MTC1964

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.50 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $800.00 from Circuit city

Summary:
I'm an original owner of a beautiful pair of VS-150's. Bought them a Circuit City with a BadAzz Harmon Kardon Amp at the time, already had a Carver pre-amp. Listeners, you need a solid amp to drive these babies. I've moved a few times, sold off or gave away a lot of stuff over the years, but there's a reason I still have these. These speakers rocked on my Carver/HK amp setup. Sounded gawd awful on an early Pioneer HT receiver, rocked again on a Kenwood THX certified HT receiver. Rock hard on a new Yamaha 661 7.1 HT receiver, I also have a THX certified Carver TFM 55 amp with a Carver Pre-amp featuring Sonic Holography. HoLy Effin Mother of Gawd!!! Okay, they make the windows on my house BUZZ loud when cranked up. You can go down the street 5-6 houses down and clearly hear the lyrics. My neighbors across the street have asked me to turn it down. They can hear clearly what I'm playing with both houses all windows and doors shut.
Okay, now that brute force has been established, let me tell you guys that these speakers are great for HT. Supersensitive, detailed, clear, you hear EVERYTHING, the sound of nails on a blackboard will make your spine and teeth tingle, the delicate string plucking noises on a violin or an acoustic guitar. Drops of rain, wind through a rain forest canopy. You're there.
This is my HT theatre set-up. Yamaha 661 HT receiver, Carver pre-amp, Carver TFM 55 amp, Kenwood 16 band graphic/parametric equalizer, Klipsch Quintet SL Speakers.
The Yamaha Amp has pre-amp outs. The pre-amp outs from the bass, LF, RFchannels go to my Carver pre-amp. I use RCA jack splitters where needed to get my bass signal only to go to Aux1 input on the pre-amp. I have a mix of subwoofer and LF, LR signals going into AUX2 on the pre-amp. So I can use the Vegas as Subwoofer only, or as main LF,RF speakers and still getting the sub signal. The latter is what I usually do, and I still have the Klipsch C,L,R speakers working also. In effect, I have 4 front speakers and 2 (qty) 400 watt subs between my CV's and Klipsch. My living room rocks harder than anything I've heard in an IMAX theatre. Of course, the theatre dwarfs my living room, but you get the idea.

Strengths:
Readers, these speakers really do have it all. I'm not giving mine up for anything. Solid bass, clear mids, lofty highs. Amazing. But you need a good amp rated like 10-100,000 hz, 4 ohm stable, spec'd 20-20,000 hz evenly across the spectrum. Don't put these on an amp rated 40-20k Hz.
Durable! My speakers have seen a lot of power over they years for extended periods of time. I've vaporized the metal in the 2.5 amp slow blow glass protection fuses a few times over. Yeh, that's right, VAPORIZED, with the CARVER amp driving them on something with a heavy bass line. They still sound showroom new 20 years (+/-) later.

Weaknesses:
Really big and heavy, theyt weigh over 90 pounds each!
You need a quality, mid to high-end amp or HT receiver to drive these right. A dinky 100 watt Sony or Pioneer/ Kenwood/ Panasonic, etc won't cut it.

Similar Products Used:
Klipsch, Carver, Yamaha, Kenwood THX certified.

86PACER

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
Less than 1 month

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 2.00 votes

Price Paid:  $250.00 from Ebay

Summary:
These speakers are badass. They are huge and heavy. I got them in Black trim and in near mint condition. If you have a chance to buy these, don't pass it up. These are no longer made.

To say that these speakers are loud is a total understatement. They put out monster bass with those 15" woofers. If you want serious sound with bone crushing bass, get a strong quality amp and hold on. They are rated at 400W each.

These speakers can bring the F'n house down.

I replaced a set of weenie Technics 3-way floor speakers with 12 inch woofers.

The people who have given these speakers bad reviews are most likely pushing them with a chitty amp.

Strengths:
Serious bass. Very clear mids and highs. Very clear sound and no distortion even at high volume levels. Very stylish. Huge and heavy. The cabinents are very solidly built. Simply badass speakers.

Weaknesses:
None.

Just don't complain if you're using a chitty amp to push these. These speakers can take 400W from a quality amp.

