My friend has a couple of these. They're just like all other CV speakers! Boomy, harsh, colored, unnatural sound, no 'presence' and an overall crappiness to the sound. I didn't want to be rude, so I told my friend they were awesome. This company is starting to get a BOSE feel to it; cult-like followers who only have sony, pioneer, and aiwa with which to compare and pretend they are the ultimate audiophiles and have heard all the brands. I'm sorry, but all you need to tell that these are aweful is a pair of ears!

LOTTA BASS, very strong low end, great party speakers, high sensitivity.

Overall, If you want a great speaker for he mony, buy CERWIN-VEGA!.....they just ROCK! Awesome party speakers
Listen to Reggae, R&B, Rap, Jazz....anything bassy and you will be smiling.

This is not a perfect loudspeaker, but you DO need, I REPEAT, DO need a good amp. Dont use any cheap ass Pioneer, Technics, Sony, or Kenwood. Or they will sound like crap.....Get a clean power amp, and youll be happy. :-)

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm, NHT, bose(POS)

The first time most people hear CV's, its usually in a mega-mart type retail chain, right between the Bose and the Advents. Compared to these two, its no wonder that people are blown away by the CV's. Bose is so over-priced its a shame and Advents stopped sounding good 10 years ago. CV is definately more bang for the buck and moderately priced. If you are into the high db sound of 'car stereo'. then these are great buys. They'll rock with the best of them. Whether I'd watch a movie thru them is a nother matter. You haven't lived until some has called the police on you for cranking these a twelve midnight. If you are into detail, you might go to a upper scale store than the ones that carry Cerwin Vega.

I've owned my AT 12's for 6 years. I enjoyed them all the way through college but now understand that CV's are made for noise. They lack in audio quality what they make up for in impressive size for scaring your neighbors. I recommend these for frat parties or large spaces...definitely not for movies or low volume voice matching...tough to get em tweaked.

Lots of bass, good construction, can't overpower them

almost too much bass - can drown the mid a little

Good speaker for the price, but mids can get muddled a little - probably from the overpowering bass. Great speakers for rock, pop, rap music - also for action movies. Not as good for classic, jazz. Excellent for college dorm, apt etc. I moved from CV At-12's to a $600 pair of Paradigms and I can tell a huge difference in clarity of everything higher than ~250hz. If you want loud, powerful, bassy speakers - CV's are for you. I'm very glad I owned them for 4 years, and very glad I upgraded after that time.

Similar Products Used:

JBL, Paradigm

Just a follow up.I've noticed a couple re-occurring criticisms of cerwin-vegas;boomy-"not adiophile". If they're sounding boomy,either you need to work on better placement or ditch your wimpy tube amp and get a real amp with good linear damping circitry. As for general sound quality.Unless your some golden-ear I don't see how anyone could say that vegas sound really poor.Granted,these are not in the same league as Coincident or Martin-Logan,but at this price,if they were no one would the pricey stuff. Just had to get that off my chest.

Will play very loud, internal circuit breakers, adjustable midrange and tweeter volumes.

Large, ugly, boomy bass, muffled midrange, poor imaging

I really don't like this speaker. The 12 inch woofers provide boomy bass. Deep bass is lacking. These are a good speaker to own in college (they play loud!). After that, their appeal is minimal. Currently, these speaker are sitting in storage. Any who likes these speakers cannot claim to be an audiophile. In the $400 price range, you can find many speakers that outperform these. If your shopping the mass merchant store, try JBLs.

Yes, there is nothing quite like the sheer raw power of a Cerwin-Vega AT-12 (except maybe the AT-15, VS-150, AL-750, AL-1000 . . . ). I used to live in a university dorm and I would crank those babies to 6 and we'd all have to leave the room. When we'd come back in they would have danced across the linoleum, and broke some beer bottles on a shelf in the next room! I can't say they're super clear and precise. Not audiophile equipment, but nothing can beat them when it comes to pure, loud, fun! It's also quite a sight to see the woofers throw back and forth for much more than and inch, blurring the red rubber and the nice C-V logo. :)
I love mine!
(though I'm getting some B&W's for non-party music, I hope I can find a retailer)
Later!

mike s.
v7q2@unb.ca
I love talking about C-V stuff (among other things), email me!

Anyone who thinks speakers like the Cerwin Vega's have "awsome bass", should give a listen to speakers with really awsome bass, like the NHT2.5i's. I don't understand why anyone would get a thrill from a big bass boom if they have ever heard the seductive power of accurate, tight, and DEEEEEEEEEEEP bass. If someone wants a high efficiency speaker, there are still better alternatives than this in a Klipch, Snell, or B&W. They may be smaller and produce slightly less bass in the 80hrz range, but they will be far more rewarding in the long run, (and there is always the sub option). I guess these are better than what you would find in a rack system though.

this is a case of situation, if you're having a party in college, these are OK, other speakers at local specialty dealers will outperform these and can be in the same price range, Paradigm Monitor 5 is about the same price and will recreate music not boom. Anything sold at Best Buy or other low-fi chain store should always be avoided