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  1. #1
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    Got some Cerwin Vega D-9's, and need some help

    My father in law gave me a pair of Cerwin vega D-9's the other day. They have a 15": wopfer, two 6" mids, and a horn tweeter. They have fuse and circuit breaker protection. he told me these things would bring the ceiling down in my house. It was love at first sight!

    Well, I ran out and bought a Pioneer $349 surround sound receiver. Hooked it all up with a nice JVC dvd player I had using the fiber optic cable and some nice Monster Cable speaker wire. Turned it all on, and I'm diappointed. The bass sucks, but they are very loud though. When pushed hard, the Pioneer receiver overloads and shuts down.

    Do I need a better receiver or amplifier? I take it I'm lacking power?

  2. #2
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    Hi Jason,

    Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but you probably do need a new receiver/amp. The large (15") Cerwins can easily overload an average receiver. One thing you can try is to check if your Pioneer has a stereo only mode of some kind. If it does using it may improve the power feed to the speakers. If you decide the Pioneer is still inadequate you have several options. If it has pre out jacks you may be able to hook up an external amp to power just the Cerwin Vegas. If you decide to go this route, get an amp with the most power you can afford, say 100-200 wpc. Some possible choices would be Adcom, NAD, or Rotel and buying used would save you some money. A second possibility is to return your Pioneer and replace or exchange it for a more powerful Yamaha, Harman Kardon, or Denon A/V receiver. This will cost additional money but you will need the better quality to drive the Cerwins. Make sure you can return the receiver if it doesn't work as well as you hoped. The third possibility is to go to a two channel system. Here I can specifically recommend trying the following: Yamaha RX-777, Harman Kardon HK-3480, Denon DRA-685. Once again there will be additional cost (used/demo units could save money) and make sure you can return if unsatisfactory. There are other options but these are the most cost effective that I can think of. Years ago I owned the smaller D3 Cerwins and ran them with a Yamaha receiver which sounded really good. So Yamaha might be a good first option if you decide to try another receiver. Hope this helps and good luck.

  3. #3
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    I forgot to mention...

    You might want to try a post over at www.audiokarma.org. This is a vintage site with a lot of very enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and helpful folks who are familiar with your speakers. Definitely worth a shot.

  4. #4
    Forum Regular N. Abstentia's Avatar
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    You might want to add a powered sub if you're looking for house rattling bass. The Vegas are famous for being loud, but they don't go low. They will never be able to come close to doing what a powered sub will do.

  5. #5
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    Surround receiver, huh? Are you sure your settings are correct? Make sure your CV's are set to "Large" and you aren't listening in DPL2 or some other DSP nonsense. Set it to "stereo" or "direct" or whatever Pioneer calls it and try again. C-V's are usually supremely efficient if a bit tough to drive so you should be getting enough oomph.

  6. #6
    RGA
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    These were some of the first speakers I heard and got me lusting after real speakers instead oft he Fishers I had. The D-9 specifically was a bass hound - err mid bass hound with a very prodigious amount of ooomp - somehting like 110db sensitive - so your receiver should be more than adeqat to drive these - but the bass could be flabby using a receiver. If it has connection to add on a power amp - look into some used power amps from Adcom or NAD or Rotel etc - Also try pulling these way out from the rear wall - they need plenty of room. I can't remember if the D-9 had the frequency controls - If they do you want to make the midrange more prominant as it gets dwarfed by the bass quite a bit.

  7. #7
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    Thanks

    Thanks for the replies everyone. I have some things to check out first with the receiver, and I guess I need to move the speakers further away from the wall too. The bass ports are out the back, and I have then about 6 inches to the wall.

  8. #8
    RGA
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    They are rear ported? I would pull them at LEAST 2.5 feet to as much as 6 feet from the rear walls. Not anywhere near a side wall eiher if you can. These speakers were made for larger sized rooms - they were the biggest Cerwin Vegas at the time - Hell I listended to them on the floor of Futureshop (like Best Buy) in a GIGANTIC room and these things just pounded. In a small room they could probably sound very boomy or have a very flabby sounding bass and hard to make out midrange.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by RGA
    They are rear ported? I would pull them at LEAST 2.5 feet to as much as 6 feet from the rear walls. Not anywhere near a side wall eiher if you can. These speakers were made for larger sized rooms - they were the biggest Cerwin Vegas at the time - Hell I listended to them on the floor of Futureshop (like Best Buy) in a GIGANTIC room and these things just pounded. In a small room they could probably sound very boomy or have a very flabby sounding bass and hard to make out midrange.

    Thanks RGA. I'm going to experiment later today. Hopefully the wife won't get to bothered with me taking up more room by moving them out more She already hates their size, but they make me feel like Tim Taylor

  10. #10
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    In my opinion, vegas are the best speakers made. Mine didn't perform with my new receiver until I added an equalizer. Some of the new receivers just don't have much bass response without one. Also, make sure your speakers are polarized right (positive wires to pos, and negative wires to neg). If they're out of phase, you'll only get about 1/2 the performance, especially if one is right & the other one's wrong.

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