-built in 2 subwoofer
-excellent sound
-excellent quality of the wood cabinet
-10 year warranty

none

I bought my first speakers(Ensemble) from Cambridge in 1994. I also have their Soundworks 250. About 3 weeks ago, I got my Newton T500 and I am amazed by the quality of it. I called them last 4/18 to have them replace the speakers as it does not match my furnitures. I got the replacement speakers last 4/20. Excellent customer service.

Inexhaustible Power
Clean reproduction of movie soundtracks
Sumptuous sound with Miles Davis and Brahms and U2
The WOW factor, as in, you say "Wow" during scenes in movies that really use the whole dynamic range....these speakers are up to the challenge.
Very beautiful...girlfriend thought they were "handsome"

The Bass can be overpowering. You just have to reign it in. That's it.

During the Prince of Egypt scene where Moses opens up the Red Sea, during the Saving Private Ryan Opening, during the Fifth Element Blue-Singer scene, during Jurassic Park's famous T-Rex attack, during the opening of Aliens...and...throughout subtle but detailed CDs like Miles Davis's Kind of Blue the speakers create an impression of effortless reproduction. Everything sounds extremely fresh, "like you're there", but also has that warmth that makes listening a sweet experience. I'm thrilled.

I'm using them with the HK AVR-80 and have heard them with the Marantz 5200 and Sony's DVP-7000.

Frankly, these speakers are completely inappropriate in my current living situation. The Bass is over the top, and I have set it all the way down to make it acceptable. I look forward to having a huge living room for them so they can really stretch their legs.

They were worth grabbing given the value price I was able to get by exchanging my Towers and paying the difference.

I recommend them without reservation. My whole DVD and music collection sounds new again. Go for it.

Similar Products Used:

CSW Tower
Bose 901
Acoustic Energy

Clean precise reproduction of all types of music, Great appearance, Blend well with decor.

None that I can think of.

Although I am not sure I could clasify myself as an audio enthusiat I have found music and the quality of the reproduction very inportant for the last 37 years. Throughout my adult life I have loved listening to music that is reproduced well. I have never invested in the most expensive equipment but have looked for value. In 37 years of owning stero/home theater equipment I have only purchased 5 sets of speakers for my own use. The last set was the CSW Ensemble Home Theater along with the BIG 12' Powered Sub. all purchased in 1995. Prior to my most recent purchase of the T500 along with the MC500 center and S300 Surrounds my favorite speakers were my Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater, the horns and the 15" wofers in these are still incrediable to listen to at high volume. Big problem with these is the size of the two speakers. Why all the talk about other speakers, just to compare them to the T500 which I now find the best I have listened to that fit home decor and are affordable. Prior to my purchase I spent considerable time listening to floor standing speakers by Infinity, Polk, and Boston.
I could have saved some dollars but none of the others offered the range and clarity of the T500.
I was powering them by an HK AR30 but just purchased a Marantz SR7200. Got to have the 5.1 or 6.1 I did not have.

The T500s offer excellent reproduction of female vocals which can with some speakers sound sharp and shrill.
T500 offer a wide open but at the same time a directed sound. Hard to explain in detail but I found them the best in the $1500 - $3000 range. I did not listen to any more costly. Every time I listen to these T500 I have to smile inside. What a value!

Similar Products Used:

E-v IIs, Altec Lansing Voice of the Theater,
CSW Ensemble, Celestion

Clean, Powerful bass. Bass level can be adjusted to your preference.

None so far.

I've only used them for 3 days, but I have used a few bass reference discs to fine tune them perfectly. I bi-wired them and daisy-chained the line-level sub cables. Jurassic Park 1, The Matrix & a few other discs were used & they sound incredible. I had no problem adjusting the bass, so it is thunderous, not overpowering. Setup was very simple & easy. I'm very proud to submit my review of these high end speakers with the reasonable price.


Equipment used:
Denon AVR-5800 Receiver, Sony DVP-S9000ES DVD, CS MC500 Center Channel, 6 CS S300 Surround Speakers. Sony Wega 27FV16 TV W/16:9 enhance mode enabled.

Similar Products Used:

N/A

Bass, Bass, Bass, Imaging

heavy speakers, around 90lbs each!

