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Supporting Vendors <font color="#ff9900">*NEW*</fo
<b>Cadence Acoustics</b>
OFFICAL REVIEW-Cadence CSX MKII Home Theater Subwoofer....
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<blockquote data-quote="CADENCE SOUND" data-source="post: 7702799" data-attributes="member: 634361"><p><strong><em>Initial Impressions (continued)</em></strong></p><p></p><p>Cadence takes a slightly different route when it comes to their amp, and if you have any intention of running multiple subs the most prominent of those differences could be significant. It's something called a "Multi-Link" connector, which enables you to daisy-chain subwoofers together. By utilizing this connector -- and a generic RJ11 phone cable -- you can have two subs managed as one by a single set of controls from the one you designate as the "master". Effectively what this does is allow you to adjust gain (volume), crossover and phase from the primary sub and have those settings reflected identically on the other one (slave). For people who want to setup dual subs this is a excellent feature to have, and one few amps costing even twice what the CSX12 does have. Given how common multi-sub setups are becoming this strikes me as tremendous forethought on the part of Cadence.</p><p></p><p>What if dual subwoofers still aren't enough for you? Well, how about 5 of them instead? By using a hub you can connect 4 "slave" CSX12's to a single "master" and have a chain containing a total of 5 subs, all controlled as 1. I'm not sure what type of environment would warrant something like that, but if you want options Cadence surely has you covered.</p><p></p><p>Another unique feature is the Bass Boost setting. Think of it as a stripped down PEQ (Parametric EQualizer). With a traditional PEQ you can adjust a given frequency up or down to tailor the sound to your particular room or preferences. With most PEQ's you can select the frequency, the amount of boost or notch (cut) and the "Q" of the adjustment (the Q is essential how "wide" the adjustment is, or how much of the surrounding frequency range is also effected). According to the owners manual Cadence has the Bass Boost fixed at 50 Hz, but a graph I obtained from their support department implies it's perhaps 55Hz or even 60Hz, depending upon how much boost you apply. Either way, know that it's fixed frequency and can't be changed. Something else you can't adjust is the Q value, so to a certain extend this feature is rather limited, but that doesn't mean it's not without any value.</p><p></p><p>The amount of boost is variable and can be set from 0-12dB, so you can make a rather substantial adjustment. The 50Hz-60Hz range is where a lot of the "wow factor" comes from in both movies and TV anyway, so I suppose if the functionality is going to have restrictions how Cadence went about it was perhaps the best compromise. Regardless of the limitations, it is a rare feature to have in such an inexpensive subwoofer. Based upon my experimentation it works pretty well too, and the difference in the sound is very evident, but it might be a little too wide. When adjusted much beyond a few dB it tends to thicken the sound rather dramatically, which implies it's operating on quite a bit of the surrounding frequencies (the graph implies almost a full octave, depending upon how much you apply).</p><p></p><p>Auto-on worked flawlessly. This perhaps comes across as an insignificant thing to note, but for those who have read some of my previous reviews they know this feature is a pet peeve of mine. So very easy to implement, but so often flawed in it's execution. I tend to use it as an indication (one of them, anyway) of how much care is put into the amps design. Cadence did good here; it went into standby only when it should have, and came out instantly and quietly.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Setup</em></strong></p><p></p><p>Connections are scant, so this part is not hard at all; there's a single LFE input, and that's it. There are no line-level inputs, nor are there any speaker-level inputs or outputs. It seems Cadence has decided the CSX12 will be used strictly in a home theater environment. Based upon how things are today in the audio world that might not be such a bad strategy, but if nothing else it is something you should note when considering how you want to hook it up.</p><p></p><p>The amp is a fine looking piece, with logo's and emblems silkscreened on with vibrant inks. All of the markings and indicators are clear and easily readable. Most of the dials have indicators that include more than just whatever the minimum and maximum is for the respective functionality. Few budget sub designers take the initiative to do that it seems. Curiously, the Crossover Mode switch has markings for two positions, but the switch itself has a third (middle) position as well. The manual doesn't indicate what it might be.