Weenie speakers these are not!

vinnie69

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
3.25 of 5, 4.00 votes

Price Paid:  $400.00 from used

Summary:
I LOVE THESE SPEAKERS.THEY ARE VERY EFFICIENT AT 102db, WHICH MEANS THEY CAN PLAY REAL LOUD WITH MIN POWER.THESE ARE REPLACING MY PARADIGM 11SEMK2 WHICH ARE GREAT SPEAKERS.BUT THEY CANT KEEP UP TO THE VEGA'S FOR ROCK WHICH I PLAY ALOT.THE BASE IS JUST AWESOME,THE HIGHS ARE A LITTLE BRITE,BUT YOU CAN AJUST YOUR TREBLE ON YOUR RECEIVER TO FIX THAT.THEY ARE GREAT FOR SURROUND SOUND I USE MINE WITH THE LS-6C,WHICH IS A PERFECT MATCH.YOU WILL NOT NEED A SUB,WITH 2 15IN WOOFERS ITS MORE THAN ENOUGH BASE.IF YOUR INTO MORE SOFTER MUSIC SUCH AS CLASSICAL,JAZZ,YOU MAY WANT TO LOOK AT PARADIGM OR OTHER SPEAKERS THAT HAVE A BETTER SOUND STAGE.IT WAS THE FIRST THING I NOTICED WITH THESE SPEAKERS.THE LACK OF A SOUND STAGE DOSN'T SEEM TO BOTHER ROCK OR RAP AS MUCH,OR SURROUND WHEN YOU HAVE A CENTER CHANNEL.I POWER MINE WITH A HK85 WHICH IS VERY POWERFUL,I HAVE FOUND THE VEGA'S SOUND BETTER WITH ANALOG PLUGS OVER DIGITAL.WITH MY PARADIGM'S IT WAS THE OPPOSITE.ALL IN ALL THESE ARE GREAT SPEAKERS IF YOU LIKE YOUR MUSIC LOUD VERY LOUD,AND IF YOU HAVE THE ROOM THEY VERY LARGE AND HEAVEY.

Strengths:
VERY LOUD,GREAT BASE

Weaknesses:
A LITTLE BRITE,NOT MUCH OF A SOUND STAGE,LARGE AND HEAVEY.

Similar Products Used:
PARADIGM,ATHENA.INFINITY,BOSTON ACCOUSTICS,JBL,

Charles 2

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
4.17 of 5, 6.00 votes

Price Paid:  $800.00 from Rex

Summary:
Cerwin Vega has never received the respect that they deserve. Over at the Speaker Asylum they are refered to as Bevis & Butthead's speakers, hold up to heavy urination, etc. To be fair, they seem to be marketed at people who are looking for the loudest speaker they can find. Personally, I use valve amps, to which their 101 db. sensitivity mates well. I've tried other modestly priced speakers, & the CV's beat them all soundly. There are no high end stores in my neck of the woods. On the used market, they go for nothing. Get a good push/pull vacuum tube amp (I've got a restored Sansui 1000A which really works well with these speakers) and you'll have a system which will cost thousands to better.

Strengths:
Superb soundstage with valves, an absolute bargain.

Weaknesses:
90 lb's each, need a dolly to move them, lack of snob appeal, if you're a snob.

Similar Products Used:
Altec, Klipsch, Bose, AR, etc, etc.

tryn

Overall Rating
 4 of 5

Value Rating
 4 of 5

Used product for
More than 1 year

Visitors rate this review
2.00 of 5, 4.00 votes

Price Paid:  $550.00 from Montgomery Wards

Summary:
I've had these speakers for several years now and I'm very satisfied with my investment. I still need a much better reciever than the one I have but it stills gets them rocking. Like some of the other reviews here I had to put in a slightly higher amped fuse. Mainly because of my reciever. In the near future I intend on making custom cabinets for these to really get them looking as good as they sound.

Strengths:
Very clear highs and mids. Handle all kinds of power and really kick out some bass.

Weaknesses:
Size. If your space is limited, look elsewhere.

Similar Products Used:
JBL N-Center JBL S-38's JBL N-24's Technics SA-DX950 AV Control Reciever Yamaha YST-SW215 Powered Sub-Woofer