These speakers are awesome, when i first plugged them in the bass was insane, just too much! after many hours and different configurations they came alive. When hooked up properly they sound very musical and the imaging is excellent. These speakers have a powered and passive sub in each speaker. the speakers are also bi-ampable, but also have a line level input for the powered sub. The bass was way too insane at low levels almost drowning out the highs. I figured out that when they are bi-amplified (they come that way stock from the store) and you have the line level sub input in the speaker gets both signals so the bass gets out of hand. dont take this the wrong way, i dont mean that it senses both and amplifies them but a speaker level signal is not half as good as a line level signal because it is an amplified signal that has to be converted to a line level signal then to be amplified again to go to the sub. This causes the signal to distort from its original form, by taking out the jumper that connects the highs and lows and just connecting the highs to your amplifier and run the sub-out of your receiver to the sub in and put your receiver on front speakers small the speakers sound much much much better! this just sends the nice clean line level sub signal to the sub amp. i have tried many things with these speakers and this is the best sounding way i have found. try it and tell me what you think. These speakers sound excellent, better than they do at the store.

Similar Products Used:

too many

Beautiful cabinet design and construction.
Quality components

None thus far.

I received these speakers by UPS two days ago, and to say that I'm pleased would be a gross understatement. The speakers were built in China, and then QC'ed at the Cambridge facility in Mass. I was amazed that they arrived in such good condition, considering the size and weight of the boxes (90+ lbs.), but they were packaged well, and don't have so much as a scratch.

These speakers are very beautifully designed and constructed. As mentioned above, they are made with heavy duty components, to be sure. After setting them up, I turned on my stereo, and was astounded right off the bat. The vocals and mid-range are very smooth and silky, with warm undertones. The high notes are very crisp and clean, without being too sharp or bright, like so many speakers I've listened to recently. As for the bass, I wasn't prepared for how good it would be. The amount of bass these speakers produce borders on obscene. If you like deep, rich bass without to much 'boom', you will enjoy these speakers very much. I am hearing new detail from my music, especially in the low-end. The stereo imaging is also very good. For the record, I own a mid-fi system: Denon AVR3300 integrated amp, and a Sony CDP EX70ES cd player with a optical digital output.

Powerful sound! - Hometheater that's better than in-theater!

Sounded too big! Not for every living room... Slate finish holds fingerprints/smudges and need to be wipes down after you touch them.

I bought these for a relatively small living room, as an upgrade for a Campbridge Soundworks surround sound system that I bought in 1995 (based around the New Ensemble mains). My biggest complaint about the T500s is kind of a weird one but here goes - They're too big. These suckers dominated my livingroom. You walk in and there they were - massive. In slate, they look like a monolith. They dwarfed every piece of furniture in the room. You need two people to carry them around or you'll kill yourself. I was by myself when I bought them and just getting them out of the box was a project in and of itself.

Soundwise - these things are insaine. However, they seemed very biased toward home theater. CD Music through these speakers is great, but not impressive (Caveat - these T500s were not broken in yet and I did not have them bi-wired. With the passive radiator and sub built in, you really need to bi-wire... see: http://www.soundstage.com/synergize/synergize031998.htm). CD music seemed overly warm, and not crisp enough.

Playing the Matrix on the T500s was jaw dropping. Talk about ear candy... The scene where Reeves and Moss shoot up the building lobby is incredible - the scene where Reeves is chain gunning from the helicopter and then the helicopter crashes is a blast to listen to.

The T500s were just too big for my living room (sound and size) so I down-graded to the T300s. I got the Mahogony finish because the Slate finish made these speakers look like cement slabs. The Mahogony finish helped the T300 to blend in and give them a more refined look (very nice finish). The slate finish, like many black laptops, tended to hold fingerprints, smears or any other mark resulting from touching them.

I actually like the sound from the T300s MUCH better - They sound more crisp and are lessed drowned out than the T500s overly warm sound. Also, CD music seemed to have better clarity and better overall sound. I think the T300 is a better all around speaker than the theater crushing T500.

In a bigger room, with a bigger TV - the T500s would shred. In my small living room, their size and sound was too dominant - just the word to describe these speakers. The T300s gave me the refinement that I needed, in terms of size and sound.

