Cadence CSX15 Mark II Subwoofer Review

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admin

Audioholics Robot
Staff member
In tough economic times, shoppers are always looking for a good deal. Enter the Cadence CSX15 MKII. This brawny subwoofer tips the scales at a hefty 88lbs and packs a 15" driver in a computer tuned slot ported enclosure with a 300 watt rms rated amplifier. All of this hardware carries an MSRP of just $499. The fit and finish is as quality as any other subwoofer we have seen in this price range. Listening to the CSX15 MKII's contribution with various music and movie selections proved that it did have a bite to match its bark and that plenty of headroom was on tap to get very loud as one would sort of infer going in from the 15" driver and vented enclosure. However extended movie watching sessions and outdoor measurements soon revealed a fly in the ointment. We found that the CSX15 MKII was caused considerable distress at times by deep bass frequencies which adversely affected its ability to powerfully anchor the LFE channel as part of a high performance home theater. Read the full review to find out why.


Discuss "Cadence CSX15 Mark II Subwoofer Review" here. Read the article.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
Well, strong words and even stronger measurements, but I hope that Cadence instead of getting defensive would go back and redo their homework and show us improved product soon.
 
B

brian6751

Audioholic Intern
Josh, thank you for mentioning the size of your listening room. I was wondering what it was when reading the subjective listening in other reviews. Though not nearly as important as your outdoor measurements, it gives me an idea what room gain can do for performance. My space is probably just under that size.

Cadence seems to be serious about getting into this market so I would bet they respond positively to your objective review and come out with a great updated product soon.
 
zhimbo

zhimbo

Audioholic General
Well...I suppose if you really only needed some loud 'n' clean output for 50Hz and up, this could be pretty darn great! That's the "glass half full" summary.
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
Well, strong words and even stronger measurements, but I hope that Cadence instead of getting defensive would go back and redo their homework and show us improved product soon.
I sent the full review to Cadence prior to publishing and they were fine with it. All the parts they used are good. They just need to hollow out that board divider between the amp and driver and tweak the limiter and it will be a class leading product in the sub $500 price bracket.
 
BoredSysAdmin

BoredSysAdmin

Audioholic Slumlord
I sent the full review to Cadence prior to publishing and they were fine with it. All the parts they used are good. They just need to hollow out that board divider between the amp and driver and tweak the limiter and it will be a class leading product in the sub $500 price bracket.
Cool, then I'm impatiently looking forward for CSX15 Mark III
 
its phillip

its phillip

Audioholic Ninja
That definitely is a ton of output at the higher frequencies. Hopefully they make the improvements you suggested :D

Thanks for the review!
 
C

CadenceSound

Junior Audioholic
I sent the full review to Cadence prior to publishing and they were fine with it. All the parts they used are good. They just need to hollow out that board divider between the amp and driver and tweak the limiter and it will be a class leading product in the sub $500 price bracket.
You failed to mention the 2.5 performance rating in the email, but thats ok. We have yet to get a call or complaint about its low-end performance. But we understand you are comparing with various other low-end subs...

Our enclosure is not that small, roughly about 3.2cf and its a wide slot ported design. Tuning is around 45hz...give or take..

Im sure this review will discourage a lot of buyers, esp the uninformed ones. But please give our sub a listen, im sure you will see it performs better than its low 2.5 rating. Esp in a smaller room than 4,000+ cf..
 
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CadenceSound

Junior Audioholic
Not at the moment. For now we are mainly focusing on active subs..
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
You failed to mention the 2.5 performance rating in the email, but thats ok. We have yet to get a call or complaint about its low-end performance. But we understand you are comparing with various other low-end subs...

Our enclosure is not that small, roughly about 3.2cf and its a wide slot ported design. Tuning is around 45hz...give or take..

Im sure this review will discourage a lot of buyers, esp the uninformed ones. But please give our sub a listen, im sure you will see it performs better than its low 2.5 rating. Esp in a smaller room than 4,000+ cf..
We don't disclose our ratings to manufacturers during the peer review process. The purpose of the peer review is for you to fact check the editorial content and measurements. We stand by our assessment and our measurements show the box limitations due to the unnecessary wall dividing the amp and driver. This should be replaced with a brace instead as it would really improve response below 50Hz.
 
C

CadenceSound

Junior Audioholic
The wall in back of the sub does act as a brace. I can see how this would lower the internal vol. and take away from the low-end, being that it takes up airspace.

We have no issue with your disclosure policies, the 2.5 out of 5 star rating just seems too low, esp since so much positive things are said in the review. Either way we hope people will take the plunge and give our CSX15 a shot, we know you will not regret it.
 
