After much research....

[stormwind13]

Took the plunge on a ss-18.2 yesterday, can't wait till it gets here!! In the meantime, I'll post up some pics of the current system.

[stormwind13]

[stormwind13]

obviously pics were taken with my phone, and with a flash.
Will try to get hi res stuff later on.

[diamonddelts]

Welcome to the 18.2 club. You will be astounded by what this baby can do in both the HT and Music realms. However it is it's delicate articulation with music that sets this big sub apart from most in it's class in my opinion.

[stormwind13]

Gonna be a tough task to wait for delivery! I was seriously close to dropping 1200 locally on a def tech trinity and happened across this site after reading the craigsub rank thread.

[stormwind13]

I was reading through your thread, and I saw you are running many cls-215's. That was a speaker i had looked into before i started getting into klipsch. I have had a pair of CV AT-15's for a long time now. They have always bar none been my favorite party speaker of all time. You can put gobs of power into them and they won't clip. I actually just got done refoaming them less than a year ago. Long story short, I came into a pair of klipsch legend series klf-30 speakers less than a year ago. And I had them set up right next to the Vega's for an a/b comparison. Previously I had thought that the high freq on the cerwins were defined and when i a/b compared them vs the klipsch there was such an astounding difference in detail and clarity. Have you had a chance to a/b the cls series against a speaker that is renowned for high freq clarity? I am just curious if they have changed over the years in the HF dept.

I am running a pair of polk audio sda-srs 1.2's now but the cls series has always peaked my interest (unfortunately a pair hasnt come on craigslist locally used so i have not been able to demo them. )

[diamonddelts]

I was reading through your thread, and I saw you are running many cls-215's. That was a speaker i had looked into before i started getting into klipsch. I have had a pair of CV AT-15's for a long time now. They have always bar none been my favorite party speaker of all time. You can put gobs of power into them and they won't clip. I actually just got done refoaming them less than a year ago. Long story short, I came into a pair of klipsch legend series klf-30 speakers less than a year ago. And I had them set up right next to the Vega's for an a/b comparison. Previously I had thought that the high freq on the cerwins were defined and when i a/b compared them vs the klipsch there was such an astounding difference in detail and clarity. Have you had a chance to a/b the cls series against a speaker that is renowned for high freq clarity? I am just curious if they have changed over the years in the HF dept.

I am running a pair of polk audio sda-srs 1.2's now but the cls series has always peaked my interest (unfortunately a pair hasnt come on craigslist locally used so i have not been able to demo them. )

I've had many, many speakers before I purchased the CV CLS-215 speakers. These previous setups included B & W Matrix 804, Paradigm Monitor 90P, Klipsch RF 7II, etc just to name a few.

Other CV speakers I've heard were the VS-150, RE-38, D-9, and LS-15. To be honest I thought the highs on all the aformentioned CV models I listed were TERRIBLE from the moment I first hear them. Muddy, no definition, no separation between highs and midrange, along with a bloated low end.

However, I researched the CLS-215 online for eight months before I purchased them. All of the reviews I read were very positive. One that stood out to me was from a older audiophile who purchased them and tested them with old school masterpiece tracks from Bach, Mozart, etc and he actually LIKED them. This review shocked me because it was not the usual frat boy "these speakers rock with rap music" type review.

So this review alone peaked my interest enough to purchase my first pair of CLS-215 speakers. I bought them from a company with a very good return policy because in the back of my head I still figured they "might" sound like those previous CV models whose highs I found to be completely unacceptable.

Well upon listening to them I was pleasantly surpised. The highs are very clear, the midrange is strong, and the lowend is prominent at all listening levels but not overly aggressive. .

