Is my amplifier sufficient for Cerwin Vega xls 215s ?

swayzak

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Hi

I have had a pair of CW AT-60 speakers for 20 years, but have decided to treat myself to the flagship xls 215s (yes I have the space - just !).

The AT-60s sound great with my Yamaha AS500, and have a similar high sensitivity to the 215s (around 95 dB).

However I'm getting mixed messages from internet about whether this amp would be sufficient to get a decent performance from these speakers (I'm not talking regular ear-bleed volumes, but like to listen reasonably loud occasionally).

CW recommend minimum of 250w per channel ie. pre/power amp territory.

Can anyone advise ?

Thanks
 

ID.

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Cerwin Vega?

330x182px-LL-7dc6c095_micheal-jackson-eating-popcorn-theater-gif.gif
 

Myers

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As the 215's have similar sensitivity you will no doubt get the same volume levels as the speakers you have now - CV's have always been very sensitive & as you are going to get 95db with just 1 watt @ 1 metre they will go loud with very little power - However I would have thought to really open them up a more powerful amp would give higher levels but whether anyone would want that in what I presume is a home environment is debatable but a more powerful amp at some stage may be worth trying at least & see what you may or may not be missing.
 

swayzak

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Thanks for that - and as I suspected.

PS For "CW" read "CV" as in Cerwin Vega (I asked their tech support about this).

For some reason this forum won't let me edit the original post..
 

ID.

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Sorry for my less than useful post. Not too many people on here have much experience with Cerwin Vegas and they seem to cop a bit of stick for being speakers that are more about playing loud than being high fidelity.

I agree that purely going by the specs it should be fine, but as I have almost no experience with CV I really have no idea of what sort of amps suit them.
 

swayzak

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ID. said:
Sorry for my less than useful post. Not too many people on here have much experience with Cerwin Vegas and they seem to cop a bit of stick for being speakers that are more about playing loud than being high fidelity.

I agree that purely going by the specs it should be fine, but as I have almost no experience with CV I really have no idea of what sort of amps suit them.

No worries - I think there is a bit of snobbery when it comes to CV. My AT-60s sound great with whatever you put through them ( I listen to everything from chamber music to jungle to Cajun). Yes they are not perhaps not as revealing as other more "refined" speakers, but not as bad as some make out (and for pure deep bass, which is VERY important to me, they are 2nd to none).
 

Vladimir

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... of the CV AT12 (same as AT60).

They get pretty loud on just 60W amplifiers because they are quite efficient. However, the more power reserves you have, more controled and tighter sub bass you will get. Higher damping factor japanese amps work well with these, turning the flabby large bass into pulmonary edema inducing punch. Kenwood KA-9X. *wink*

The Yamaha AS-801 is 100Wpc and DF of 240. Very well suited for these speakers IMO.

After 20 years you might consider unscrewing the crossover plate from the front and spraying Servisol (or Deoxit) in the pots to clean them a bit. Have you changed the red foam surround on the bass woofers yet?

As for the new CV XLS, I have no experience with those in the domestic environment yet.
 

davedotco

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I am something of a fan of high sensitivity speakers and I like the effortless power and presence they bring to the music, the lack of dynamic compression these speakers exhibit leaves all but the very best hi-fi speakers in the dust.

That said I found the older Vegas too much for my taste, but that was me, sounds like you 'have an itch that needs scratching' regarding XLS 215s. My thoughts are that you will have great fun, so as Vlad says, get the biggest amp you can to drive them. You will not need 250wpc with those speakers, but something qqite beefy will add to the experience.

No need to rush though, your existing amp should do very nicely, but a bigger amp should help in several respects, most notably a tightening up of the bass.
 

Vladimir

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Have the amp and speakers connected, turned on, but no music playing. Slightly push the woofer membrane evenly from two opposite sides (so you don't scrape the voice coil on one side). The driver should provide some resistance in doing this.

Next turn everything off and unplug the speaker cables from the amp and redo the test. This time the cone should give less resistance while you push.

The more resistance you get with the amp plugged in, the better. It means it has low output impedance (high damping factor) and can effectively control the driver mass, which is a force to reckon with in the 12" CVs.