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nickboros

Audioholic
There is some tough competition at and near this price-point. Outlaw, Hsu and SVS have subs roughly $150 to $200 more expensive that have a flat frequency response down to 20Hz, or below. Also they can play quite well in larger rooms like Josh's, if you look at his reviews. If Josh and Gene are correct that there can just be some slight changes to the box and tweaking the limiter to get this sub to compete with Outlaw, Hsu, and SVS at a lower price, then that would be some great news. It certainly sounds promising, since the sub can hit 120dB cleanly at 80Hz. I'll keep my eye out for any new news from Cadence Sound.
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
The wall in back of the sub does act as a brace. I can see how this would lower the internal vol. and take away from the low-end, being that it takes up airspace.

We have no issue with your disclosure policies, the 2.5 out of 5 star rating just seems too low, esp since so much positive things are said in the review. Either way we hope people will take the plunge and give our CSX15 a shot, we know you will not regret it.
Most of our readers pay more attention to the analysis and subjective impressions more than just a final score. However, I asked Josh if he felt it was OK for me to bump the overall rating to a 3.0 given the modest price and your willingness to look into future product improvements and he felt OK with it. So I bumped the overall rating to a 3.0 which is "good". I also bumped up the extension from a 1.0 to a 2.0.

I'd be happy to have Josh do a retest for you if you improve the sub by replacing the wall with a baffle brace to open box volume and tweak the limiter. At that point,we would re-evaluate the overall rating as well.
 
L

LFEJunky

Audiophyte
The wall in back of the sub does act as a brace. I can see how this would lower the internal vol. and take away from the low-end, being that it takes up airspace.

We have no issue with your disclosure policies, the 2.5 out of 5 star rating just seems too low, esp since so much positive things are said in the review. Either way we hope people will take the plunge and give our CSX15 a shot, we know you will not regret it.
I removed the driver and the amp and drilled 5 holes with a 3" hole saw in the wall in between the amp and driver...I also extended the wire from the amp to the driver being it was very short. It sounds much deeper now and really shakes the room. Does not sound quite as punchy with music...Still sounds good though. What did I do by opening up the wall? Would I benefit by removing more material from the wall?
 
GranteedEV

GranteedEV

Audioholic Ninja
I think the frequency response is kind of un-subwoofer-like.... To me it suggests some combination of a driver optimized for a high output woofer rather than a true subwoofer, and a high inductance. I can see how some might like it's unique response, and with four of them at that low price and some EQ you could probably get some pretty nice things going due to the apparently low Q near vent resonance.
 
timoteo

timoteo

Audioholic General
After reading the review I don't agree that the original 2.5 rating should be raised to 3.0 just because the manufacturer didn't like it. Sorry but that's how I feel. This sub barely even classifies as a "subwoofer". I would like to see it paired up against my HSU MBM-12 though. Shoot, at the same price it might be a good choice if the rumble filter was set to prevent all that nasty distortion below 50hz!!!

Inwas really hoping to see better results!!! Maybe the MKIII will have some merit!
 
T

templemaners

Senior Audioholic
After reading the review I don't agree that the original 2.5 rating should be raised to 3.0 just because the manufacturer didn't like it. Sorry but that's how I feel. This sub barely even classifies as a "subwoofer". I was really hoping to see better results!!! Maybe the MKIII will have some merit!
I agree 100%. Stick by your guns and say what you think, regardless of what the manufacturer says. If they don't like it, put out a better product, plain and simple.

Also, what has to happen for a sub to get a 1 in Bass Extension? It has to do worse than that? Give me a break. :rolleyes:

To have that level of performance from a ported 15" sub is beyond weak. I hope they have a MKIII version coming sooner rather than later.
 
gene

gene

Audioholics Master Chief
Administrator
I agree 100%. Stick by your guns and say what you think, regardless of what the manufacturer says. If they don't like it, put out a better product, plain and simple.

Also, what has to happen for a sub to get a 1 in Bass Extension? It has to do worse than that? Give me a break. :rolleyes:

To have that level of performance from a ported 15" sub is beyond weak. I hope they have a MKIII version coming sooner rather than later.
As you could imagine, its a challenge for us to keep the manufacturers sending products after they realize how in depth and critical our reviews are. I prefer getting products from everyone, not just a dozen or so really high quality brands that never fear our testing procedures b/c their products are already well fleshed out prior to us testing them.
 
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LFEJunky

Audiophyte
This thing sounds so much better after doing the modification. I was going to send it back until they told me it would be a 100 dollars for shipping back to them plus 15% restocking fee... So I decided to remove some of the partition wall effectively increasing enclosure volume. Still trying to figure out if I should remove some more. Still want it as bracing..so don't want to go crazy.
 

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