I was actually a bit underwhelmed upon first hearing these speakers because I thought they would have thunderous lows, but they are not built that way. The lowend is very tight and articulate. Those looking for boomy party speakers would definitely have to look elsewhere because these don't give out that type of aggressive bass many young guys like nowadays

The highs actually begin to overpower the lowend at mid to high listening levels. CV did a good job at establishing a more balanced sound with these speakers. I will admit though their highs are very clear, they do not have the crystal clear, razor sharp definition and profound separation where I could hear every subtle nuance in various tracks that my previous Paradigm setup gave me.

However their sound is much warmer and fuller at all listening levels. With music they sound like you are listening to a pair of upper mid range monitors paired with some 10"/12" subs. However that full, heavy sound will come from just the speakers themselves without the help of any subs for music.

I love them and I listen music for at least three hours everyday. They are certainly not party speakers and I only use them to listen to R & B along with classical music. Those looking for a pair of hard hitting party speakers would be disappointed with these because they have a balanced, laid back sound.

A few months ago I had a audiophile friend who asked me about my CLS-215 speakers because there was a pair of newer XLS-215 speakers for sale on Craigslist in San Antonio for $700. My friend owned a Def Tech system at the time and considers himself to be a serious audiophile.

He normally would not spit on a pair of Cerwin Vega speakers much less try them out. However my positive praise of the CLS line peaked his interest enough to purchase that pair of XLS 215 speakers from the SA craigslist ad. He too had reservations about their ability to produce clean highs with some degree of definition.

Upon hearing the XLS 215 speakers he fell in love with them and stated how suprised he was with their definition and tight bass response at all listening levels. He decided to keep them and they are not now the front L + R speakers in his living room.

Pro CLS 215 speaker reviews

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/cerwinvega_cls215.htm

http://www.avguide.com/review/tested-cerwin-vega-cls-215-loudspeaker

Pro XLS 215 speaker review

http://www.avrev.com/home-theater-loudspeakers/speaker-systems/cerwin-vega-xls-215-floorstanding-loudspeaker-review.html

[diamonddelts]

I was reading through your thread, and I saw you are running many cls-215's. That was a speaker i had looked into before i started getting into klipsch. I have had a pair of CV AT-15's for a long time now. They have always bar none been my favorite party speaker of all time. You can put gobs of power into them and they won't clip. I actually just got done refoaming them less than a year ago. Long story short, I came into a pair of klipsch legend series klf-30 speakers less than a year ago. And I had them set up right next to the Vega's for an a/b comparison. Previously I had thought that the high freq on the cerwins were defined and when i a/b compared them vs the klipsch there was such an astounding difference in detail and clarity. Have you had a chance to a/b the cls series against a speaker that is renowned for high freq clarity? I am just curious if they have changed over the years in the HF dept.

I am running a pair of polk audio sda-srs 1.2's now but the cls series has always peaked my interest (unfortunately a pair hasnt come on craigslist locally used so i have not been able to demo them. )

I've had many, many speakers before I purchased the CV CLS-215 speakers. These previous setups included B & W Matrix 804, Paradigm Monitor 90P, Klipsch RF 7II, etc just to name a few.

Other CV speakers I've heard were the AT-15, VS-150, RE-38, D-9, and LS-15. To be honest I thought the highs on all the aformentioned CV models I listed were TERRIBLE from the moment I first hear them. Muddy, no definition, no separation between highs and midrange, along with a bloated low end.

However, I researched the CLS-215 online for eight months before I purchased them. All of the reviews I read were very positive. One that stood out to me was from a older audiophile who purchased them and tested them with old school masterpiece tracks from Bach, Mozart, etc and he actually LIKED them. This review shocked me because it was not the usual frat boy "these speakers rock with rap music" type review.

So this review alone peaked my interest enough to purchase my first pair of CLS-215 speakers. I bought them from a company with a very good return policy because in the back of my head I still figured they "might" sound like those previous CV models whose highs I found to be completely unacceptable.

Well upon listening to them I was pleasantly surprised. The highs are very clear, the midrange is strong, and the lowend is prominent at all listening levels but not overly aggressive. I was actually a bit underwhelmed upon first hearing these speakers because I thought they would have thunderous lows, but they are not built that way. The lowend is very tight and articulate. However the bass they give out is not as strong as I thought it would be.