</p><p></p><p>Since you only have one connection option hooking up the CSX12 is about as uncomplicated a task as you can possibly imagine. Simply plug in the power and hook up an RCA cable from your receiver. I have grown accustom to using a Y adapter and essentially increasing the output by +3dB. Often times that allows me to keep the subwoofers own volume relatively low. Since I wasn't able to do that with the CSX12 I found it necessary to set the gain between 1-2 o'clock on the dial, which is a little on the "hot" side. However, once set I was then able to keep the subwoofer at 0dB on my receiver.</p><p></p><p><strong><em>Listening</em></strong></p><p></p><p>My living room is 13x17x8 (1768 CF), so it's not terribly large. The main seating position is approximately 11 feet from the subwoofer. All testing was done after the unit had been broken in for at least 15 hours.</p><p></p><p>The CSX12 comported itself very well in the time I had it. Although it lacks a bit of richness, it does have a deep and fairly articulate sound. It handled almost everything I threw at it with poise, and rarely was I able to make it lose composure. It's not afraid of volume either; I was able to perform several of my tests at higher SPL's then I normally would. There's no doubt in my mind it would be able to handle a room larger then the one I have. If it were corner loaded too the bass would have been even better, so keep that in mind.</p><p></p><p>I was so impressed at times with what the CSX12 was capable of that I felt compelled to finally add a few of the more demanding movie scenes to my testing regimen, something I wasn't really able to do previously because the subs I was evaluating weren't up to the task. The new additions are probably familiar to most of you; War of the Worlds and 10,000 BC.</p><p></p><p>In short, <strong><em>there's very little negative that can be said about the sound coming from the CSX12. It's clean, expressive and powerful. It handles movies and music with almost equal aplomb, and it's not afraid of playing at high SPL's.</em></strong> The mid-bass punch is solid and tight, and it does very good with all but the deepest material. Cadence claims that the frequency response extends down to 25Hz, and I would tend to believe them. It seems like there's a very solid bottom end, but like all ported subs it drops off fast. I suspect the useable output really is into the mid 20's. On rare occasions I could get the driver to bottom out or create port noise, but it took a lot of effort. A conscience effort really; only when I was looking for limits did I find them. Under anything that would be considered normal listening circumstances the CSX12 remained composed.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CADENCE SOUND, post: 7702799, member: 634361"] [B][I]Initial Impressions (continued)[/I][/B] Cadence takes a slightly different route when it comes to their amp, and if you have any intention of running multiple subs the most prominent of those differences could be significant. It's something called a "Multi-Link" connector, which enables you to daisy-chain subwoofers together. By utilizing this connector -- and a generic RJ11 phone cable -- you can have two subs managed as one by a single set of controls from the one you designate as the "master". Effectively what this does is allow you to adjust gain (volume), crossover and phase from the primary sub and have those settings reflected identically on the other one (slave). For people who want to setup dual subs this is a excellent feature to have, and one few amps costing even twice what the CSX12 does have. Given how common multi-sub setups are becoming this strikes me as tremendous forethought on the part of Cadence. What if dual subwoofers still aren't enough for you? Well, how about 5 of them instead? By using a hub you can connect 4 "slave" CSX12's to a single "master" and have a chain containing a total of 5 subs, all controlled as 1. I'm not sure what type of environment would warrant something like that, but if you want options Cadence surely has you covered. Another unique feature is the Bass Boost setting. Think of it as a stripped down PEQ (Parametric EQualizer). With a traditional PEQ you can adjust a given frequency up or down to tailor the sound to your particular room or preferences. With most PEQ's you can select the frequency, the amount of boost or notch (cut) and the "Q" of the adjustment (the Q is essential how "wide" the adjustment is, or how much of the surrounding frequency range is also effected). According to the owners manual Cadence has the Bass Boost fixed at 50 Hz, but a graph I obtained from their support department implies it's perhaps 55Hz or even 60Hz, depending upon how much boost you apply. Either way, know that it's fixed frequency and can't be changed. Something else you can't adjust is the Q value, so to a certain extend this feature is rather limited, but that doesn't mean it's not without any value. The amount of boost is variable and can be set from 0-12dB, so you can make