Cadence CSX12 Mark II Review - Part 3
Movies/TV
I'm not prone to watching at "reference level", so my assessments should be considered in that regard. I run each test scene twice; once while seated in my normal listening position, and then a second time while sitting on the floor a few feet from the subwoofer. This allows me to hear it as I normally would, yet still affords me the opportunity to determine if it's straining even the slightest bit. Both tests are run at the same volume level.
Like most people I have specific DVD's and particular scenes I use when testing subwoofers. A few of my favorites are Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring, Collateral and Avatar. For this review -- and all subsequent evaluations I do -- the quintessential ULF (ultra low frequency) "torture test" has been added to my arsenal; War of the Worlds. I've also included another rather difficult test scene from the movie 10,000 BC. Each individual test is listed in the format of Movie: Scene.
Lord of the Rings: Bridge of Khazad Doom - There is an ultra low frequency rumble in portions of this scene, as well as significant amounts of impact generated by numerous structures crumbling. For a subwoofer to handle all of that properly it needs to be precise and capable of reaching very deep, otherwise a lot of it comes across as nothing more than annoying resonance. The CSX12 faithfully reproduced this scene, with virtually no evidence of strain.
Almost without exception the sound was clear and had good articulation. Some of the very lowest notes were lacking a bit of strength, but unless you're intimately familiar with the scene -- and nit picking like a reviewer is supposed to do -- you might not have even noticed anything. It's not as though I walked away feeling something was lacking, just that a touch of the visceral sensation wasn't quite complete. There was a bit of tactile feel in my chair though, so the CSX12 was hitting some of the low stuff with authority. Unless I played it stupid loud there was no port or driver noise heard, making it an enjoyable experience.
My favorite part of this scene to play around with is the Balrog's roar. There's a section when you see it for the first time that I just love to crank way up. He jumps up out of a cavern and lands right behind the Fellowship and lets out a fire-breathing roar. I enjoy seeing how loud I can play that part, because when the volume goes up it just sounds cool. I was able to get the level uncomfortable loud before common sense finally prevailed and I backed it down. The CSX12 faithfully played along and never complained.
Collateral: Club Fever - This disc has the option of using DTS or DD for audio, but I only test with DTS now. In general I've found DTS encoding has a bit of additional low bass and an overall greater depth to the soundtrack, so I've decided to use that exclusively for testing.
Although this scene doesn't contain a tremendous amount of LFE information it does have a driving musical soundtrack, and over-emphasized gun sounds. The music portion I've found can cause trouble for a subwoofer because it does tend to drown out the voice track in certain spots, especially if it lacks clarity and speed. Because of that articulation is crucial. The CSX12 handled this scene about as good as any subwoofer I've tested thus far.
That musical club "feel" was rendered properly and accurately. Note that in this case "feel" does not mean vibration in my seat, but that pounding, somewhat muddled sound you generally get in a club. This dynamic is recorded directly into the audio track, so any lack of precision is not the fault of your sub.
This scene also contains over emphasized gun shots, which test how sharp and quick a sub responds because the musical score is still driving away the whole time. Since the CSX12 has very good mid-bass punch this part was reproduced with the proper amount of authority.
Avatar: Assault on Home Tree - For those familiar with the movie this scene has low frequencies, ultra low frequencies, explosions, gunfire, voices and enough other things going on to provide a good test of virtually every component in your system. The CSX12 handled this scene with no problems.
As the gunships approach Home Tree you can almost feel the underlying intensity. The roar of their engines, the sound of the rockets being launched, the impact of each explosion, the crackling of the massive roots as the tree begins to list, and all the way to the point where it's toppled and crashes into the ground the low frequency was prominent and clean. The CSX12 blended each element properly, retaining their individual characteristics perfectly. This was another time I cranked up the volume to a level I would never listen at ordinarily, just to have a little fun and see what the limits were. I did ultimately find it, which can best be described as LOUD.
