfortable in your ignorance. I wouldn't have bothered, on a forum like this, to get involved with a music literature discussion except you expressed that you had an interest in music. So be it! Go to the "20th century classical" section of your favorite store, but never take an interest in finding out what those composers were doing for 100 years.

Still hijacking. Still quibbling. Still making groundless ad hominem attacks. Pathetic!
Reply
Reply
post #87 of 121
1/5/10 at 2:36pm
Well this thread went to crap. I've been contemplating on purchasing these speakers but there are very few reviews on these online. And I do not like speakers with no bottom end such as polk etc. Guess I will have to search elsewhere for some credible information on these speakers.
Reply
Reply
post #88 of 121
1/5/10 at 2:55pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by wae5 View Post

they have deep, powerful bass so you don't need an expensive sub woofer with them to get deep, powerful bass. How do your B&Ws stack up to them now?

The specs I saw say the Vegas are flat to 24 Hz. A 10" from SVS beats that. I'd get the B&Ws and spring the 3 or 400 bucks for a subwoofer and kick the CV in the jimmy on both high AND low end.

I owned CV (D-3s) when I was a kid and a friend was using the 215s until recently and they have their place, but personally I'd rather have the clap than have them in my HT.
Reply
Reply
post #89 of 121
1/5/10 at 4:09pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by diamonddelts View Post

Well this thread went to crap. I've been contemplating on purchasing these speakers but there are very few reviews on these online. And I do not like speakers with no bottom end such as polk etc. Guess I will have to search elsewhere for some credible information on these speakers.

By no bottom end you mean you want a more full range speaker, something thats flat (or near it), into the 20 Hz range?

One thing I'd keep an eye out for is used Infinity Intermezzos and Infinity Preludes. The Preludes are usually pretty pricey but I've seen some amazing deals for Intermezzos since they weren't the flagship and are kind of funky looking. They go lower than the CLS-215 thanks to an 850 watt powered 12" plus they won't take up half your room or make it sound like a titty bar.
Reply
Reply
post #90 of 121
1/5/10 at 9:37pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by NicolasKL View Post

By no bottom end you mean you want a more full range speaker, something thats flat (or near it), into the 20 Hz range?

One thing I'd keep an eye out for is used Infinity Intermezzos and Infinity Preludes. The Preludes are usually pretty pricey but I've seen some amazing deals for Intermezzos since they weren't the flagship and are kind of funky looking. They go lower than the CLS-215 thanks to an 850 watt powered 12" plus they won't take up half your room or make it sound like a titty bar.

Lol. You are a funny guy.
Reply
Reply
New Posts  All Forums:Forum Nav:
  Return Home
  Back to Forum: Speakers

AVS Top Picks

AVS › AVS Forum › Audio › Speakers › Cerwin-Vega CLS-215 -Is it the best kept home theater secret?