Like the Ensemble, I suspect that the Chinese version is inferior. The imaging is somewhat better, but the faults are fatal. The Chinese CSW 6 just doesn't have the bass weight of the KLH 17. For movies, there may not be much difference, but for music the USA versions are superior. The midrange and highs are more fatiguing to listen to. The bass quality is less well controlled and more attention-getting at first blush. The bass units are flimsy construction compared to the USA ones. The Chinese Ensemble is inferior to the all of the USA versions. And after putting up my KLH 17 pair after listening to the CSW 6 for a long time. Over four years after writing about the Ensemble and other early CSW models, I have a few changed opinions, mainly after using the Chinese Ensemble for a longer time, and opening up a bass unit to compare it to a USA one. I think the Teak is as attractive as vinyl wood grain can get. The latter is shiny surface, and the other two are more dull. I think the CSW 17 was introduced with the 6, and early ones are USA, but I could be wrong.īoth the CSW 6 and 17 are in vinyl Teak, light Oak and Black Ash cabintes. The younger cousin can handle a lot more power. The younger cousin has better imaging, the older cousin reaches a little lower with authority- if its woofer surrounds are sealed well. But, the decades difference make them sound like cousins, not brothers. I would compare the CSW 6 to the KLH 17, both of which I own. The Model 17 has a 5/8" polycarbonate dome tweeter and a 5 1/4''' long throw woofer. I don't know if a black grille means Made In China, but this is shown on the rear label. Early to middle ones have light gray grilles, and later ones have black grilles. I don't know if the USA ones sound better. It has the Kloss tweeter, like the Ensemble, and was made in Cambridge until production was taken to China. I don't know when the Model 6 was introduced, but it was around 1995. Still, he did not put them closer than 2 feet from the rear wall.
What does this mean? Julian Hirsch said they sounded wonderful, but that the bass was lacking in comparison to other speakers which had real output at 50 hz or below. CSW claimed more output at 40 hz than any other speaker its size, and this is surely with them against a wall. I'll bet that they reach lower than the CSW 17, but I have not heard either. The coolest ones are the solid light oak cabinets. The woofer is 6 1/2 inch long throw, and the tweeter is a 1 inch dome. The first small bookshelf speaker was called Ambience, and it was physically bigger than the later Model 17. They have a smaller midrange than the Ensemble satellites.
I don't know if these have the Kloss cone with center dome tweeter. I believe that these satellites stayed the same when the system was changed to Model 12- changing the dimensions and style of the bass case- but I am not sure. They are the same two-way satellites that were from the Model 11, the first incarnation of Kloss' suitcase three piece system. I have a 1990 CSW catalog, and the first surround speakers were called Model 10. Actually, I think that the circa 1993 revision might have been called New Ensemble, and this creates confusion between the two versions' names. The toggle switches were dropped on the satellites. The binding posts were moved to the back of the bass unit, from the side.
Cambridge soundworks ensemble driver#
The bass units retained the heat sink on the driver and became cosmetically better finished. In 1998, production started in China, and the satellite cabinets were changed to molded plastic, very heavy, and with no detriment to the sound. This version had the highest price, which I think might have been $649.00. This was the modification to the 8 inch driver which was done in order to use it in the Powered Subwoofer II, and it was also used in the Ensemble. A revision in about 1993 added the Kloss toggle switch level controls for midrange and highs, and the woofer started to have the heat sink for power handling in excess of 150 watts around this time. After a few years, the formica was dropped as an option. Original prices were $599.00 with formica clad bass units and $499.00 for vinyl clad bass units. The Ensemble is still in my main system today. She immediately started listening to music again after spending all her previous months' effort in trying to get the expensive speakers to sound acceptable. One reviewer said it performed better than any speaker at twice the price ($1200.00), and the other reviewer said that it blew away her previously reviewed system, which cost about $2400.00. I purchased the first speaker system, the 4 piece Ensemble, after reading its review in The Absolute Sound.
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