One of the downsides of spending over a thousand hours working with pro audio gear is that you get spoiled, and very picky about what you will use in your own system. As a college student who's a movie and gaming enthusiast, I needed a home-theater system that would fit within my budget and space constraints; this immediately eliminated my dream system, a system built around a Dolby Labs DP562 reference decoder, feeding a custom designed, hand-built (by ME! I'm an electrical engineering student) amplifier specifically matched to my room, with speakers to match, all exceeding THX specifications. And one day, after I've become a really successful bank robber, I'll actually be able to afford it. Until then, I'll have to stick with my Cambridge SoundWorks DTT2500 system.
I love this speaker system. When I looked at the box, I didn't think it would be that great. I have a very nice stereo system at home (Sansui G7500--it's older than I am!), and the speakers stand three feet tall (Cerwin-Vega miracles). How could I possibly get decent sound from a system that fits six speakers (5 + a sub) in a box measuring less than 1' x 10" x 2'? But I humored it, hooking it up to my computer as prescribed, assembling the included stands for the rear speakers (and later, upon reading the directions, realizing that I had assembled them wrong...), and surrounding myself with cables and plastic in a way that ensured that I would kill myself if I ever tried to leave my chair. Lesson Number One: never set up this speaker system in a space less than that of a standard twin-size bed. I set it up for the first time in a dorm room with 5 people all playing computer games (LAN party). Oops. When I moved it to my own room, things were much better. There are a lot of cables to this system--from the control box/AC3 decoder, there is one to each of six speakers, one (or two, if you use analog) cables to the sound card, one more to my Hollywood II DVD decoder card, and a power cord with a brick larger than any I've ever seen before. Be forewarned.
If, however, you somehow manage to set the thing up without strangling yourself, you'll be amazed. You'll also want to see if you can walk on the ceiling, because this thing must be violating some laws of physics to sound as good as it does and still be as small as it is. As long as the port of the subwoofer is open to the rest of the room, the sound from this system is nothing short of amazing. The spectrum is fully represented, from soaring highs that you can place with pinpoint accuracy, to thunderous bass that makes the walls shake at the other end of the hall (Lesson Number Two: don't try this at two in the morning. Especially in a dorm.)
There is a definite "hot-spot" to this sound system: for the optimum listening experience, you need to be near the middle of the circle formed by the five speakers; it doesn't hurt to have the subwoofer port pointed at you as well. While it doesn't affect the sound quality to be outside the circle, you will lose the benefit of the positional audio, which is probably why you sprang for the 5.1 channel system in the first place. When the speakers are well separated (read: big circle), the hot spot is large enough for several people to enjoy a movie. When you bring all of the speakers in close to you, you can turn it down far enough to avoid waking your sleeping roommate, but still enjoy the movie (Lesson Number Three: subwoofers will wake your roommate a lot more easily than the main speakers. Turn down the bass at night.)
The control box was a nice touch. I particularly enjoy having plain old mechanical controls for volume--I hate having to grab the mouse, then bring up the control panel, find the right slider, move it, then close the control panel, when it would be so much easier just to reach over and twist a knob. Kudos to Cambridge for thinking of that. Twice kudos for providing, in addition to the master volume, separate controls for the center, surround, and subwoofer drivers. That kind of "fine-tuning" control is nice, especially when the speakers get moved around frequently. The control box sports 4 knobs, one pushbutton power switch, and three or four function buttons. The speaker test button is particularly useful--push it to hear white noise from each speaker in sequence, allowing you to a.) test each speaker, and b.) make sure you haven't swapped two speakers. If the sound jumps back and forth instead of proceeding around you in a circle, you swapped some speakers. (Lesson Number Four: if you keep the two rear speakers right next to each other when they're not in use, you will swap them every time. Accept it. And don't try marking them--the stickers jump off the speakers and trade places when you aren't watching.)
Overall, I love these speakers. They may not be my dream system, but on the other hand, I actually have these. They fit in my dorm room, they fit in my budget, and they sound great. Happy listening.
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