price, narrow depth

none for speakers in this price range

People use a lot of different reasons for selecting their audio equipment. The principal limitation I had was that my audio equipment is in the kitchen and the speakers sit on a shelf above the cabinets (seven feet from the floor; nine foot high ceiling). The width of this shelf is slightly less than seven inches; there is a decorative rail around the shelf that would prevent even the slightest overhang. My receiver and CD changer are in a space originally meant for a microwave oven. With wall-to-wall cabinets, etc., there is really no place to locate a subwoofer, let alone floor-standing speakers. One of my thirteen year old Baby Advents went bad, and I had resigned myself to having to get small, satellite-like speakers. Of course, I knew the bass would be severely lacking with this type of speaker.

In my search for the best small speakers in my price range (less than $500 US), I came across the New Ensemble by Cambridge Soundworks. Living in the Midwest, there is no store around where I could audition these. The speakers got decent reviews--I'm certainly not an audiophile--I'm very satisfied with my Pioneer receiver and CD changer (my wife, on the other hand, would be OK with an Emerson boom box. The price was right--$400 US, no sales tax, and free shipping. The speakers (both the satellites and the bass units) are less than 5 inches deep, so they met my primary requirement. A big selling point as well was that there would be at least some bass!

I've had them for a week now, and I am very pleased with my choice. They sound great--a lot richer than my Baby Advents. I know they say to play around with the location of the bass units, but I'm restricted to my location on the shelf above the cabinets, but I'm very pleased. I listen to singer-songwriter stuff (Bob Dylan, Steve Earle, John Prine, Todd Snider, the Bottle Rockets) at low to moderate levels. With my limitations, I don't think I could have done better, both for sound and value. If I ever go the home theater route, I'll certainly consider some of the Cambridge systems.

Similar Products Used:

Baby Advents

Good value. Fairly tight for movies. Sound does get much better after 2-3 weeks. Reasonable for pop music.

It fatigues at high. Directional speaker very sensitive to placement. At first the midrange sounds like something is missing. It got better after the break-in period. However I still think music should sound better than this. Not very good for classical.

OK, I am no audiophile. I only owned bookshelf systems
before and this is the first time I am buying separate
audio equipment. But even to me, these speakers sound
like they need improvement.

PROS:
Great value. I bought the $1000 MovieWorks II 5.1 HT
package from hifi.com (which has the same front speakers
as the ensemble), with a marantz receiver and dvd player,
unbeatable value. I experimented with the placement.
These speakers can produce a good enough soundstage for
a small room (my 20*14). The sounds are laid back.
Jazz and Pop sound ok, although they lack a little dynamic
in the mid-range (maybe too laid back). DVD movies sound
quite alright. I played Matrix, ID4, T2, etc., and they
produce a good, clear sound, not overly bright.

CONS:
I played the Schostakowitsch Symphoy No. 1. Less than 3
minutes into the first movement, the speakers fatigued
with the wind instrument, once, and then again. I played
the same CD on my computer, with a $3 headset I bought to
make Internet phone calls, and the headset delivered the
highs with no problem. I had found these speakers a bit
less than satisfying before. My audiophile friend
convinced me that these were great values and some place-
ment tweaks would improve them. But this just did it for
me and I am returning these. Other drawbacks of the
speakers include: the imaging is ok but less than ideal.
The clarify department is poor. (You will notice it when
listening to a concerto with both orchestra and the solos
playing).

CONCLUSION:
Value. Good for movies, OK for Pop and Jazz, will not work
well for classical.

Similar Products Used:

Sony bookshelf system.

Excellent sound, tight bass

none

I don't understand all these peoples reviews saying how terrible these speakers are, they are insipid and the writers lack knowledge. In my humble opinion, these are excellent speakers. For the people who said this speaker set had no bass.. ever think of turning the equalizer up? Or maybe they should get a new reciever becuase the 45 watt per channel their grandfather gave them probably doesn't cut it anymore.

I listen to a lot of rap and hip hop, and i see no reason one would say there was no bass (including mid-bass)

Please don't listen so some of the previous statements made by other "Audiophiles" (yes the quotes are there for a reason) and purchase these speakers, for $400 you can not go wrong.

well-defined sound stage, good mid ranges, "live" sound.

a little weak on the bass

Believe the hype. I bought these speakers when I was in
college in 1990 based on the reviews and Henry Kloss's
reputation as a speaker designer for "normal" people.
You know who you are. These are not speakers for people
who spend hundreds of dollars on "interconnects" or
speaker wire. These are speakers for people who love
music, but don't get fetishistic about hi-fi minutia or
hate the very idea of "solid state" anything. My parents
own a pair of the original AR speakers (also designed
by Kloss), and they still hold up. That said, I will
agree that speaker placement is more important with
the Ensemble than CSW would have you believe. But placed
well, the sound stage is clear and well-defined, there
is plenty of "air" and the speakers tend to disappear
with better recordings. And whoever said that these
speaker boxes were not designed well doesn't know anything
about acoustics. The size of the woofer cabinet does
not determine the quality of the bass reproduction. The
cabinet has be matched to the speaker, and if Kloss knows
anything at all in this world, it's how to build an enclosed
(non-ported) speaker cabintet. Cheap cabinets? I don't
think so. These are well made and heavy suckers to pick
up.

If you are an audio fetishist, these speakers will bore
you. If you love music and products that are designed
and made well, the Ensemble will make you happy.