Almost got floored by Cambridge S30 - Page 7

by chance has anyone compared the s30's to the mirage omd5's. Just so happens i'm getting a pr of omd5's for a 2 ch bedroom system using a marantz nr1601. If the mirage dont work out i can always do something else.

I didn't directly compare the S30 to the OMD5...

But did A/B compare the OMD to the NHT Absolute Zero... and more recently, the Absolute Zero to the S30... These comparisons were done in the same room/placement... level matched...

For me, it was fairly easy to determine that I like the Absolute Zero better than the OMD-5... however, I felt the S30 vs NHT was a tougher call... although leaning slightly toward the NHT...

Based on the two independent comparisons... I've guess I'd like the S30 better than the OMD-5... but just to not ruffle any feathers... I make a definitive statement since I didn't compare them directly...

This is just my preference... so take it for what it's worth...

Hi all,

Just got these speakers and set them up to be driven by a Marantz NR1601. I'm also running an S50 center channel and an Emotiva Ultra10 subwoofer. I made all the basic connections, ran Audyssey etc. without going too deeply into the manual, and everything sounds really good to my untrained ear. However, I've been playing around and reading the manual a bit more and had a couple of questions that the manual doesn't address.

After I ran Audyssey the first time, I noticed these were set to "big", and I changed them to small and set crossovers manually to 80hz. Yesterday, I moved the speakers and re-ran Audyssey, and for some reason, it insists on recognizing these speakers as "big", and making them full-range! I changed them again to small and set the crossover manually to 80hz again. Is there any way I can force the receiver into accepting these as small -before- I run Audyssey? So that it sets the appropriate crossovers rather than me doing it? With my lack of experience, I'd trust Audyssey to do a better job of "tuning" the speakers to work together. Is there some reason the receiver thinks the S30s are doing a better job with the bass than the emotiva?

Second, the receiver manual talks about the possibility of bi-amping (not bi-wiring, according to Pg. 32 of the manual) the front speakers for better sound, and offers up a way to do that. Can the S30 be bi-amped? There are two pairs of posts, and since I don't plan on running surrounds for a while, I could use the extra outputs on the receiver for this. Any thoughts/recommendations/cautions?

Thanks very much for al lthe help!
BT

So it seems
Thanks.

^For sure!
Looking forward to hearing them again. Last I heard the parts were on their way


Beeten,
Once you set Audyssey and manually adjust the crossover to 80hz.. I'm pretty sure you're good to go. I don't know if it's frown upon but I think you can even cross it over to 60hz and get satisfying results. Try it out. Nice looking receiver btw! I used to own a marantz.. I enjoyed it very much.

Nice!.. I had the same exact reaction. I'm really glad it plays well in a room as big as yours. Impressive.

hah, i just got the exact same set up.. s30's, s50 and emotiva 10.... and ran audyssey as well on my denon receiver. weird.... mine were recognized as small.

question for you.... are your s30's completely black and does your s50 have a silver trim around this? it doesn't really both me, but it seems strange that the 30 would have a black trim while the 50 has a silver one.

Thanks. Once I get used to litening to good sound, the next step is to play around with a bunch of stuff and see what sounds better. I will do that over the next few weeks/months. All I can say at this point is I'm not going to send anything back. And if there are better speakers (as I'm sure there are), my kids college funding is going to take a hit
Beeten

The S-series speakers used to come in black or "natural oak" with a silver baffle. The newers batches come in black or dark oak with a dark charcoal/graphite colored baffle...

My guess is you got an S50 from the old production runs...

Looking forward to people's thoughts on the S50 center...

Particularly, how well if performs as you move off axis...

Could be the speaker placement. Out of necessity, I have the speakers placed fairly close to each other relative to the listening area (4' apart and 15' away from listening area). After I make the crossover changes, do I lose the rest of the Audyssey adjustments or is all the other tuning retained?

I had the exact same thought! Not sure why that is. I checked the box etc to make sure I had the right item delivered. I use the grills, so it doesn't matter, but it is a bit weird... [Edit: I see alphaiii has an explanation for this above]
BT

Alphaiii,
Forgive the noobness, but what does off-axis mean? Do you mean moving it away from the center? on the horizontal axis? Vertical?

