#CAMBRIDGE SOUNDWORKS P500 DRIVERS#
#CAMBRIDGE SOUNDWORKS P500 UPGRADE#

The male plug on the subwoofer is three prong, like one on a computer power supply. The power cord was too short for me, about 6 feet. That is my only gripe, that damn metal grill covering the nice drivers. The sales clerk was nice enough to verify that they can be removed in the store by physically removing them with a philips screw driver. I would have removed them but I can't see them at home anyway so I left them alone.

#CAMBRIDGE SOUNDWORKS P500 DRIVERS#

The grills are removable but the beautiful drivers are covered with a metal grill. I don't like the fact that UL required a metal grill to be installed in front of the drivers. It was a B stock item and was worth a try after I inspected it at the store. I just brought this subwoofer home to try out and I ended up keeping it after solving the minor hum problem that most people wouldn't pick up. That's got to be one of the explanations as to why the bass in my music sounds so much better with the P500. I've never heard bass down below about 35 Hz. It's better than connecting the amp the speaker input of the control module, I think. I could not detect any musical coloration so I have left it that way. I have the tuner/preamp connected to the audio input of the control module and then the highpass of the control module to my amp. I use the Monster HT3500 as my line conditioner. I use the P500 with two MC300s connected to an Adcom GFA5500 amp, GTP450 tuner/preamp and GCD750 CD player. If the switch wasn't made of metal, I think that would have prevented that particular test. I can hear him electrically through the subwoofer. I even had a friend tap on the on/off/standy switch on the control module. I confirmed that it must be a design issue since at I could detect the same thing at the store, but barely. It is very hard to pick up but my left ear is very sensitive. I've since moved the module power cable away from the audio cables and it's almost gone away. I think it's from the power cord to the bass control module being too close to the Monster audio cables feeding the module. Though, I have noticed the subwoofer talks to itself (hum and mumble). The ingeneous design of using RJ11 phone cord as a signal conduit is perfect. In fact, I like it and it's very convenient to have all the controls right up front. The bass control module isn't as ugly as some will have me believe. It definitely beats the New Ensemble II's passive subwoofer that it replaced.

In fact, I can make the music so bass heavy that even I don't like it anymore. But like I've said, the walls doesn't have to vibrate so much and yet, the heavy bass can be had. It must produce notes below my level of hearing. I swear the floor vibrates but I can not hear all the notes that causes all the vibrations. It does it with lots of finesse and the bass notes are accurate, distinct and athletic, never muddy. But, the P500 doesn't do the same thing while giving me the same kind of bass hit. And that subwoofer can knock my clock off the shelf. The output is just as high as the twin 10' Kenwood subwoofer in a 6th order bandpass enclosure with a 75W/ch Alphasonic amplifier. Both of the subwoofers cannot muscially compare to this little tiny subwoofer. I can only compare this to two powered subwoofers that I have had in my truck. This is the only powered subwoofer that I have ever owned so I am not able to compare it to much. And the addition of the separate bass module makes it a deal worthy of the price. While the price is high enough to put this in with some well-respected competition (HSU, Velodyne SVS, etc), I think the output stands on its own. Since it's close to me and the other sub, I can make almost infinite adjustments very quickly. The module allows for all of that and now if I feel the need, I simply reach over to my little table and grab the controls. Asking the wife to help is out of the question. I want the flexibility of tweaking the sound from my sweet spot instead of doing it a little at a time and experimenting incrementally. The bass module that comes with the P500 is one of the reasons I considered it. When the Velodyne arrived, I played around with the crossover for both of the subs and achieved useable bass down to about 21 Hz. The 500 watt BASH amp produces excellent power and the dual 8' drivers reproduce the low stuff very accurately.Д«efore the Velodyne arrived I teamed the P500 with my old AR S12HO and measured useable bass down to about 28 Hz. In short, the P500 rocks and rolls unbelievably for a box this size. In my room the P1000 would have been better, but I wanted to experiment with 2 subs and bought a Velodyne CT100 off eBay for the side sub position.

#CAMBRIDGE SOUNDWORKS P500 UPGRADE#

On our recent HT upgrade I acquired this sub and a whole new set of speakers (B&W DM602 s3, B&W LCR600 s3, Cambridge s300 sides, BIC America DV52si rears).

Cambridge soundworks p500