Very nice quality speaker for the price.

Base may be a little bloated so turn it down on your receiver and boost your sub.

I have read these various reviews and there is quite a division here between those who love and those who hate. In short, I have got to agree with the reviewer who said "who the heck takes a speaker out of the box rips it apart right away to study the guts only to return it without hooking it up".

I am not going to claim to be a HI-FI Guru. I can claim to have taken these speakers out of the box... hooked them up to a quality Onkyo TXDS575 A/V reciever, and been very pleased with the results the past few months. I think people forget you have to drive these speakers to realize their full potential. For those of you who are the guru's out there and perform surgery on a speaker as soon as you get it home... I have to ask you why you brought it home in the first place? You must have liked the way it sounded in the store did you not?

Some of these reviewers remind me of crazy gourmets who take their love of food to the point that they end up eating shrimp sauteed in a blueberry butter sauce tossed with angel hair pasta commenting how exotic it is, how well worth the price it is, while they try to gag the crap down they are supposedly enjoying. Give me a break!

What ever happened to just eating great food without caring about what others think! I like the sound and thats all that matters to me. No regrets for $1000.

Similar Products Used:

Listened to more than I want to think about.

Crisp, clear sound. Imaging. Warranty. Upgrade plan

Looks cheaper than it should. Easy to tip over

Excellent bang for the buck. Sound even better with high power amps.

Similar Products Used:

Definitive technology

Great highs and midrange.

Deepest bass (tympani, double basses) could be stronger (see review); large boxes can be awkward; they're not Newtons!

Excellent value for $600 (CSW gave me new speakers for the "reconditioned" price--just ask for their best deal; the MSRP is essentially meaningless). Placement of the speakers is very important; CSW recommends they should be 10" from walls, which I found to be accurate. The store said bi-wiring was useless; I found otherwise--they sounded much smoother and richer when bi-wired. My livingroom isn't opimal, so the midrange seems a bit pronounced and bass a bit lacking; if they were near corners this probably would go away, and are minor flaws overall. These minor issues notwithstanding, they're very smooth throughout the sonic spectrum, no harshness or frequency ranges too pronounced. If you don't like these, try the Newton 500's (assuming you've got $1,800 to spend).

Similar Products Used:

Original Ensembles; Original Advents

Good value for price.

Kind of plain looking compared with newer speakers.

Very happy with overall performance. For the money hard to beat. I use them for home theater as well as music. In my job I have worked in $50,000 home listening rooms and $100,000 Home theaters. Obviously I can tell the difference however I feel I have a good knowledge of nice sounding speakers. These certainly qualify. HIFI.COM IS SELLING B STOCK T2S ON EBAY FOR $400.00 I just picked up a pair for my inlaws. At this price they are an absolute steal! You could spend this much on some chain store mass market towers and be very disapointed. I have several CSW products and find the quality to be excellent. Having had a subwoofer fried in a power surge and repaired quickly at no cost I can also say that customer service is also excellent.

OUTSTANDING performance for price.
Crisp, clear detailed highs, strong but not overbearing midrange, very powerful yet smooth bass, especially for a pair of 8" woofers!
Price, 10-year warranty, price - did I mention PRICE!?!?!
Two sets of posts, one for midrange/high, one for bass. BIWIRE!

NONE. NONE. NONE. Did I mention that there are NO weaknesses?
NONE.

Review:
ABSOLUTELY fantastic speakers.
My usage is about 90% sound, 10% HT - which is mostly music anyways.
As you can see, I have used (and still use) a relatively decent range of speakers. I actually will be replacing this setup in the next year - I just inherited a pair of Sonus Faber Amati Homage... my uncle had them and knew I loved them (and knew I couldn't afford them either - $20,000/pair, yikes)... they are the most incredible speakers I have EVER heard... but that is for another review. But anyways, on to the Towers.

Current Sound System:
Cambridge Tower II, biwired with 12-gauge Cambridge wire.
Adcom GFA 545 II amp (love this baby).
Adcom GTP-400 tuner/preamp/receiver
Hitachi DA-500 CD player
Technics SH-E5 Graphics EQ
Pioneer CT-W205R cassette deck

First:
For best sound from these speakers, you MUST use an amp with at least 100 watts/channel.
You MUST biwire them with GOOD quality, low-gauge speaker wire, not longer than 15'.
You MUST place them at least 18" from the wall on the rear, and 9" from the wall on the side.
You MUST break the speakers in for a good solid 30 days to get the most natural sound quality from them.

Second:
You must NOT submit infantile reviews damning a product you simply have NOT listened to - if you had really listened to these speakers with half-way decent equipment (and as you can see from my system list below, this does not have to be very expensive equipment either), and a decent set-up, you would have no reason to complain at all.
Especially not for the price.

These speakers have taken every type of music I have given them and reproduced it faithfully, without any loss of detail, and without any deterioration in sound-stage. Of course, the ususal tweaking your EQ for different recording/production styles is necessary, but that is to be taken for granted.

For sound quality benchmarking, I primarily (but by no means exclusively) relied on Frank Zappa's Rykodisc recordings, as they are of excellent production quality - fantastic mastering job on those albums. Every last outrageous note was crystal clear without being strident, every bass line was deep and firm and strong, but not a hint of dissonance did I detect, in either the sound-stage or from the cabinets themselves. Ahh, Peaches en Regalia...
Pink Floyd's Dark Side and Symphonica albums shine on these speakers.
Slayer's "God Hates Us All" is completely outrageous to listen to on these speakers - the clarity of this totally brutal sonic monolith of an album is an amazing listen...
My tastes range from jazz to classical to speed and thrash metal to classic rock, industrial and hip-rock... these speakers take it all.

