Posted: September 6th, 2002
Written by: Justin "The Sheriff" Woods

Testing the speakers

Evaluating speakers is very subjective, meaning it's based on the feelings and opinions of the person reviewing the speakers. Throughout the process of this review, I have tried to be as open minded as possible. In every instance, I have taken into account the type of system, sound card, and speaker placement in determining how I scored the speakers. Also, I want to note that to really get a good grasp for how these speakers sound and perform, you really have to hear them for yourself. Unfortunately, walking into your average computer store and listening to speakers can be a disappointment, as most stores place the speakers next to each other and no concern is given to acoustics or satellite placement. You can go to the store locator at hifi.com, find a Cambridge Soundworks store near you, and check them out yourself. I tested the speakers using 4 sound sources. First up on the regiment is a Toshiba Tecra 520 CDT. This dinosaur of a laptop sits in my living room on a bookshelf and is used for streaming CD-quality MP3s from my main system. It boasts a Pentium 166, 160 megs of RAM, and a Yamaha OPL3-SA3 sound card. I plugged the speakers in and placed the satellites on the edge of the bookshelf at about 5 ft. from the floor. The sub was placed where you see it in the picture with the walkman. I decided to stream a few songs, starting with Pantera's, "New Level". I was immediately impressed with the sound. It was crisp, bassy, and loud. I have had other speakers connected to this laptop, but never have I gotten sound this complete. To compare, I put the same song on my stereo, an RCA all-in-one system. My neighbor and I agreed that the 210Ds sounded better than my stereo. The mid-range was much more noticeable, and less muddy, which was a surprise to us both. The same result was apparent when I played a CD from the laptop. It just sounded very good.
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Next, I borrowed a portable CD player and plugged the speakers in. I figured it would sound sort of dull, but I was surprised again. These speakers just sound great, plain and simple. One thing to note: if you plug them into this type of setup, the volume control on the CD player won't work, you have to use the 210D's control. I wanted to see if I could hear the subtle sounds of live recording, so I popped in a CD from The YellowJackets, a jazz quartet. Their album, "Blue Hats", is probably one of my favorite CDs. It's a studio recording, but was recorded live, meaning the musicians played together in the same room at the same time, and the resulting song is what you hear on the CD. Song 6, "Savanna", is my favorite, so I cranked up the speakers and was instantly captivated by the rich, deep tones. I could actually hear the slight murmur of the pianist as he riffed along with his piano solo. I have never heard this before. Needless to say, I was totally impressed, and listened to half the CD before I had realized it.
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Many of you may not believe this, but back when I was in high school, and for a few years after, I played drums in a heavy metal band. I still have my acoustic kit from way back in the day, but recently I bought a set of electric drums, so I could practice in my apartment without having the cops called on me daily. I figured the speakers could handle the kit, so I drove over to my neighborhood electronics store and bought a ¼" jack converter. I plugged in the speakers, and powered on the system. The drum set is a Roland V drums kit, and is powered by a TD-8 brain. This is a studio quality kit and cost me no less than $3000 about two years ago. This set can do just about anything you want, and each pad is programmable. There are 64 preset drum kits, and one for you to customize. For two years, I have played this kit through headphones, and have been happy, but when I sat down and pressed my foot against the bass pedal I heard something that I haven't heard in a long time and I have to be honest with you, it almost brought tears to my eyes. I started in on a simple beat and was immediately aware that I had never heard this set sound so good, so full, so fat, so bassy, and so impressive. I felt like I was on stage again. Through the drums, the speakers were producing bowel-emptying bass, so intense and so deep that the windows in my living room were rattling. The speakers are impressive, the whole time I played, I felt surrounded, probably due to the long throw sub woofer. Finally, I plugged the speakers into my main PC, which has a Hercules Game Theatre XP sound system. This sound card has received high scores from various hardware review sites. Again, I used the standard plug to connect the speakers to the XP. I played CDs, MP3s, and most importantly a few games. One game where the sound was notably impressive was the tried and true Quake III Arena. When I turned up the speakers while playing, I was treated to the rumble of shotgun blasts, and rocket booms. These speakers really produce a lot of clear bass. Nothing I listened to sounded muddy, even older CDs like Slayer's "South Of Heaven" sounded crisp and tone. Overall, the impression I got while reviewing these speakers was that no matter what you plug them into, they are going to sound good.

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