Cerwin-Vega CVHD 5.1 review

The powered (250 watt) subwoofer features a front firing 12-inch woofer and two ports. The rear panel has volume and variable crossover (50 to 150 hertz) control, a pair of RCA inputs, a separate "LFE" input, and a 0/180 degree phase switch.

If you like the look and sound of the CVHD system but don't need the full surround treatment, Cerwin-Vega also offers a stereo (plus subwoofer) version of the system, the CVHD 2.1. It retails for $700.

Performance
Back in the 1960s, car guys used to say, "There's no substitute for cubic inches." Big engines made more power and torque than little ones, and that holds true today for large subwoofers. A 12-inch woofer in a big cabinet can generate a lot more room-filling low frequencies than any 6- or 8-inch sub. Cerwin-Vega's 12-inch beast can fill even fairly large rooms with very deep bass.

Big bass wouldn't mean much if the satellites didn't keep pace with the muscular subwoofer. No problem there--the sats were unusually alive and dynamic. The combination of the two mimicked the sound of a much larger system with tower speakers.

Since the surround speakers are exactly the same as the front speakers, the CVHD 5.1 system was capable of producing front-to-rear, wraparound soundfields. The center channel speaker's talents reproducing dialog were also above par. The spatial coherency on well-recorded DVDs--such as our favorite, House of Flying Daggers--was obvious in the smoothness of the sounds as they moved from speaker to speaker. That said, we could localize the surround channel speakers' positions, more than we could from true dipole/bipole speakers such as Aperion's Intimus 534-SS; those speakers go for $245 each, and are utilized in systems such as the Aperion Intimus 533-PT Cinema HD. But dipole/bipole speakers are relatively expensive, so we really can't fault the CVHD 5.1 as a $1,000 system.

On CDs, the CVHD 5.1's sound emphasized every recording's detail, and yet treble was very natural. You can hear an acoustic guitarist's fingers sliding over the strings and a drummer's most delicate tap on the cymbals. Most packaged 5.1 channel systems sound undernourished and bass-shy in stereo, but again, the CVHD 5.1 broke that stereotype. It was almost as satisfying in two-channel as it was in surround.

Live concert DVDs from Cream and My Morning Jacket sounded especially good. In fact, the CVHD 5.1 sounded better and better as we cranked the volume, which is a sure sign the CVHD 5.1 has very low distortion and the sats and sub are well matched. Hey, Cerwin-Vega is known as "the LOUD speaker company," and that's no hype. The drums, in particular, came off well, with the sort of impact and power that's rare in $1,000 sat/sub systems. Acoustic jazz on the One Night With Blue Note DVD was just as mush fun, the vivid clarity of Herbie Hancock's piano and Freddie Hubbard's trumpet added to the music's excitement. The sub's control over the bass was decent, but it could have been a little tighter and better defined. Then again, we were pleasantly surprised how well it integrated with the satellites, but the CVHD 5.1's blend wasn't perfect. There were a few times where the bass sounded a little thin, but even so, the sat/sub blend was well above average. To prove that point we did try substituting a different subwoofer--the 10-inch model that comes with the Onkyo HT-SR800 home-theater-in-a-box system. It didn't come close to matching the Cerwin-Vega satellites; the CVHD 5.1 is, indeed, a finely tuned system.

In the final analysis, the Cerwin-Vega CVHD 5.1 system represents a great bang for the buck--but it would be an even better one if you weren't stuck with having to buy those floor stands. We'd love to see the company charge a bit more (say, $1,200 instead of $1,000) and include table stands with the speakers. In their current configuration, though, they're still highly recommendable--especially for anyone who listens to a good balance of music and movies and has an appreciation of deep bass.