Value.

Something is missing in the midrange.

I was amazed when I first listened to these speakers. They are very impressive initially. After a few years I must say that they were a very good choice for my listening habits (movies, alternative, games). With certain music it feels like something is missing from the midrange and it is occassionally easy to locate the sub. Overall and outstanding product worth every penny. Satisfied.

Crystal Clear sound, small and compact, Bose quality,PRICE, Great customer service. Easy mounting FREE DVD Player @ Hifi.com

N-O-N-E

Excellent value. Hooked up to my Onkyo Receiver and had awesome sound. Great quality. Easily mounts to wall, friendly customer support. Overall very pleased! Buy these.

Great value. Good sound.

None.

I have a small room and wanted to be able to listen to movies and music without giving up any floorspace for big speakers. Checked out the Bose Acoustimass at home and found them to be just awful, particularly given the price. Got the stereo pair of the CSW IVs for $120 at hifi.com and couldn't be happier. While they're not high-end, they are definitely superior to the Bose in quality for significantly less money. They play plenty clean and loud on a 60wpc amp for movies and casual music listening. Placement is easy (everything is small and nothing is heavy), build quality is good, and they'll rest nicely on a bookshelf or even the TV itself (if you're real tight for space) and still sound good.

Similar Products Used:

Bose

Low Price for HT entire system

crappy paper tweeters, wimpy subwoofer, for the price what do you expect? Sounds like a low end pioneer car speaker.

I don't recommend attempting to build an entire HT system from $200-$300 speakers(boxes included). They could at least put in some $10 titanium tweeter. Even that beats the paper wizzer just like on some sony boom boxes, etc. Don't try putting on pink noise tests. Unless your reciever is a sony or aiwa or other crap with about 20w, they will pop. If you don't beleive me, buy a bass CD and crank it with just the woofer playing. The woofer stops at about 50Hz and is much too small for even good midbass. The cubes can buzz and shriek from lower mid if it is put above moderate volumes.
Typical Henry Kloss crap- KLH is even worse...

Similar Products Used:

Bose, sony

Wide range, smooth, un-colored sound. Sounds like a vastly larger and more expensive speaker system.
Very small, easy to hide if desired.

No output in the lowest audible octave.

This diminutive speaker system is probably the best value in hi-fi speakers tody. The sound quality is suberb with no coloration. Frequency response is basically flat from 50 hz to 20khz which is unheard of in a speaker in this price range or even a speaker system costing 5 times as much. There is no mid-bass boom evident in this speaker which is common in many low priced bass reflex systems. The woofer section is small enough to be easily hidden behind VHS tapes. I can reccommend the Ensemble IV to anyone interested in great sound. The low price and small size are just added bonuses. Audition a set if you can.

Similar Products Used:

Many quality speakers over the years.

LOW PRICE, 10 YR WARRANTY

PASSIVE SUB

I needed a smaller home theater system for my "man room" in the basement. I had an Ensemble II home theater package upstairs and have been very happy with it, so I figured I'd stay with Cambridge Soundworks. I bought the Ensemble IV HT package as seperates on Ebay. All together I paid around $90. Can't beat that price! I am using a Yamaha HTR-5150 receiver. I'm very happy so far. Bass is lacking, but I'll eventually score a good deal on better sub. The satellites were surprisingly good. I was worried about the single driver, but it turns out they hold there own very well. I'd recommend them. Just shop carefully. HiFi has lots of Cambridge Soundworks speakers on auction. Don't pay retail!!!

Similar Products Used:

Ensemble II HT

Low cost and outstanding sound

Bass can be thin if not accurately placed.

Please ignore reveiws that speak of the component makeup. "Paper tweeters" don't mean anything. What the system sounds like does. Nor do admonitions like "Unless your reciever is a sony or aiwa or other crap with about 20w, they will pop." I have NEVER had a pop and have played this on my Yamaha 495 loud enough for the neighbors to complain, which was uncomfortably loud for me in the same room. Bottom line - for the money you will not do better. For twice the money you may START to approach these speakers.
OK - the bass can be thin, but this is a passive woofer. Try various placements - I found for my apartmewnt, about 2 feet off the floor and about 10 inches from the wall facing me was ideal - naturally your layout and room accessories like carpeting etc will be different - but experiment and you will be surprised by the result. Clean sound. Nice midrange. Bright highs. Good bass. Nice imaging. If you are on a budget I cannot stress these speakers enough, especially when coupled with the fantastic "low end" Yamaha 495.

Similar Products Used:

Many speakers

Sound, Price, Size, 10 year Warranty

Probably the passive sub, if you like alot of bass then you want a powered sub.

I got these speakers a few weeks ago and I have been impressed ever since. Im just getting into audio and home theater stuff so these speakers were for me. I read the reviews here at this site and narrowed it down to the Ensemble IV HT package and the 408 movieworks package. I chose the Ensemble package because of the price and the passive sub(I live in a townhouse and I dont think I need a powered one until I get a house). Im still playing with the sub and trying to figure out where it will sound its best. I have been blown away by the power of these speakers and the movies I have watched have been amazing. I agree with the last post that these speakers are far from weak, I have mine hooked to my Yamaha HTR-5150 which is 70 watts per channel. But dont let that 70 fool you my Yamaha has more power than many of the 100+ watt/channel receivers I looked at. During the Matrix I pumped my speakers up pretty loud and never heard any popping noise. So, if your looking for some great speakers that are very affordable and sound amazing then these are for you! I got mine at hifi.com for $299 but if you live near a Cambridge Soundworks retail store you can get them for $199 right now. Also, if your looking for a good priced quality receiver check out the Yamaha HTR-5150 or 595a. They are the same by the way.

Similar Products Used:

Pioneer and JVC speakers

Low price

passive sub-woofer, no mounting hardware included

I have to admit I was suprised with these little boxes. I paid about 200 for them and for the money they're great. I agree, you do need a decent receiver to appreciate them. I had them hooked up to a low end JVC and they sounded OK. I upgraded the receiver to an Onkyo 575 and they sound fantastic. I had my old stereo speakers EPI Mangus(about 10 years old)hooked up to the receiver too and I find that the sound is better on these little cubes(yeah, I know the EPIs are old speakers). The passive sub actually does a decent job, but I have to crank my receiver up to feel it. I'm curious to see what they sound like with a powered sub-woofer, but I'll have to wait on that. It would have been nice if they came with mounting brackets or something better then just screws. The speaker stands I put them on actually cost more than the speakers. They still get 5 stars.

This speaker system consists of 5 cubes and a sub woofer. I bought these speakers because of the price ($199+tax).For the price they are hard to complain about. The only problem I have with cube type speakers is that they do not project sound well. If you have a small room and need to conserve space these are O.K. The other problem I have with these speakers is they do not have good imaging. I do not know if it is CSW or just the type of speakers, but the sound does not surround you and is uneven. But you can not beat the price and because of the price they get 3 stars.