Price Paid:  $799.00 from cambridge audio

Summary:
For the price these are truly unique. While my Paradigm sub is good these are truly musical & with the ability to play with the sound the Newton has become my favorite piece of equipment. It is paired with Cambridge Towers which it compliments perfectly.

Strengths:
The finish & the ability to "infinitely adjust" the sound- I love the phase control

Weaknesses:
could probably use more snob appeal for those that confuse their ears & their wallet

Similar Products Used:
paradigm, yamaha

Price Paid:  $475.00 from CSW

Summary:
On our recent HT upgrade I acquired this sub and a whole new set of speakers (B&W DM602 s3, B&W LCR600 s3, Cambridge s300 sides, BIC America DV52si rears). In my room the P1000 would have been better, but I wanted to experiment with 2 subs and bought a Velodyne CT100 off eBay for the side sub position.

In short, the P500 rocks and rolls unbelievably for a box this size. The 500 watt BASH amp produces excellent power and the dual 8" drivers reproduce the low stuff very accurately.

Before the Velodyne arrived I teamed the P500 with my old AR S12HO and measured useable bass down to about 28 Hz. Good, but not as low as I'd hoped. When the Velodyne arrived, I played around with the crossover for both of the subs and achieved useable bass down to about 21 Hz. That's more like it.

The bass module that comes with the P500 is one of the reasons I considered it. I want the flexibility of tweaking the sound from my sweet spot instead of doing it a little at a time and experimenting incrementally. Asking the wife to help is out of the question. The module allows for all of that and now if I feel the need, I simply reach over to my little table and grab the controls. Since it's close to me and the other sub, I can make almost infinite adjustments very quickly.

While the price is high enough to put this in with some well-respected competition (HSU, Velodyne SVS, etc), I think the output stands on its own. And the addition of the separate bass module makes it a deal worthy of the price.

Strengths:
Solid output into the 25-30 Hz range.
Excellent power from the BASH amp.
Tidy little package with excellent finish.
Separate module for tweaking.

Weaknesses:
None really.

Similar Products Used:
AR S12HO
Velodyne CT100

Price Paid:  $500.00 from Cambridge Soundworks

Summary:
This is the only powered subwoofer that I have ever owned so I am not able to compare it to much. I can only compare this to two powered subwoofers that I have had in my truck. Both of the subwoofers cannot muscially compare to this little tiny subwoofer. The output is just as high as the twin 10" Kenwood subwoofer in a 6th order bandpass enclosure with a 75W/ch Alphasonic amplifier. And that subwoofer can knock my clock off the shelf. But, the P500 doesn't do the same thing while giving me the same kind of bass hit. It does it with lots of finesse and the bass notes are accurate, distinct and athletic, never muddy. I've never heard bass notes like this. I swear the floor vibrates but I can not hear all the notes that causes all the vibrations. It must produce notes below my level of hearing. But like I've said, the walls doesn't have to vibrate so much and yet, the heavy bass can be had. In fact, I can make the music so bass heavy that even I don't like it anymore. It definitely beats the New Ensemble II's passive subwoofer that it replaced.

The bass control module isn't as ugly as some will have me believe. In fact, I like it and it's very convenient to have all the controls right up front. The ingeneous design of using RJ11 phone cord as a signal conduit is perfect. Though, I have noticed the subwoofer talks to itself (hum and mumble). I think it's from the power cord to the bass control module being too close to the Monster audio cables feeding the module. I've since moved the module power cable away from the audio cables and it's almost gone away. It is very hard to pick up but my left ear is very sensitive. I confirmed that it must be a design issue since at I could detect the same thing at the store, but barely. I even had a friend tap on the on/off/standy switch on the control module. I can hear him electrically through the subwoofer. If the switch wasn't made of metal, I think that would have prevented that particular test.

I use the P500 with two MC300s connected to an Adcom GFA5500 amp, GTP450 tuner/preamp and GCD750 CD player. I use the Monster HT3500 as my line conditioner. I have the tuner/preamp connected to the audio input of the control module and then the highpass of the control module to my amp. I could not detect any musical coloration so I have left it that way. It's better than connecting the amp the speaker input of the control module, I think. I've never heard bass down below about 35 Hz. That's got to be one of the explanations as to why the bass in my music sounds so much better with the P500. I just brought this subwoofer home to try out and I ended up keeping it after solving the minor hum problem that most people wouldn't pick up. It was a B stock item and was worth a try after I inspected it at the store.

I don't like the fact that UL required a metal grill to be installed in front of the drivers. The grills are removable but the beautiful drivers are covered with a metal grill. I would have removed them but I can't see them at home anyway so I left them alone. The sales clerk was nice enough to verify that they can be removed in the store by physically removing them with a philips screw driver. That is my only gripe, that damn metal grill covering the nice drivers.

The power cord was too short for me, about 6 feet. The male plug on the subwoofer is three prong, like one on a computer power supply. But on the other end, the plug to the wall was only the two blades with no ground. I replaced it with an 8 foot 14 ga. with ground power cord. My line conditioner is the top most unit and the subwoofer is on the floor. I also used a Monster Cable RJ11 phone cord to connect the subwoofer to the control module. The module is placed on top of the subwoofer.

Strengths:
Built like a brick. Minimal vibration felt on the cabinet. Very clean and accurate bass. High output, small size and great home trial period. Beautiful to look at.

Weaknesses:
Metal grill over the drivers under the cloth removable grills.

Similar Products Used:
None

Price Paid:  $500.00 from CSW

Summary:
This subwoofer has really impressed me. Tight and clean bass are easy to dial in on the external control box. Control box remote made adjusting from music to theater volume levels easy as well.

Although I spare my downstairs neighbors from it, the sub can also rattle windows and shake plaster from my walls.

I found a sale and got a deal on it. When I listened to the entire line from basscube10s up to P1000 the newton series excelled... in the newton series moving to the P500 from the P200 also made a significant difference. In my 13X13 room the P1000 would've been overkill.

Anyway... I went nuts shopping for a sub, so I thought I'd share. The newton series CSW subs are really well built and sound great. Clean amps too, I strayed away from Velodine because friends reported buzzing from the amp during silence.

Strengths:
Strong, tight bass you can dial in to perfection. External breakout control box. X11 wiring saves cash on sub cables and provides clean clean signal. 500W dual 8' woofers are high quality. Lastly and least importantly- three real wood finish choices.

Weaknesses:
List price pushes this sub into some stiff competition. Wait for a sale or push the sales guy for a deal.

Similar Products Used:
All the CSW subs were tested, the JBL PB10, a velodine, and a Boston Accustic.

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
WOW

Strengths:
Everything

Weaknesses:
None