Without a doubt the finest speaker made for the money. This is yet another update to my previous 2 posts.

None.

I simply must upgrade my previous 4 star ratings to 5 star. As I mentioned earlier, these speakers get SO much better with age. I have got to say that compared to the first few weeks I had them, they have now got be fully broken in. I can't imagin them getting any better. I will again restate that anyone who is not satisfied has got to get a new reciever/amp. These speakers demand high current. Before you sell or return these speakers and think about "upgrading" to yet another pair, save the $ and go buy an Onkyo TXDS575 A/V reciever. This reciever has had so many best buy and top quality reviews it is fantastic. You can throw away the other amps and equalizers that simply distort sound in my opinion and stick with simplicity. Great reciever, great speaker cable, and great speakers. That reciever will drive these speakers beyond what any sane human being would care to listen to, unless you want to advertise to the entire block that you are throwing one hell of a party. Pushing that reciever to the limit results in absolutely NO DISTORTION while the Tower II's are rated for al but the most powerful amps. I can't imagine feedng even even more than this reciever delivers. I swear the clarity, imaging, and range of these speakers simply gets better and better with age. Give them some time and drive them you will be totally amazed. Whatever you do, DO NOT SELL THEM BEFORE YOU TRY ANOTHER RECIEVER AND GIVE THEM ABOUT 6 MONTHS TO BREAK THEM IN FULLY.

5 STARS WITHOUT A DOUBT.

Similar Products Used:

N/A

HERE COMES MY REVIEW #4... AFTER A YEAR!

NONE

I have got to again update my previous reviews of this speaker. Having started taking the hobby far more seriously and listening to numerous friend's systems costing two and three times as much, when they come over and listen to these CS Tower II's I still can not believe the looks on their faces. I don't know what it is with some of the people on this string who can bash these speakers. I am begining to think that every so often a set of speakers is produced that so exceeds their expectations that it is almost magical (for the $1000 price of course) although they can now be had for $699 a pair which is an absolute steal.

So, what did I finally do? I don't know why it took me so long to do this but I guess I figured what the hell for... and then figured why the hell not. I re-trimmed and BIWIRED the Towers II's to my Onkyo TX-DS575X high-current reciever with some more Monster Cable XP-HP. Remember, regardless of whether one speaker is 25' from the reciever and the other 5 feet, you want to use 15 feet of cable for each to ensure a perfect match.

For those of you here who were less than impressed with the Base response of these speakers feeling it may be a bit bloated. BIWIRE THE SPEAKERS! Seperating the mid and high from the subs makes all the difference. I have posted that you truly need a high-current reciever to feed these speakers the juice they need and let me tell you... The fatter the pipe that feeds them makes all the difference too. The perform almost magical. Without a doubt.. you have got to spend the extra $ and biwire these speakers to your reciever. You will not believe the difference. I don't know what it is, perhaps it is the environment and the acoustics of my living room that has something special to do with it but whatever it is, yuo will be hard pressed to find a set of speakers costing 3-4 times as much that can match these when set up perfectly and fed the current they crave.

THIS IS A 5-STAR SPEAKER and many of my friends have told me that I got very lucky with the way these components work with one another. It is a magical set-up. If you have the tower II's and are not overly impressed, get the high current amp and then bi-wire.

Similar Products Used:

NONE

I really can't see why anyone would give these speakers anything less than a 2-3 star rating. One star? You've got to be kidding me.
For those people who gave the Tower II's a one-star rating, here's a word of advice: If you're an audiophile, why are you spending ONLY 1 grand on a pair of main speakers anyway? Get some Aerial Acoustics, Linn, or Thiel's. And if you truly are a "supposed" audiophile, quit bashing high-performance at outstanding value speaker sets. That's what CSW has to offer: Quality and benefit at a reasonable (at times, extremely affordable) price. Of course these towers won't hold up to high-end speakers, but under $2000, these are extremely satisfying.

If you are not quite the audiophile but still appreciate precise natural imaging and octave-to-octave tonality, the Tower II's are the way to go. $1,000 for these excellent speakers are a steal.

Forget the design, forget all the specifications and features, forget all the random pontifications posed by would-be "experts." Go listen to a pair. Subjectivity goes a long way in a highly "unobjective" industry such as hi-fidelity audio. Personal opinion and tastes vary greatly and though you can bog yourself with endless audio-babble and unnecessary stats/figures, nothing beats listening with you VERY OWN EARS.

I think the Tower II's are an outstanding pair of speakers at a great price. Music, as well as home theater reproduction, is excellent. Very natural and clean. Whether it be Mozart or Muddy Waters, the Tower II's are an absolute delight.

Better than anything Polk or AR or Infinity or JBL has to offer in the same price category. Just under B&W in terms of pure performance and quality ... but again the former is usually priced quite higher. CSW Tower II's will do an awesome job, whether it be CD or DVD, Stereo or 5.1!
After you hear them in their full acoustic glory, the T-II's will be very hard to pass by. Get some Chesky's sampler/demo discs, and you'll immediately notice how rich and natural these T-II's actually sound! If you like music with plenty of heart and soul or melancholy sadness, these speakers will leave you completely satisfied.

The only reason you'd want better speakers is if you would want to upgrade to the 6-driver Tower I's. But for a $1000 price tag, the T-II's will more than meet your every need.

I'm not going to pretend to know more than I do, here, but I readthrough the reviews already here and felt that there's a lot of
trash talk. Lots of people are panning the Tower II's hard, I suspect
simply because they're not these people's pet favorite speakers.