FWIW, I'm very happy with the S50. But my previous speakers were the ones that came with my TV, so there was bound to be an improvement. There is one thing I notice: with the center, I know where the sound is coming from, whereas with the S30s, that's not the case, if you know what I mean. When I got these, they were initially on the floor for a few days, and they still sounded great. I have since moved the center to a shelf just below the wall-mounted TV (just about ear height, maybe a bit over), and I can't tell that there's been an improvement. In fact, I think it may have actually sounded a bit better when on the floor... It was also about 3' closer to me when on the floor. But that could be just me not knowing what to listen to, so take this with a pound of salt.

Cheers,
BT

BT

Yes, by off-axis... I'm just referring to moving to the left or right of the center... On axis would be sitting directly in line with the tweeter - dead center...

I've found with several centers I've owned that it's easy to tell the sound is coming from the speaker beneath the TV... they don't give that sense of the sound coming from the screen...

Angling the speaker can help in this type of situation... but if it's basically at ear height... that's where'd you'd want it...

Some speakers just don't create that sense of a sound emanating from somewhere in space outside of the speaker itself... although shelf placement of a speaker may be part of the reason for this...

BTW, I'll ask just in case - do you have the speaker pulled to the very front of the shelf?

I actually think that the center speaker sounds pretty good. I'm usually off-axis when I'm tired cause the sofa is not directly in front of the TV (it's on the side -- see pic) and can actually tell where the sound is coming fairly well. In fact, I think I might need to actually play a bit more with the settings because it sometimes sounds overpowering (especially with some genres of music I listen to -- though it probably also has to do with the proximity since the living room is small...).

Just as a side note, the center speaker makes a HUGE difference in movies. I tried it with and without the center (to decide if I was going to get rid of it or not ) and well, as you can see, I still have it. I think the definition it provides it's great and I cannot envision myself watching movies without it. Don't get me wrong though, the S30s performed great without the center but seeing that I will be doing mostly TV viewing, I thought the extra dimension provided by the center was very welcomed.

Another note... that thing (S50) is B I G!!!!
I've had a few center speakers (all of them of the HTiB cheapo kind) and this eats all of those for breakfast (figurative and literally! )!!

Thanks for the pic and input.

It's always fun checking out other people's setup. Since I don't have my s30s to listen to yet... at least I can see some. I demand more pictures from s30 users!

Looking for advice on the s50 and s30....
Which sounds better as a center channel if space limitation is not an issue? A single s30 or a s50?

I do understand that the ideal setup is having the same speakers for the left, center, and right channel. I'm just curious to see if there are any benefits using the s50 over a single s30 sound wise.

Followed this thread with interest.

Wondering if any compared the S30 to the 'upgraded' SL30?

UL

The sl70 is around but the sl30 doesn't seem available online in the U.S. yet.

After spending a couple more days with the cbm-170, I finally packed and shipped it back yesterday. My impressions stayed the same. It's a high performing speaker but on the slightly aggressive and analytical side. It did play nice with classical music.

Definitely miss the sound of the Cambridge s30.
Hope everyone is enjoying theirs.

all this from 1 dude, thanks Jim

do the s70s sound just as good as the s30s? For a large room what would be better 4 x S30 + S50 or 2 x S70 + 2 x S30 + S50? What kind of stands are people getting for the S30?

I haven't heard the s70 but I can only assume it'll be better in your situation.

You can always buy just the s30 and a s50 first and see how well this combination works as your LCR. Depending on your results, add another s30 or go for the s70 to complete your system later on.

As for speaker stands, consider the Pangea Audio. It's sand-fillable and is priced nicely. The pics I have posted are with a target 24" speaker stand. The top plate is 6" by 6" and my s30 feels secure on it.

hey guys, i picked up a set of s70s, a s50 centre and s30s for rears and im simply loving them.
i previously had a tannoy sfx 5.1 set which for a start sounded good but nowhere near as good as the cambridge set up.

the s50 centre is crisp and clear and off axis seems to work well also, well much better than the tannoy i had previously (can that even be a comparison ).
The s70s are excellent in my opinion but i am ni audiophile.
the s30s havent really had a work out as of yet as i only set everything up yesterday and watched a couple of test clips but ill test it all out properly over the weekend.