War of the Worlds: The Machine Emerges - The archetype... perhaps the most recognized subwoofer test scene of all time comes from a movie that's about 7 years old. The depth and volume of bass that occurs during a several minute span is simply amazing. If you want to see what your sub is capable of this scene can certainly be used as a barometer. With subterranean vibrations, exploding pavement and collapsing buildings you have ultra low, low and mid-bass frequencies pouring out of your subwoofer. One of the most punishing combinations there is, and an excellent way to really push something to the brink. As in the case of Collateral, the DTS audio track is used for this scene. The CSX12 did remarkably well, given the demanding nature of this material. I did sense a touch of overhang in the very deepest portions, and a little strain when the volume was up fairly high, but all-in-all Cadence can be proud of how this inexpensive sub preformed.
One of the more difficult parts is this scene actually has nuances during all the mayhem. For example, as the machine is burrowing it's way to the surface, and the earth is shaking, the buckling pavement has a crackling sound that needs to be evident in order to achieve the full effect. The CSX12 balanced all of it very well; the ground shaking deep bass did not subjugate the buckling pavement sound.
It would be impossible for a sub to properly render this scene without tactile feel, and I did get some in my chair. As mentioned previously, the CSX12 doesn't really do 20Hz (what $400 subwoofer does?), but I experienced enough vibration to fully engross me in the movie. But I expected a certain amount of that quite honestly. What I wasn't prepared for though was the blast of air; the CSX12 was driving so hard that I was getting a noticeable breeze from the port, and that's 11 feet away! I have never experienced a sub move move that much air. Rather interesting, for sure.
10,000 BC: Mammoth Hunt - During this scene there's either ultra low bass or mid-bass, with very little in between it seems. However, I've found this to be a good way of determining how a sub performs with nuances while being pushed hard. If it's struggling to hit the very low notes then the mid-bass suffers, and will come across as a jumbled mess (lacking in detail). If it can hit the low notes, but isn't articulate, then it tends to sound "thick" or "heavy", losing most of it's distinction. With the exception of the very deepest notes the CSX12 did extremely well here.
Prior to the stampede the mammoth's are simply walking about, pounding the ground every time they put a foot down. Here I detected a missing element, because the really deep notes weren't being reproduced. It's not as though the sound was weak or thin -- far from it -- but it wasn't the full effect either. When the stampede begins, and you have dozens of mammoth's on the run simultaneously, I got the same feeling; balanced, crisp, detailed sound, but missing the ultra low thud. Just very good, as opposed to excellent.
After all the testing was finished I checked the amp for heat output and found it to be nothing more than simply warm. In spite of how hard I pushed the CSX12 the amp never generated any appreciable heat.
Music
I use a combination of lossy and lossless material -- MP3's and CD's -- to see how musical a subwoofer is, and in both instances the CSX12 pleasantly surprised me.
Why am I surprised? It's a budget minded bass reflex subwoofer, which is not the first thing that springs to mind when you think about music. But guess what, the CSX12 can indeed play music with good agility. It rarely lags, hitting sharp and hard far more often then not, which is precisely what music demands.
To add some context... my listening preferences are blues, rock and heavy metal, and while none of those genre's require a tremendous amount of articulation -- like classical would, for example -- they do have their challenging pieces. For quality of recording and detail one of my go-to CD's is Johnny Lang's Lie To Me. Whoever mixed this is a genius, because it's brilliant work. It's also a tremendous way to test a sub, because of the simplicity of the music and the wonderful production. The CSX12 shined beautifully here, allowing me to crank this disk to a volume I rarely would otherwise. Even pushed, it sounded very good.
Johnny Lang wasn't the only CD I listened to, of course, but it was the one that sounded the best. Everything else I tried exhibited the same level of clarity though, which got me digging through my collection to find other disks to experiment with. This is perhaps the first inexpensive sub that I would not hesitate to recommend for someone who values music and HT abilities in equal proportions.