The best thing about these speakers is the company - Cambridge Soundworks expects you to take them home and try them out. Rather than being stuck with a bad decision, I took back the T500s and auditioned the T300s. With their array of speaker choices (too many in my opinion) you're sure to find a speaker combo that meets your needs.

I bought The T500s as a packaged surround set with the Cambridge Soundworks MC300 center and S300 surrounds. The surrounds are very nicely designed and do a great job. The center is tonally matched to the T300s and creates a nice sound stage. Even before I brought the whole set home, I downgraded my center channel speaker from the MC500 to the MC300. The MC500 is like taking an entire speaker and putting it on top of your TV - I'd be suprised if many folks actually use the MC500 as a center channel!

Overall, the T300s with the MC300s and the s300 are the PERFECT combo!!

Similar Products Used:

Cambridge Soundworks New Ensemble (1995)

Nice soundstage, powerful mid and lows, manages to be very clean in the highs as well!

Frickin things are 90+ pounds each

I just upgraded from the T-300 because I wanted more mid range performance. When I first hooked them up (bi-wired) I was a little freaked out by the overwhelming bass, but I took a deep breath and told myself that they needed to break in for a couple hundred hours. Fortunatly I was right (I was dreading the re-packaging of these things, and the lugging around that would insue!), they really opened up and gave a great soundstage for music as well as a great presentation for DVD! If you want to hear what these things can do, pop in Super Speedway (an IMAX film) it will make you cry!!! I must stress that music is my main focus, and without great reproduction of music, these things would be back at CSW in a flash! They pretty much handle anything I've thrown at them so far. To get the best possible performance I must stress that you use high quality inner connects and high quality separate bi-wire runs of speaker wire. DONT SKIMP!!! By buying these speakers you just saved yourself about 1000.00 off another manufactuers comparible speaker. Buy good cable (ie,Tara Labs, Harmonic Technologies, MIT etc...)
OK, Im done.. check these things out, there worth the audition.

Similar Products Used:

T-300

Looks and sound

weight-because I had to unload them myself

These speakers are amazing. I purchased the Blonde Maple and they are great to look at and even better to listen too. The soundstage that these speakers create are amazing. When I sit on my couch and listen to music in stereo I have to keep checking that the center speaker is off, because it sounds like the music is coming from my tv.
I have the subwoofers set up from the subout of my receiver and the front L/R from the receiver to the speakers. What bass these things put out. They sound great when listening to music. I bought the entire surround package and it is amazing to watch movies at home. I watched Gladiator and it is like being in the center of the action. I would recommend these speakers to anyone. I got the P500 sub for added thump, and let me tell you it is worth it. I set the sub to really kick in about 50h and it really adds to the imaging that this system creates.
I did a lot of research on this website and listened to a few different speakers and for the money these speakers are great. I ended up paying about 2k for the entire package, I have it set up as a 6.1 system. It is INCREDIBLE.
My system consistes of:
Onkyo 787
RCA 61"
CSW T500 (fronts)
CSW MC500 (center)
CSW S300 (surrounds)
CSW MC300 (rear surround)
P500 (sub)
This system shakes my house. It was worth every penny and
I figure I saved a bunch of money on the speakers. Thanks

Similar Products Used:

PSB - Polk

Great Sound stage. Beautiful music. Great Theater. No sub-woofer needed as these each have built in 15s.

None

When I went shopping for speakers I looked around and decided that I liked cambridge. I saw that these newton 500s were coming out in a couple of months. I initially purchased the towers (cambridge has a great upgrade policy for full price within the year purchased). The "towers" were ok, but not great. Then I picked up the Newton T500's and wow oh wow. The sound stage is awesome. Newer CDs play beautifully with the singers sounding like they are coming from directly in front of you. I listen to a wide variety of music, classical, rock etc.. and it all sounds great. I also love these for movies. They sound awesome and the built in 15inch subs on each speaker mean I don't need a seperate sub-woofer to get that floor shaking experience. I have a Marantz SR-18ex and I can through the whole wad of power at these speakers and they sound great.

Similar Products Used:

Cambridge soundworks towers