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Coupled with my Harmon Kardon AVR-500, I get an incredibly precise sound stage , and a very full sound. ISF is a private school offering a world-class education to over 800 students from 50 countries around the world. Our students are part of a vibrant community of learners on a state-of-the-art campus and matriculate to the best universities in Germany and around the world. Every teacher and staff member over the past two years has been incredible. ISF has been a great asset for our son and the start of his education. As a college-preparatory school, academic excellence is at the core of an ISF education.
First of all, it is smaller than the Bose Acoustimass module. Also, the deeper bass is tight and has decent transient response. I have not yet determined whether the surround on the woofer is foam or rubber, but I think it may be foam from what I could determine looking in through the port. The driver's orientation is reversed, in a technique used to minimize the out-of-band noise from a bandpass subwoofer. While the woofer is no slouch, the cube satellite speakers are really the best part of this system.
Cambridge SoundWorks Ensemble IV Instructions Manual
The upper bass and lower midbass tended to come from the sub, with a good bit of out-of-band noise issuing from the port. Probably the worst design decision made in this system was not to include a low-pass filter beyond the acoutic filter presented by the bandpass enclosure. So, what good is there to say about the bass module?
If there is any damage, do not discard the shipping carton, and do not install or use the system.
Cambridge Soundworks T500 midbass 6 1/2" woofer / #P13-0950 / 2 avail. / TESTED
Welcome to the ISF International School Frankfurt Rhein-Main, a member of the global SABIS® Network. Founded in 1995, ISF is a private school offering a world-class education to over 800 students from 50 countries around the world. Due to their small size, the satellites can be hung on a wall using their supplied keyhole slots, or placed on shelves or stands, making them blend into most decors. The Ensemble IV Home Theater truly fits into any small room -- and any budget. The spring clips on the speakers are kinda cheesy too, but they're affordable and sound good for a reason. I never had any trouble with these speakers, though I understand Cambridge Soundworks's customer service is fantastic.
I had heard that cube systems have an advantage in imaging, because of the single driver. I had also heard that having five identical speakers is the best approach to surround sound, hands down. I am immersed in the best sound that I've ever experienced, and I used to own audiophile speakers. I recently came into a set of the 2-channel version of the Henry Kloss-designed Ensemble IV speakers from Cambridge Soundworks.
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One of the most surprising things from this system is that there was actually some imaging and ambience from the satellites. The only real complaint I have with the system is that the woofer module still features a high crossover point, probably between 200 and 250 Hz, causing some skewing of the stereo image. I found that the best way to minimize this was to place the subwoofer in the corner with the port facing along the wall behind the satellites. The woofer module has quite a lot of "go" for such a small enclosure, but I would estimate that this enclosure is not hitting anything below 50 Hz. Maybe having a powered sub in my main system has made me spoiled, but these speakers are not as deep-voiced as I would have liked.
It must be said, however, that the bass range is good and the sound pleasingly natural. With these speakers, it's all about your expectations. For their size, I'm impressed with these little speakers. I set them up in my small living room (roughly 10' x 15' and hooked up to an Onkyo DS575x) and they're excellent.
Although the two systems certainly didn’t sound alike or look alike, they were both perfectly listen-able, and the Ensemble IV never gave a hint of its minuscule dimensions and price tag to match. Neither the system impedance rating nor any other performance specifications of the Ensemble IV are given in the accompanying literature and installation instructions . Our measurement of the impedance of the complete system showed a minimum of 3 ohms at 200 Hz and between 3 and 4 ohms from 180 Hz and 1 kHz. The maximum impedance was only 9 ohms at 50 Hz, with another rise to 8 ohms at about 1.2 kHz.
I've owned the Ensemble IV for about 2 years, now, and am still impressed with these speakers. Don't let the small size fool you, they deliver great, clear sound. Even though the subwoofer is passive, it creates excellent bass. These speakers have to be heard to be appreciated. I highly recommend them to anyone with not a lot of money spend, but want to start their own home theater system. Quality of sound is highly dependent on placement of the passive woofer, satellites have small "sweet spots", mid - high range has a single driver.
It is certainly much better than the Acoustimass 3. The Ensemble IVs, however, while performing better in the midrange and treble, cannot quite match the bass capability of the acoustimass 3. In reviewing these speakers, I powered them with only 5 watts per channel. I am currently looking into a larger, 30WPC amplifier, but even with the five watts, these speakers demonstrated their capabilities well, filling a fairly large room with rich, pleasing sound. The only thing lacking was a somewhat lighter bass from the bass module, but this is likely because of the low amplifier power.
I'm running mine through a Technics SA-GX 490 and they rival my bigger Jamo S802's with suttle yet accurate highs. The bass is not over-powering and round the whole system out. The subwoofer I would just call a woofer as it is not powered.
I blew the subwoofer one day while listening to music too loud. Cambridge SoundWorks fixed and replaced the woofer for free under warranty, no questions asked. I will need a bigger subwoofer to shore up the bass on this system, You can bet it will be from Cambridge.
I wouldn't rely on the Ensemble's woofer module for home theater use, however, unless I had an extremely small space or an extremely limited budget. The Ensemble IV woofer module has a relatively high crossover frequency to the cube satellites, so it's placement sensitive. I recommend placing it out of sight somewhere along the front soundstage.
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$15/each.They have some paint marks on them, I took pictures of the worst one. The speakers have some parts connected to the top to mount with if needed. Clarity and depth of sound are magnificent in a small room. I would expect they would sound weak in a large room, more than 300 square feet.
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