Digital Trends

Cerwin-Vega CVHD 5.1 May 15th, 2008 | by Ben Fowler

Installation and Setup

First off, we noticed that this complete system comes in one box - one very large box. A lot of speaker companies prefer this method of packaging because there’s this notion that consumers are more likely to buy something if it comes bundled together. Maybe there’s a perception that it’s easier to setup if it’s all in one box. Or maybe it means that the speaker system is more likely to get put out in a huge floor stack at a big box retailer where shoppers can see it. 

Either way, Cerwin-Vega (CV) was able to pack a lot of speaker into this immense package. Nice work. But because of the system’s size, we had a hard time lugging it around. Frankly, we wish the sub would have come in a separate box, which would have made transporting the system as a whole much easier.

The CVHD-63 speakers have an unobtrusive fit and finish, and CV clearly designed this product to match many modern HD displays. Outfitted in a matte black plastic shell with a little silver trim, these speakers indeed pair nicely with many of the current HDTV units out there. In fact, we noticed that they matched perfectly with the color scheme and aesthetic of the Samsung DLP HDTV we were using to test this system with – a nice bonus.

Nonetheless, it was surprising to find out that the grilles on the CVHD-63 were not removable, as we were hoping to see what “cellulose composite” cones look like. (We have a feeling it looks a lot like black paper.) Not that anything is wrong with black paper: In fact, it’s very rigid and lightweight, and many high end audiophile speakers use this material. It’s just that to the mass market consumer, paper doesn’t really have the same cachet as say, carbon, aluminum, or beryllium – and doesn’t look as cool either. But we could be all wrong – “cellulose composite” could be some sort of Australian tree bark, who knows.

Since the grilles were irremovable, we couldn’t view the tweeter or its location in the array. But a little listening test pointed out that it’s located in the center of the CVHD-63 speaker. Generally speaking, you want the tweeter right at ear-level for the best sound.

On a positive note, the optional stands were easy to setup and matched the overall aesthetic of the system. In fact, the finished product – stand and speaker together – takes on the appearance of a singular, cohesive unit. Note that the speakers have three different mounting points so they can be attached to the stands at three different heights. So, for example, when you’re trying to get that tweeter at ear-level, you’ve got some options.

One thing we really liked was the ability to completely conceal wiring with this system, as the stands are hollow and allow speaker wire to be run through them. They also come with a small black shell that can be mounted over the back of the speaker once the speaker wire is in place, perfectly concealing every inch of cabling. Oh, and speaking of the back of the speakers, we found them appointed with high-quality 5-way binding posts – another welcome addition.

The sub itself is finished in a basic matte black plastic, with no silver trim. The subwoofer grille was removable, and once removed, unveils the traditional CV sub look – black paper cone, bright red (CV red!) rubber surround, and a nice big CV logo screened onto the speaker’s dust cap. It’s a nice look, but sadly, we couldn’t see any CV red on the main speakers – that would have been cool.

Back to the sub. It doesn’t come with any feet or floor spikes, so be prepared for it to rattle your floor, literally. To wit, if you have hard surface floors, you’ll want a little padding to keep it from bouncing around (maybe a little throw rug or some felt furniture pads).

Anyways, out of the box, the crossover level was all the way up (150Hz, recommended). But the volume level on the sub was also all the way up (very loud, not recommended). If we hadn’t noticed that before pumping some tunes through this system, it would have potentially blown out the sub, our ears, or both!

Luckily, that wasn’t able to happen because the sub didn’t work at all to begin with: Bummer. Fortunately, being the speaker experts that we are, we thought to check the voltage setting. The sub amp features a voltage selector switch that can toggle between 110 and 220 Volts (to accommodate US and foreign markets). By default, it was set to 220. We flipped it over to 110 and voila… instant bass.

Back of the subwoofer