REVIEW SHOP SHARE LEARN
Cambridge Soundworks Center/Surround IV
Cambridge Soundworks Center/Surround IV
MSRP: $ 50.00

More Center Channels from Cambridge Soundworks >>
Search AudioReview forums for the Cambridge Soundworks Center/Surround IV >>
   
Popular Center Channels
more...
Top Ranked Products from Cambridge Soundworks.
T100
Rated:
Newton Series MC200
Rated:
Slave Subwoofer
Rated:
more...
 |  Sorted by Latest Review |  Sort by Best Rating >> |  Sort by Worst Rating >> | 
Rating
Reviewed by:
Keegan
(Audio Enthusiast)

Review Date
January 14, 2003

Overall Rating
 3 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Rate this review?

Review 1 of 4

Price Paid:  $49.00 from hifi.com

Summary:
Most bang the buck centre speakers. PLEASE do not expect skyhigh performance for this price. Sound and build quality is acceptable comes with 10 years warranty :)

Strengths:
Price Size

Weaknesses:
Single Driver

Similar Products Used:
Ensemble IV


Would you like to Comment?
Join audioReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.

Rating
Reviewed by:
Glenn M
(Audio Enthusiast)

Review Date
August 29, 2001

Overall Rating
 2 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Rate this review?

Review 2 of 4

Price Paid:  $20.00 from Hifi.com

Summary:
I actually still use these for surrounds as I'm not nearly as demanding for home theater as I am for stereo music. My wife accepts them because they sit right on the arm of the sofa, and are basically totally hidden. They are adequate for surround, and I've had people jump because they had no idea the speakers are there on a loud surround scene. If size is an issue, these are a far superior deal (and as good as speaker straight up) as the bose cubes. Less imaging, but not nearly as harsh--hate those bose. Just a damn good buy. Of course they won't stack up against any decent bookshelf speaker because of the single driver, but compare apples to apples.

Strengths:
Size, price.

Weaknesses:
size, lack of highs and lows, etc...

Similar Products Used:
Bose cubes, Velodyne, JBL, Paradigm, BIC, Polk, etc...


Would you like to Comment?
Join audioReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.

Rating
Reviewed by:
Chandresh Patel
(Audio Enthusiast)

Review Date
April 21, 2000

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Rate this review?

Review 3 of 4

Summary:
I had used Ensemble IV HT system for a year than trade it for Movie Works 408 HT system. This satelite give excellent performance in this price range. I have Yamaha Rv392 50Wx3,20wx2 RMS receiver, never need to play even upto half way volume level! Powerful clear sound in movie and music both. Definately there are batter speakers in market but prices are more then triple, less warrenty and bigger in size too. Only Bose cubes are slitely batter in sound )in this size) but very expensive. When I upgrade my speakers, I was ready to spent more money but still I choose same cubes (E-IV) with powerful Bass cube 8 Active subwoofer! This system sounds excellent in my 12x20x10 feet room. Ensemble IV's passive subwoofer was also excellent in sound but less heavy-bass. I recommand Ensemble IV and MW 408 system to anybody who's budget is less then 600$.

Strengths:
Cute small cube, Smooth sound flow, batter power handling capacity.

Weaknesses:
If I compare with very expensive speakers than only I can say - "little less purity in sound due to one driver".

Similar Products Used:
Tested and compared with Sony,JBL,KLH,Mirage,Bose, Yamaha etc.


Would you like to Comment?
Join audioReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.

Rating
Reviewed by:
Santo & Lynn Romeo
(Audiophile)

Review Date
December 5, 1999

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Rate this review?