a rather substantial adjustment. The 50Hz-60Hz range is where a lot of the "wow factor" comes from in both movies and TV anyway, so I suppose if the functionality is going to have restrictions how Cadence went about it was perhaps the best compromise. Regardless of the limitations, it is a rare feature to have in such an inexpensive subwoofer. Based upon my experimentation it works pretty well too, and the difference in the sound is very evident, but it might be a little too wide. When adjusted much beyond a few dB it tends to thicken the sound rather dramatically, which implies it's operating on quite a bit of the surrounding frequencies (the graph implies almost a full octave, depending upon how much you apply). Auto-on worked flawlessly. This perhaps comes across as an insignificant thing to note, but for those who have read some of my previous reviews they know this feature is a pet peeve of mine. So very easy to implement, but so often flawed in it's execution. I tend to use it as an indication (one of them, anyway) of how much care is put into the amps design. Cadence did good here; it went into standby only when it should have, and came out instantly and quietly. [B][I]Setup[/I][/B] Connections are scant, so this part is not hard at all; there's a single LFE input, and that's it. There are no line-level inputs, nor are there any speaker-level inputs or outputs. It seems Cadence has decided the CSX12 will be used strictly in a home theater environment. Based upon how things are today in the audio world that might not be such a bad strategy, but if nothing else it is something you should note when considering how you want to hook it up. The amp is a fine looking piece, with logo's and emblems silkscreened on with vibrant inks. All of the markings and indicators are clear and easily readable. Most of the dials have indicators that include more than just whatever the minimum and maximum is for the respective functionality. Few budget sub designers take the initiative to do that it seems. Curiously, the Crossover Mode switch has markings for two positions, but the switch itself has a third (middle) position as well. The manual doesn't indicate what it might be. Since you only have one connection option hooking up the CSX12 is about as uncomplicated a task as you can possibly imagine. Simply plug in the power and hook up an RCA cable from your receiver. I have grown accustom to using a Y adapter and essentially increasing the output by +3dB. Often times that allows me to keep the subwoofers own volume relatively low. Since I wasn't able to do that with the CSX12 I found it necessary to set the gain between 1-2 o'clock on the dial, which is a little on the "hot" side. However, once set I was then able to keep the subwoofer at 0dB on my receiver. [B][I]Listening[/I][/B] My living room is 13x17x8 (1768 CF), so it's not terribly large. The main seating position is approximately 11 feet from the subwoofer. All testing was done after the unit had been broken in for at least 15 hours. The CSX12 comported itself very well in the time I had it. Although it lacks a bit of richness, it does have a deep and fairly articulate sound. It handled almost everything I threw at it with poise, and rarely was I able to make it lose composure. It's not afraid of volume either; I was able to perform several of my tests at higher SPL's then I normally would. There's no doubt in my mind it would be able to handle a room larger then the one I have. If it were corner loaded too the bass would have been even better, so keep that in mind. I was so impressed at times with what the CSX12 was capable of that I felt compelled to finally add a few of the more demanding movie scenes to my testing regimen, something I wasn't really able to do previously because the subs I was evaluating weren't up to the task. The new additions are probably familiar to most of you; War of the Worlds and 10,000 BC. In short, [B][I]there's very little negative that can be said about the sound coming from the CSX12. It's clean, expressive and powerful. It handles movies and music with almost equal aplomb, and it's not afraid of playing at high SPL's.[/I][/B] The mid-bass punch is solid and tight, and it does very good with all but the deepest material. Cadence claims that the frequency response extends down to 25Hz, and I would tend to believe them. It seems like there's a very solid bottom end, but like all ported subs it drops off fast. I suspect the useable output really is into the mid 20's. On rare occasions I could get the driver to bottom out or create port noise, but it took a lot of effort. A conscience effort really; only when I was looking for limits did I find them. Under anything that would be considered normal listening circumstances the CSX12 remained composed. [/QUOTE]
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<b>Cadence Acoustics</b>
OFFICAL REVIEW-Cadence CSX MKII Home Theater Subwoofer....
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