Admittedly, I haven't heard a large variety of speakers, and I've
played with still less. However, these speakers sound wonderful,
both for music and in a 5.1 setup for movies. I replaced my Ensemble
speakers with these, and the mid range just sprang to life.

People can probably look for criticisms, but for $1000 a pair (cheaper
if you wait for a sale), these make a great set of speakers to build
a system around. Don't believe everything you read; have a listen before
letting the one star ratings influence you too much.

I've had the Tower IIs for about 2 years now. The rest of my system has gone through considerable upgrades but I have yet to feel that I need to upgrade these puppies. The rest of my system consists of the Proceed AVP pre/pro, ATI 1505 5 ch power amp, Rotel RDD-980 CD transport, Marantz DVD-810, CSW Centerstage, Powered Sub, and Optimus Pro NX 77s for surround speakers. I use the system extensively for music and HT. I also have a stereo system downstairs for music that uses the NHT SuperOne Xu speakers. I often after listening to a CD on my stereo system will play the same CD upstairs. The Tower IIs are far superior to the SuperOnes. Of course, the Tower IIs are full range and the Superones cut off at 50 Hz, but even so, the sound from the Towers is sweeter clearer, purer and more engaging. If you know the SuperOnes then you know how well they perform and how highly rated they are - the Tower IIs are simply better period. As for the bass of the Towers being bloated - look at your room acoustics! Unless you have an acoustically treated room you have bass problems at the low end; that is simply physics. The Tower IIs may not have the flatest bass response of any speaker but to pay more without considering your room is absurd.

I've owned the Tower II's for about 2 years. When I first set them up, I was not particularly impressed by their sound. However, I naturally attributed this to lack of proper break-in. As time went on, though, I continued to be perplexed by the sound - the bloated bass, relatively non-linear midrange and often shrill unnatural highs failed to improve. I really tried to like these speakers but in the end I finally gave up and purchased a pair of B&W CDM7SE's which are simply fantastic! (and they're not even broken-in yet). I can't say the Tower II's are horrible but only merely acceptable, in fact they would probably be a reasonble value if they were $500 dollars cheaper.

Good bass, wide high sound stage

Problems resolving brushed snares and cymbals.

I was looking for a full range speaker for my main stereo system. Had already bought a pair of B&W 603's but found that they were lacking clarity and power in the bass region. Plucked bass violins became boomy on the 603's, if the bass control on the receiver was boosted.

After listening to many speakers in hi-end shops, I found the Paradigm Studio 100's produced the sound I was looking for. I found a demo pair for $1500. As good of a deal this seemed to be, I wondered why I needed to spend this much money when my old Advent Legacy II's were very close to the sound I desired and were only $325 for the pair 10 years ago. I decided to search for a speaker that had some of the sound characteristics of Paradigm's but with a mass market price.

This search was more difficult than I imagined. There seem to be very few well made but affordable full-range speakers displayed at audio retail shops. I listened to the PSB 6T's, Infinity IL40's, Polk 800i's, and several Klipsch Floorstanding models. I couldn't find JBL S312's or PSB Stratus Bronze speakers to demo. Then, the catalog from hifi.com came with the new price for the Tower II speakers. After reading the reviews at this site, I decided to try the in-home trial rather than going to the CSW sound rooms.

I found that the Tower II's have a full range and big sound stage similar to the Paradigms. The bass is execellent though the high end could use more detail. The midrange took a 2 weeks to break in to the point were voices sounded natural. This was surprising but this was my first 3-way speaker system and I didn't think that mid-range speakers would need to be conditioned. I consider these speakers to be very high value for the money. Certainly you have to expect compromises at this price point and they don't sound as good as the Paradigm's but on the other hand the Paradigm 100's mid and high end were hardly any better than my much cheaper B&W603's.

I consider the Tower II's to be a modern day version of the Advent Legacy II's in performance and value. An affordable well-made full-range speaker is increasingly difficult to find these days due to all of the surround speaker packages. The Tower II's fill this void.

Audition these speakers if you are hunting for good value in Stereo system speakers.

Associated Equipment:

Rotel RX-975 Stereo Receiver
Rotel RCC-955 CD Changer/Player
Onkyo Integra RE-35 Graphic Equalizer

Similar Products Used:

Advent Legacy II's, III's, B&W 603S2's

There obviously is a very wide range of opinions on the TOWERII's! I have owned these now for 6 months and am very satisfied. They did take 2-3 weeks to "break-in", after that the sound became very natural and pleasant. I listen to mostly "classic-rock", jazz, and blues. These babies sing! Bass response is very good; tight and deep. Mid-range and high frequencies are very smooth and natural. They are teamed up in my system with an Onkyo 100/ch. receiver, Onkyo C340 disc changer, and Infinity BU120 sub. I have experimented to great extremes with the positioning of the speakers and have realized they must stay away from the rear walls 7-10 inches. Once I realized this, the soundstage and bass response opened up tremendously! I am a drummer in a rock/country band and I DO know what live music and "kick" should sound like; for $1000, these speakers can't be beat! Give them a try; you should be pleased!

good clean bass and excellant mid's & highs

looks

These are the best sounding speakers I have ever heard for under 1000. The sound just got better when I switched my sony 100w reciever for a marantz 70w high currunt reciever and bi-wired the towers. What a difference! They sounded great before, but now it's awesome. Do not pass these up because of the looks, the sound is what matters.

Similar Products Used:

infinity,polk