Next, try using thicker and shorter cables. How short? Just enough for them not to touch the floor in the lowest hanging point. Long and thin gauge cables waste the electric damping capabilities of your amp. Use shorter and thicker OFC speaker cable, 4.5mm recommended, and no banana plugs. Bare wire only.

After adding shorter and thicker gauge cables, repeat the resistance test by pushing the membranes.

Interesting trick shown in this video by Dave Rat.
 

swayzak

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Vladimir said:
... of the CV AT12 (same as AT60).

They get pretty loud on just 60W amplifiers because they are quite efficient. However, the more power reserves you have, more controled and tighter sub bass you will get. Higher damping factor japanese amps work well with these, turning the flabby large bass into pulmonary edema inducing punch. Kenwood KA-9X. *wink*

The Yamaha AS-801 is 100Wpc and DF of 240. Very well suited for these speakers IMO.

After 20 years you might consider unscrewing the crossover plate from the front and spraying Servisol (or Deoxit) in the pots to clean them a bit. Have you changed the red foam surround on the bass woofers yet?

As for the new CV XLS, I have no experience with those in the domestic environment yet.

Thanks

Mid / tweeter controls still work fine. One thing I did have to do with AT-60s shortly after buying was get shop to deal with speaker buzzing/rattling at higher volumes. Turned out is was those plates on the front. Put a thin rim of putty / bluetack in & reassembled & never buzzed again !

Looking forward to 215s - will bi-wire them (never experienced this before - does it make significant difference ?).
 

Vladimir

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If you can't fit a 4-5mm speaker wire through a single pair of terminals, then bi-wiring with 2x2mm pairs of cables might improve things by lowering resistance. With reasonably priced cables no harm in trying.
 

swayzak

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Vladimir said:
If you can't fit a 4-5mm speaker wire through a single pair of terminals, then bi-wiring with 2x2mm pairs of cables might improve things by lowering resistance. With reasonably priced cables no harm in trying.

Thanks - but ? ..... I mean the 1215s (these and my Yamaha are biwirable). Does this make a significant difference to sound / performance ?

I've never used bi-wiring before (AT60s not biwirable).

PS When I stated "these speakers" in original post I meant the in-coming 1215s. Can't edit the post to make this clearer though ..
 

swayzak

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OK - in that case I'm a bit confused by what you said..

"If you can't fit a 4-5mm speaker wire through a single pair of terminals, then bi-wiring with 2x2mm pairs of cables might improve things by lowering resistance. With reasonably priced cables no harm in trying. "

Forgive my ignorance but what does this mean ? I was just thinking of bi-wiring as per usual e.g.two 2 x 2 cable pairs per speaker from bi-wire amp terminals to 4 speaker terminals ...
 

Vladimir

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swayzak said:
OK - in that case I'm a bit confused by what you said..

"If you can't fit a 4-5mm speaker wire through a single pair of terminals, then bi-wiring with 2x2mm pairs of cables might improve things by lowering resistance. With reasonably priced cables no harm in trying. "

Forgive my ignorance but what does this mean ? I was just thinking of bi-wiring as per usual e.g.two 2 x 2 cable pairs per speaker from bi-wire amp terminals to 4 speaker terminals ...

It means stick the thickest cables you can buy and use very short length. Use bi-wiring. It may or may not help with sound but it will make your OCD turn off so you can finally sleep at night.
 

swayzak

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Vladimir said:
swayzak said:
OK - in that case I'm a bit confused by what you said..

"If you can't fit a 4-5mm speaker wire through a single pair of terminals, then bi-wiring with 2x2mm pairs of cables might improve things by lowering resistance. With reasonably priced cables no harm in trying. "

Forgive my ignorance but what does this mean ? I was just thinking of bi-wiring as per usual e.g.two 2 x 2 cable pairs per speaker from bi-wire amp terminals to 4 speaker terminals ...

It means stick the thickest cables you can buy and use very short length. Use bi-wiring. It may or may not help with sound but it will make your OCD turn off so you can finally sleep at night.

*biggrin*
 

swayzak

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Just an update - the xls 215s are amazing speakers.

Fill up the room with high quality sound - and the bass when ramped up is flawless.

Ridiculously huge and heavy, and utterly impractical, but will bring me years of joy.

Never did upgrade the Yamaha amp in the end.
 

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