Testing indicates near-perfect reproduction from 35 Hz to about 19,000 as another reviewer indicated.

These speakers, when set up properly and powered by a minimum of 100w/channel, perform very comparably to my B&W DM605 S2's - which retail at about $2,200 I think.

I do NOT think you need a powered sub-woofer or channel speakers with these babies. They hold up fine on their own.

Unfortunately, most folks believe that the speakers are everything - not so. The four most important components are your speakers, your speaker wire, your amplifier, and your graphic EQ. Period. And you really do need these to be of good quality to enjoy good sound. And you really do need to use an amp of sufficient wattage for the speakers you are using.

Anyway, my other main influence in purchasing these speakers was my uncle. As I mentioned earlier, he left me his Homages... now that man WAS AN AUDIOPHILE in the true sense of the word. His primary home sound system cost him over $100,000... not to mention the sound room... He got a pair of Tower II's for his son, and after listening to them himself he told me about them. I am glad I listened to him.

Oh, and did I mention the PRICE? heh...

Similar Products Used:

Bose 901 series II, B&W DM605 S2, Advent Legacy II, Paradigm Studio 100

flexability,price,bass

none for the price

Well folks, over three years of rigging, wishing and listening, I've finally got these speakers figured out. I've read this board for some time, and get a kick out of the different opinions (all legit, I think). As for my own assessment of the Tower II speakers, I'd say you are all correct for different reasons. These speakers are what you make of them, and they can be, very nearly, all you could want in a speaker; certainly so at this price. I just read the posts by Rich and Michael on this board. These two have figured these speakers out also.

I too have a Marantz SR 19 (fabulous!), having upgraded several months ago from an old 60w Kenwood stereo receiver. Now, with the 90db efficiency rating on these speakers and the 8ohm (ahhem!)rating, my old Kenwood did the job, but I got what many have reported: fairly closed in sound, average to annoying mids, decent highs and somewhat bloated base (although the bass has always gone low with good tone). All in all, not bad sound for the money, and good enough for entry level home theater (even without a sub).

You may have noticed my little "ahhem" earlier. That's because I am now recalling an article I read way back when these speakers first came out and were compared to similar B&W's of the day. The individual who reviewed these speakers made a comment about the 8ohm rating on these speakers. This is no direct quote, but what he was saying was "HOGWASH" with respect to the 8ohm rating. The Tower II's measure at more like 4ohms, thus the need for a bit more juce than my old Kenwood could supply. When I hooked up my new Marantz I heard a whole lot of things I had never dreamed possible with these speakers.

I bought a decent coax cable and, again, more improvement; I'm talking night and day here. Then, just the other night, I decided to get off of my duff and hook up a second pair of wires. For some reason, I just never got the idea from all of my reading that you could isolate the base from the mid/hi drivers by adding a second pair of wires to the same terminal on your amp. Of course you need a good amp source to make the difference in sound; bi-wiring from a weak source would be time better spent doing almost anything else. So, bi-wire I did... guess what? No more bloat! The mids are now a bit more articulate and the bass is, dare I suggest it, rather punchy, keeping their low end tunefulness. I can only imagine what a couple of mono block amps would do to these speakers in a bi-amp set up.

Not all speakers will benefit greatly from bi-wire/bi-amping, but it really makes a night and day difference with the Tower II's. If you're looking for a full range HT and music speaker system, you can buy these (especially at current prices!)with confidence and spend the savings on electronics that will make 'em sing. If you've already got a pair and have not been completely satisfied, don't rush to trade them in on more expensive speakers before you have a chance get some decent juce running through these big boxes... it'll put a smile on your face and a frown on your neighbor's!

Similar Products Used:

bose 501

Price vs. performance
Great balance between home theater and music applications

None worth mentioning considering the cost.

I have been listening to my Tower II's for about 6 months now and I couldn't be happier. For $699 a pair these have to be one of the best speaker bargains around. I utilize the II's for about 60% HT and 40% music. In either application the sound is crisp, tight and defined. They handle everything from the intricate, jazz influenced pop of Steely Dan to the sonic assualt of Poppa Roach with equal applomb. As for HT, they do the job and more.

Just had to add my 2 cents here as I just don't get folks crucifying a product after 'using' it in a store for a couple of minutes, then comparing them to $6000 a pair speakers. Maybe someday these folks will actually BUY some equipment and realize that price vs. performance is a real world consideration.

Similar Products Used:

M&K, Def Tech, ADS

Great Speakers at a great price. The tonal balance is excellent, as is the bass and midrange. Sound is clear and crisp with no flat spots. I listen to all sorts of music, and I can say that the speakers are clearly up to the task of even the most demanding soundtracks. I'll say it again, a great speaker at a great price

I purchased these cannons becuase I figured that they must be good. Do you wonder why Cambridge does not post or share any specs. on the speakers? Because they suck so bad, that they are ashamed. I took the woofer out of the cabinet, and to my suprise, there is no insulation. They are literally using the cabinet to resonate their bass. They sound like a peice of F#@*& SH%!. There is no life or presence only boomy bass and unbalanced mids. I had no idea that there can be a worse speaker manufacturer than Bose until now. 1-Hour after they were out of the box, they were back in the box and being returned. There is no wonder to me the reason why there is so much "B-Sock" at Cambridge. It is becuase most people who have ears, return them. AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

These are not the worse speakers that I have ever heard, But thy are the worst $1000 speakers that I have ever heard. The Tower II sound a lot like the speakers you get in a Fisher rack system.