The highs actually begin to overpower the lowend at mid to high listening levels. CV did a good job at establishing a more balanced sound with these speakers. Though highs are very clear, I will admit they do not have the crystal clear, razor sharp definition and profound separation where I could hear every subtle nuance in various tracks that my previous Paradigm setup gave me.

However their sound is much warmer and fuller at all listening levels. With music they sound like you are listening to a pair of upper mid range monitors paired with some 10"/12" subs. However that full, heavy sound will come from just the speakers themselves without the help of any subs for music.

I love them and I listen music for at least three hours everyday. They are certainly not party speakers and I only use them to listen to R & B along with classical music. Those looking for a pair of hard hitting party speakers would be disappointed with these because they have a balanced, laid back sound.

Their lowend is not forward/aggressive at all listening levels like the previous CV models I've heard. A few months ago I had a audiophile friend who asked me about my CLS-215 speakers because there was a pair of newer XLS-215 speakers for sale on Craigslist in San Antonio for $700. My friend owned a Def Tech system at the time and considers himself to be a serious audiophile.

He normally would not spit on a pair of Cerwin Vega speakers much less try them out. However my positive praise of the CLS line peaked his interest enough to purchase that pair of XLS 215 speakers from the SA craigslist ad. He too had reservations about their ability to produce clean highs with some degree of definition.

Upon hearing the XLS 215 speakers he fell in love with them and stated how surprised he was with their definition and tight bass response at all listening levels. Now this was coming from an older audiophile who had a huge dislike of CV speakers because of what he heard in his youth. But after giving these new models a chance his opinion has since changed. He decided to keep them and they are now the front L + R speakers in his living room.

CLS 215 Pro Reviews:

http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/cerwinvega_cls215.htm

http://www.avguide.com/review/tested-cerwin-vega-cls-215-loudspeaker

XLS 215 Pro Review:

http://www.avrev.com/home-theater-loudspeakers/speaker-systems/cerwin-vega-xls-215-floorstanding-loudspeaker-review.html

[stormwind13]

Nice, I had thought about pulling the trigger on these before I had ever gotten my KLF30's but I could never seem to find a pair used around anywhere to even audition prior to purchase. The only complaint I ever had before with the at-15 was the lack of clear highs.

[SomeCiscoGuy]

Took the plunge on a ss-18.2 yesterday, can't wait till it gets here!! In the meantime, I'll post up some pics of the current system.

Having set mine up today, I'll be highly surprised if you don't absolutely love it.

[engtaz]

Congrats on your order. You will love it.

[stormwind13]

Sub received yesterday, detailed laymans review coming after break-in.

[Matman1970]

Cool!! Looking forward to it.

[stormwind13]

Review is still coming, I just acquired a avr capable of audyssey eq today but will not be home again until this weekend. I'd like to eq out my room and see where it goes. But I can say this much: I have this subwoofer set up in a 40x25 or so basement, and at reference level on the wotw pod scene, it unscrews my lightbulbs within a 20ft radius of the sub. So if I don't remember to re tighten them, they fall to the ground. I feel like my overly large and wide open room robs the sub and my speakers of some sound, but this thing is definitely a beast!

[stormwind13]

I had my first real opportunity to enjoy my system at -10 levels. Rented the new transformers on blu-ray. Shook my entire house for about 2 hours. Had to go around and collect the light bulbs first of course :biglaugh: Bass was tight and had authority and slam I would never expect in such a large room. It compliments the tight bass on my big polks, and blends perfectly.

I did try out the audyssey EQ, and found that I prefer my own manual calibration. Keep in mind I have no rat shack meter, and basically just have the sub 3 feet from the left wall and 1 foot out from the rear.

I have run several scenes on this system at reference levels, and I have only been able to get the dayton amp to shut down once. I believe it was in the wotw pod scene.