Are These Cerwin Vegas a Good Choice For My Receiver?

Cerwins love power but I would for sure at least try it with the SX-950 before going further. Don't make it too complicated only to find out you don't like the sound

Eventually you could use the pre-amp section of the SX-950 to power both the amp section of the SX-950 and the amp section of the SA-9500 via a simple stereo RCA splitter cable (if you needed to power two pairs of speakers).
 
Last edited:
That's a good price IMO,and I also feel these are one of the better CV's out there.

As has been said,these CV love lots of power,so as was mentioned just use the pre-outs on the Pioneer SX-950 >>> to a big wpc power amp to feed these.
I would recommend a well built power amp up around 200wpc or so (or better).

Just dont let the high sensitivity specs lull you into thinking they should be "fine" w/low(er) wpc gear driving them.
These will quickly drive lesser amps into clipping when doing that,and understand that's how CV's got the "rep" they have as party speakers.
If using lower powered amps to drive them,just be sure to excersize caution and dont let enthusiasm get too outta hand.

I feed my E-712 (updated E-312) with an Adcom GFA-555 MkI and that's an honest 200wpc amp,and I would easily throw more wpc @ them no sweat.

Oh BTW:
You wont need/want other speakers,these will go as loud/deep as you want them to go,just so long as you have a suitably robust power amp driving them.

Ask me one could do a lot worse than grabbing a pair of these for that price...

JMO ~ YMMV

Bret P.
 
I had those speakers some years ago. Not very good, I didn't like. Bass is OK, midrange is so and so, treble is harsh. Not really for hi-fi, but if you want to play loud those are the speakers for you. And again, IMHO.
 
An SX-950 with 0.1% of Harmonic distortion with a pair of sensitive 98db speakers....

Those CV's were made when receiver technology of that time produced much lower harmonic distortion. I would think the background vocals and instrumentation would be bright and muddled if the two were paired together. JBL would be a better choice...
 
bazz_77 said:
treble is harsh. Not really for hi-fi, but if you want to play loud those are the speakers for you.
Click to expand...
I see this a lot, and it makes no sense to me. The harsher the highs, the less loud I want. Why would you recommend increasing the volume to something that creates harsh sounds?
Fortunately my Cerwins aren't harsh, so I can turn it way up.
 
These E series have soft dome tweeters,which by most accounts typically does NOT = harsh.
The older series of CV's often used tweeters that were'nt always the easiest to listen to,but that typically varies model to model.

Plus these E series have the high & mid controls to help deal with that sorta thing.

IME most of the time when someone is complaining about CV's like these,the real blame was something else,and not the speakers fault.

And then there's always EQ's that can address those sorta issues as well,just so long as one does'nt have any hang-ups about using one.

Me,I've never had any problems getting mine to sound exactly as I want them to sound @ any listening level(s).

The only time I did'nt like how they sounded is when I came to the conclusion that I had been under-powering them.
And that was when I was using a 110 wpc reciever (JVC RX-318bk),and it was obvious that was'nt cutting it when pushing them hard.
These speakers like high current amps with lots of reserve juice and beefy power supplies to sound their best.

Like I said,feed them lots of power from a good clean source and dont be affriad to use the tools available to shape the sound to your liking.

My E-712 are keepers,they aint going anywhere,bought them NIB back in '04,so they're still in mint condition.
Cost me a whole lot more than these are going for too (well it cost the insurance co. more as I bought them as part of a fire settlement).
But I digress.

FWIW ~ YMMV

Bret P.
 
teal'c said:
I see this a lot, and it makes no sense to me. The harsher the highs, the less loud I want. Why would you recommend increasing the volume to something that creates harsh sounds?
Fortunately my Cerwins aren't harsh, so I can turn it way up.
Click to expand...

D9s here. I thought they sounded OK and didn't think them to be harsh. I don't use them any more but still have'em gathering dust in the back room.

Keep thinking I'll bring'em out of retirement one day to make use of the higher sensitivity with a small tube amp.
 
whoaru99 said:
D9s here. I thought they sounded OK and didn't think them to be harsh.
Click to expand...
Agree,x2.

Ask me the D series "bullet" tweeters are'nt unbearably harsh either.
Buddy has a pair of D9's and I get to hear those quite frequently.
He also has a pair of CLS-215 and those are very polite as well.
At least till he throws the juice from the 500wpc Bryston mono-blocks at them,LOL. :eek:

The Bryston's w/the D9's,,,fuhgahdaboutit,,,it gets all sorts of loud... :yikes:

But some CV's used other styles of tweeters and even a few with metal dome tweeters and those can be hit-or-miss in terms of harshness.

But like everything audio related it's all subjective,so there is no set-in-stone truth to be found,each persons experiences are as valid as the next guys.
So really all one can do is try 'em out and see if they like them.

Good thing here is if the OP did'nt like these E-312,at the price they're going for,I'm sure he can get his $$$ back outta them.

Bret P.
 
Chris Brown said:
It should match fine. The 950 is 85wpc. I powered 4 D-9's (2 pairs) with an SX-1050 (120wpc) once. You can tell when it hits it's limits when the face-plate lights on the tuner start to dim with the bass notes. The Cerwins will love power, but you can always add an external amp to the pre-outs of the 950 if it comes down to it.
Click to expand...
yep i had D9s and hooked to a older monster fisher receiver that was 150 wpc the dial lights would dim to the bass!..but dang did that bass sound good!..feel it in your chest like a rock concert..My buddy talked me out of those D9's and i have regretted it ever since..i want another pair as i have a big long open room now them babies would be awesome in!!
 
Well, I was only saying my opinion; my E-312's were harsh. The reason for harshness was confirmed later by a frequency response measurement.

If somebody likes these speakers, that's good for you! Rock n' roll & peace!
 
I never listen to the radio, my system is for computer/digital. So I prefer an integrated amp. Computer->DAC->integrated.
I would consider the 950 and 9500 equal in ability. 80-85 wpc doesn't mean much on those guys, they have plenty of power if that is what you want.
You could probably make your speakers dance with either but wouldn't last long.

I wouldn't get both the 950 and 9500 unless I had a few sets of speakers. I wouldn't get them to use 950 as preamp. In that case I would just get the 950.
If you already had the 9500 and wanted to preamp it that would be different.

You can't double the power, you can split the load. What I mean is you can have 2 amps each driving speakers but that does not equal more power.

If you keep the Sony then you have a radio or a preamp.

I would first invest in speakers. Maybe spend more and maybe better than the CVs. You have a system so you can be patient.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom