Recording - July 2014 - 38

B Y M I K E M E T L AY

Cerwin-Vega! calls itself "The LOUD
Speaker Company." For years, C-V bass bins
have been pumping up audiences in venues
all over the world. The firm is now part of the
Gibson Pro Audio family, and with the XD
Series it has expanded into the realm of "serious desktop audio"-affordable desktopsystem speakers that are intended to provide
usable sound for music production.

Cerwin-Vega! XD5 Powered Desktop Speakers
and XD8s Powered Subwoofer
An affordable system with plenty of features, plenty of flexibility-and plenty of boom
In April 2012, we got our first taste of
the XD sound when we reviewed the tiny
but mighty XD3 speakers. In this review,
we follow up with the larger XD5 speakers and the XD8s powered sub, which
integrate into a very effective satellite/
sub listening environment.
The XD5-features and specs
The XD5 includes one powered Left speaker and one passive Right speaker, both rearported and magnetically shielded with nonskid rubber pads. Each speaker has a 1"
tweeter and a 5" woofer, both behind protective grilles on a flat front fascia. The front
panel of the Left speaker has two minijacks,
one for an Aux input to feed the speakers
directly and the other for a headphone output
that mutes the speakers when it's plugged in.
A front-panel Volume knob is ringed by a red
LED to indicate that the speaker is powered
on and awake. ("Awake"? See below.)
The rear panel of the Left speaker has
stereo inputs in unbalanced RCA and balanced 1/4" TRS, a socket for the special 4conductor locking cable that links it to the
Right speaker, and a permanently attached
power cable. There are only two rear-panel
switches, one for Power on/off and the other
for Vega-Bass, a dramatic bass boost. The XD
"bi-speaker" cable is about 5' long, allowing
for pretty much any stereo placement that
would be reasonable for speakers this size.
The speakers go into Standby mode
when they don't receive audio for 30 minutes; the LED goes dark and they effectively shut off, drawing very little power.
When a signal over -50 dBu is detected
at either input, the speakers "wake up"
and begin passing audio again; this
process takes about 10 seconds and is
38

RECORDING July 2014

accompanied by a couple of soft but audible clicks before audio resumes.
The onboard amp provides 50 watts per
channel; the quoted frequency response
(no tolerances given) is 60 Hz to 21 kHz.
At roughly 12 x 18.5 x 13.4 inches, the
XD5 will fit on most desktops easily; if
space is really at a premium, CerwinVega! also offers the XD4, which packs the
same feature set into a smaller package
with a 4" woofer and a 3/4" tweeter powered by 40 watts per channel, sporting a
75 Hz to 21 kHz frequency response.
The XD5-listening
The XD5 is, like the XD3 was, surprisingly loud and clear for a speaker this size.
Those 50 watts are being used pretty efficiently, with gobs of volume and no distortion. That said, they share the XD3's characteristic of sounding best at moderate levels without being pushed too hard. The
sweet spot is fairly constrained, but for a
desktop setup while working at a computer,
it's enough to let the listener move around a
little bit without losing much focus.
The highs speak with a fair bit of detail and
no obvious hashiness, spittiness, or smearing.
As with the XD3, the mids are way forward
in the XD5, offering tons of detail for things
like vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, and
other critical "primary players" in a mix.
As one might expect, the place where
the XD5 falls short is in the low end. It's very
genteel where it rolls off, which sounds to
me a bit higher than the quoted 60 Hz, and
the bass you do get sounds good, but it's
mostly implied from higher harmonics
rather than actual fundamental delivered to
your ears. The Vega-Bass switch is kind of
fun for amping things up a bit, but it sounds

like it's boosting just above the rolloff to
give the impression of more volume in the
bass. It certainly doesn't extend the low end
in any way, and I left it off for virtually all of
my tests.
So what do you do if you want more low
end for a desktop system than the XD5 will
give you gracefully, but much more expensive/larger speakers aren't an option?
Time to take a look at the XD8s subwoofer.
The XD8s-features and specs
The XD8s sports an 8" side-firing driver
with metal grille in a 17.3 x 7.1 x 15
inch, 19 lb. MDF enclosure with a large
port on the side opposite the well-trickedout rear panel. It features 80 watts RMS
power and a frequency response of 35
Hz to 255 Hz (no tolerances given).
The rear panel has Ins and Outs on
unbalanced RCA and balanced TRS, a
Volume control, a four-position Crossover
switch (80/100/120 Hz and Bypass), a
polarity switch (flip it if your positioning
makes your bass sound weak), a Power
on/off switch with nondetachable power
cable, and a DB-9 jack for the wired system remote control.
This remote adds a lot of value to the
system; it offers a large master volume
control with a red LED ring that turns yellow when the system goes on Standby
(again after 30 minutes), and a separate
Sub Mute button with white LED, in a
solid metal enclosure with non-skid rubber
pad. The Mute button engages and disengages the sub with an audible pop,
annoying but not dangerous to the speakers. The remote also features a minijack
Aux input for plugging in an iPod or the
like from one's listening position.

Recording - July 2014

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