Cambridge Audio S30 Speakers – Black
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The stylish and punchy S30 heralds Cambridge Audio’s loudspeaker revival. The R50 and R70 were highly regarded speakers in the 1970s and like its forbears, the new S30 offers excellent depth and soundstage yet extraordinary value for money. Designed from the ground-up, the S30 is a delicately revealing speaker which is the perfect partner to Cambridge Audio’s array of electronics products, working particularly well with the mid range Azur series for the perfect budget package. A 4.5″ composite woven driver delivers a powerful yet controlled bass performance while offering extremely low distortion and excellent dispersion of higher frequencies. This is matched to a soft-dome tweeter featuring a neodymium driver with a state-of-the-art motor system and a critically selected voice coil assembly. By virtue of a purist mechanical design, a simple first order crossover is capable of perfectly controlling high and low frequency distribution. This custom designed component features audiophile grade polypropylene capacitors and enables the S30 to be bi-wired for greater bass control, crisper treble and improved detail. The ported cabinet design is braced and stiffened for minimum movement and features a neat terminal panel with three-way gold plated bullet connectors. Finished in natural oak, the S30 is supplied with a complementary grille.
Features
- 5 inch woven-composite mid-bass drive. 1-inch soft dome tweeter
- Bi-wirable
- Audiophile grade capacitors
- Three-way gold plated bullet connectors
- Magnetically shielded
- Dimensions (W x H x L): 0 x 0 x 0 inches
- Weight: 0 pounds
Good value for small bookshelf speakers
These little guys are very good performers, and are a worthy competitor in a crowded product category. These are 2-way, ported bookshelf speakers, about as deep as they are tall. That’s pretty deep, but they’ll fit happily on a typical bookshelf. They are attractive, with or without the grilles. In my listening tests, I get authentic performance down to about 47 Hz, and the highs are airy, open, and very clean. I hear a broad peak in the mid-bass which I reduce using the equalizer in iTunes, cutting the 125 Hz slider by about 6 dB, and the 250 Hz slider by about 3 dB. With this adjustment, I’m very, very pleased with the sound I get from these. Oh, they play real loud, too.
Bargain bookshelf speakers
These tiny and cheap speakers are surprising. They go low enough in frequency that you don’t need a subwoofer, unless you want to make your windows vibrate. If you’re connecting them to a receiver, you can set the speaker size as “large” to have them handle the low frequencies.
I haven’t driven them to high volumes, but at my normal listening levels I’ve noticed no stridency and no vibration. Voices are convincing, and there is great imaging.
For this money they’re a steal. I’m starting to think Cambridge Audio has the magic touch.