rbuszka

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Price Paid:  $50.00 from eBay

Summary:
With these speakers, it's all about your expectations. Thankfully, Cambridge Soundworks is remarkably up-front about the Ensemble IV's capabilities when they state that they understand the sub is tiny, but it's "the best way to make bass at this price point." The sound of the Ensemble IV system is great for background music, or for an unobtrusive system for music listening.

The shoebox-sized bandpass woofer module is on the boomy side, though it's not particularly obtrusive. It lends presence and punch that the cubes just couldn't muster on their own. However, its small size limits its output and low frequency extension, so the larger Bose Acoustimass 3 bass module produces deeper and louder output, but the Ensemble module seems less muddy than the Acoustimass. I wouldn't rely on the Ensemble's woofer module for home theater use, however, unless I had an extremely small space or an extremely limited budget. The Ensemble IV woofer module has a relatively high crossover frequency to the cube satellites, so it's placement sensitive. I recommend placing it out of sight somewhere along the front soundstage.

While the woofer is no slouch, the cube satellite speakers are really the best part of this system. Henry Kloss's later years saw a variety of designs intended to offer greater performance per dollar, so the cube satellite speakers consist of a 3" paper-cone driver (inexpensive, yet excellent for rendering midrange detail) and a four-element passive contouring network which controlled cone breakup and extended the high frequency performance of the drivers. Proper placement usually isn't the main concern with a background music system, but if you set them up as you would an ordinary pair of speakers, you're in for a treat. The Ensemble satellites have a silky-smooth midrange, and a laid-back treble range that makes for easy listening. Another thing that the Ensemble IV satellites do very well is creating a broad stereo image -- when listening to Ben Folds' "Landed", I was struck by how wide the soundstage seemed to be, and yet how accurately each instrumentalist was placed in space. This is a natural strength of single-driver loudspeakers, since there is almost perfect phase coherence from the single voice coil instead of a separate midbass and tweeter.

Strengths:
A great value when it was available (though it can still be found on eBay); unobtrusive but with excellent balance across its range. The three-piece system design provides additional richness and fullness when compared to typical bookshelf speakers. The Stereo imaging is a nice surprise, and it's amazing that something so inexpensive can sound so good.

Weaknesses:
The full-range drivers aren't as extended in the treble as many would prefer, so these speakers may sound midrange-heavy to those who prefer a forward or 'zingy' treble presentation instead of a laid-back one. The woofer module doesn't go particularly deep, and can sound a bit boomy at times.

Similar Products Used:
Bose Acoustimass 3, Cambridge Soundworks MicroWorks II, Orb Audio Mod2 Home Theater System

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
Paying $99 for a 2.1 speaker system is definately bang for the buck,sound quality is acceptable for it's price. Not recommended for music listening cause it sound bright. Good for teens/spouse for light listening,movies

Strengths:
10 Years Warranty Price

Weaknesses:
Sounds "Bright"

Price Paid:  $150.00 from hifi.com

Summary:
Incredible sound for the price. I watch a lot of movies and the system sounds great, though I do have to turn the bass on my amplifier all the way up. Placement in a corner when I moved into a new house (with wood floors) helped the bass problem greatly. I blew the subwoofer one day while listening to music too loud. Cambridge SoundWorks fixed and replaced the woofer for free under warranty, no questions asked. I will need a bigger subwoofer to shore up the bass on this system, You can bet it will be from Cambridge.

Strengths:
Price, satilites sound great, ten year warranty

Weaknesses:
Bass, bass, and bass.

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $150.00 from hifi.com

Summary:
I would like to bring some reason to this review process. These speakers are not good for music listening. There simply is not enough capability from this small, single paper driver to deliver music for a listener, in an enjoyable fashion. In fact one can loose interest in music entirely if this is both an audio and a video system. And the bass is fine. So... This speaker system is fine for home theater if you are not looking for too much. The subwoofer is excellent for what it is, the center channel may also not be sufficient, but it performs well for a home theater system, for the price an excellent value.

Strengths:
Build quality, subwoofer, finish, home theatre applications

Weaknesses:
Should not be bought to listen to music. Not a good idea at all. Very poor performance in this area, but are they really meant to play music??

Similar Products Used:
I have listened to B&W DM601 S2 - very good, The polk 25si also excellent.

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Price Paid:  $99.00 from hifi.com

Summary:
At $99, it's a great value. Puts out good music and takes up no space and extremely spouse friendly. No low bass, not a lot of detail, OK or worse soundstage; but it's $99, fits on top of the TV, and is fun to listen to.

On the downside, I returned a different item to hifi.com and they said it takes 3-4 weeks to refund your money. Totally unacceptable from an established retailer like them that is so proud of their return policy.

Strengths:
for $99, it sounds fine: decent bass, enough detail, and musical. small size, small bass module, and very spouse friendly

Weaknesses:
bass module doesn't go low, disaapointing service from hifi.com when returning items

Similar Products Used:
NHT SuperZeroes
B&W CDM 1NT
Sonus Faber Concertino
Triangle Zephyr xs
Polk RT35i