Review 4 of 4

Summary:
If you take an overall rating of "3" as being average (although the "average" electronic store speakers don't even rate a "1", as far as that goes), then the Surround IV is a worthy 4. And if you can get them on sale during one of CSW's frequent promotions, consider it a steal. The small satellites are listenable, without the fuzzy, sizzling treble found in most products of this type and size; the bass is good for home video, but music lovers who know what live instruments and voices actually sound like will be largely disappointed. The rub here is that the Surround IV sits *just* below the edge of being a decent system for budget audiophiles -- the bass is *just* a little too thumpy and kicks in at a frequency that's *just* a little too high (about 250Hz), and the satellites have *just* enough of a smear and a mildly ragged treble to make this product fall *just* short of borderline high fidelity. But if all you wanna do is rattle the windows with Rambo movie soundtracks, this will fill the bill better than anything in its price range. PC gamers will be in Doom heaven. Audiophiles will prefer to buy only a pair of Surround IV satellites ($100) and hook them to a Bass Cube 8 (not a bad deal, actually) to get a decent sound system that's *just* a little short of satisfying, but way ahead of the pack of $300 systems from Circuit City; even this is a vast improvement over the barely adequate but non-audiophile subwoofer that comes with the Surround IV system. As an audiphile product this rates above-average in the $300 price range; as a home-entertainment setup, the competition can't touch it at this price.

Strengths:
Remarkably wide-range response from the small satellites. Overall, quite good in this price range.

Weaknesses:
Poor, thumpy bass needs to be replaced by a subwoofer.

Similar Products Used:
CSW Bass Cube 8, CSW Bass Cube 10


Would you like to Comment?
Join audioReview for a free account, or Login if you are already a member.

Company Pages

Audio & Video company review pages. Browse product user reviews, compare prices, top ranked products, and compare specs by manufacturer.

Bowers Wilkins Reviews
Bowers & Wilkins
NAD Reviews
NAD
Marantz Reviews Marantz
Denon Reviews
Denon
Klipsch Reviews
Klipsch
Sony Reviews
Sony
Yamaha Reviews
Yamaha
Rotel Reviews
ROTEL
McIntosh Reviews
McIntosh
Bose Reviews
Bose
Polk Reviews
Polk Audio
Paradigm Reviews
Paradigm
Onkyo Reviews
Onkyo
JBL Reviews
JBL
KEF Reviews
KEF
Pioneer Lens Reviews
Pioneer
Harman Kardon Lens Reviews
Harman-Kardon
Panasonic Reviews
Panasonic
Press and News
Submit News & Press...
Audio and Video News & Press Releases.

Latest and Greatest

WIN Magnepan MMG Planar Speakers

Enter to win Magnepan MMG Planar Speakers. MMG's have a 4.71 of 5 rating on AudioReview. 271 People love these speakers. Enter to win, you may find bliss.

WIN Magnepan MMG Planar Speakers

Enter to win Magnepan MMG Planar Speakers. MMG's have a 4.71 of 5 rating on AudioReview. 271 People love these speakers. Enter to win, you may find bliss.

Best Floorstanding Speakers Under $1000

So many to choose from! Lets us boil it down. How to Choose a Floorstanding Speaker that fits you:

Aural Symphonics Chrono b2 balanced interconnects Review

The Aural Symphonics Chrono b2 is more a study in contrasts than most cables. Chrono b2 refers to balanced version 2.

Marantz MA-9S2 Reference Series Power Amplifiers Review

Marantz MA-9S2 Power AmplifierThe list above has one tenet that I continue to hold true: high powered amplifiers are necessary to reproduce the full dynamic range of music with most speakers. This became apparent when I changed from the 100 Watt per channel Bella Extreme 100 to the 250 Watt.....

Three Koetsu cartridges

The Koetsu line consists of 18 different cartridges divided into four sub categories. The aluminum body Black Goldline at $1800, the Rosewood series starting at $2600 and up to $5900, the Urushi line starting at $4300 to $4900, the Stone Body Platinum series starting at $8000...

Cambridge Azur 840E and 840W Review

If this combo would surmount the challenges and rise to the same level of performance, Cambridge would have a trinity of tasty components worthy of consideration by anyone...

Audio Tekne TFM-9412 integrated 300B amplifier Review

A Dagogo featured article: In the negotiation of his wish to become the U.S. Importer of Audio Tekne, Yujean was given a set of “rules” by Mr. Kiyaoki Imai, owner of Audio Tekne.....

Reviews and Featured Articles
Expert hi-fi audio reviews, blogs, and audio articles.