Cerwin-Vega SL Series 5.25" 2-Way Home Theatre Speakers (Pair) - SL-5M

Tight bass and clear highs in a compact speaker

Appearance & Build Quality: The first thing I noticed right out of the box is the size of these speakers. These guys are definitely on the smaller end of the size spectrum when it comes to the bookshelf speakers being sold these days. For my space, which is a typical townhouse layout with a smallish living room, they are just the right size. I know many people believe that CV speakers can only look nice in a dorm room, frat house, or garage, but I disagree. I have a contemporary décor style and these little guys totally compliment the overall look. The second thing I noticed right out of the box is the solid build quality. The fit & finish indicates to me that these speakers were built to last a long time. Sound Quality: Do not make a decision about the sound quality of these speakers within the first couple of hours of your listening experience! They need some break in time! I can tell you that I was a bit concerned at first, but after about 2 hours or so the sound signature improved dramatically to reveal a beautiful mid-range, a sparkling top end and an unbelievable amount of quality, punchy base! Of course, for home theater the overall experience can benefit from combining these with a subwoofer; but honestly, the home theater experience from just these speakers alone is actually very close to the experience I got when I combined them with my JBL 8 inch subwoofer. So, believe it or not, I can go as far as saying that you don’t really need a subwoofer with these for a small to medium space like I have. The bass is truly that impactful! So, what types of music are these good for? All types of music! Classic rock, jazz, pop and country sound awesome! For orchestral music the highs, mids and lows all work together so beautifully. Although I didn’t test them with EDM or hip hop I’m quite certain they would perform brilliantly with these genres too. Comparison: I also own a set of Elac Debut 2.0 B6.2 bookshelf speakers, and they are very good speakers in their own right. The Elac set produces a very clean and ‘clinical’ sound signature; whereas these SL bookshelf speakers have more character & personality. And despite their small size the soundstage and imaging of these speakers is simply amazing. They make me feel like I’m actually listening to music at live concert, and I wasn’t expecting that! Conclusion: The Cerwin Vega SL5m bookshelf speakers are simply awesome! Great purchase! Highly recommended!

I use these 5.25 cerwin vega speakers for rear surround in my 5.1 Channel home theater setup. They work awsome I love them. I my setup I also use cerwin vega 12in 3 way floor speakers, and CV center Channel. They all sound great together. I have had my 12in 3ways since 1998. Still sound great and loud!

These are the speakers that I am starting my stereo system with. They are blowing me away, they sound great. I bought a Sony dh-750 7.2 receiver and hooked these up as the front channel speakers and I am also running a cheap Polk powered sub for the base. After hooking these up the first thing I did was to see what the max volume setting of my receiver was (turns out it is 73, why did Sony chose 73 as the max? whatever). These little speakers had no problem handling the max volume from the Sony. Normally when watching TV or movies through these I turn the receiver up less than half way, when I listen to music and want to feel the base and hear the notes I turn up the volume about 3/4th's. I'm not one of those guys that can describe the pitch and technical clarity but I can tell you that these sound good! When I originally started to build my stereo I wanted those Cerwin floor standing speakers with the 12" sub thinking that I would move these to my rear channel but after hearing how loud and clear these are I really considered just getting two more for my rear speakers. These sound that good. If I was in an apartment I would definitely buy four or six of these for my surround sound. Because I like overkill (and after hearing these) as my next step in building my system I will probable add two of those floor single 8" Cerwin's and then upgrade to a Cerwin powered 10" at a later date when the Polk dies. I am still up in the air about the center, going with the Cerwin 4 speaker or 2 speaker. (I'm really impressed with Cerwin!) Over all I could not be happier with these speakers, they sound great and clear at both low and high volume.

I have owned these for a couple years and used them for everything imaginable. If you're looking for a pair of small speakers to jam out with, they're hard to beat. You will hear surprising bass along with pleasing treble. You can push them basically as hard as you want; I feed them 100W RMS each and they laugh. Where do they fall short? Well, there's a big canyon in the frequency response curve in the upper middle range. You can tune around it to some extent with an equalizer, but they'll never yell at you like a pair of Klipsch speakers would- and I'm mostly OK with that. It is a small liability sometimes when hooking them up to a TV. Also, at 85db these are just about as inefficient a speaker as you're likely to run into in 2020. So you will frequently find yourself setting your volume to 40+. Hindsight being 20/20, I might buy something different, but these definitely come as advertised. If you hate your girlfriend's annoying buddy's Klipsch speakers, and you have an amplifier that is stronger than a motel hair dryer, you will like these.

CV SL5M lives up to the CV legacy with the fast, punchy bass and crisp, clear mids and highs that all great CVs have, making most other speakers sound slow, soggy, muffled, and veiled in comparison. They do need a few hours of break in to loosen up, as right out of the box they sound a bit confused with somewhat sucked out midrange, flat, tinny highs and boomy bass, but all comes together after a couple of CDs. After that they are just plain more fun to listen to than other speakers, with a lively, dynamic sound, with super low distortion, that just sounds more real than others, and that never gets too bright or shrill on top or boomy and mushy down below. And the designers wisely traded a bit of sensitivity for better deep bass (no biggie- just turn your amp up a little more to get the same volume). Best speakers I've had in decades. The new tweeter's a real treat, as is the amount of bass from such a small woofer and box, seemingly defying the laws of physics. And add to it all is a rock solid stereo image that has instruments never sounding like they're coming from a box, but floating in mid-air.

I am blown away by these Cerwin Vega! bookshelf speakers. They put out more sound than I thought was possible from small speakers this size. They rival larger size 8" passive cabs I have. Their bass is awesome, unexpected from such small speakers. Yet the bass is in balance with the full frequency they put out. These truly exceed my expectations. Well worth the cost, to get far above average sound quality. Totally satisfied buyer here!

So I have had theses speakers for about a week. I have already requested a return. These aren't bad speakers. They sound decent, the do look beautiful with the grills off. I have thought about keeping them just because they look so beautiful sitting on my desk. They do produce big sound from a small package but I'm not satisfied. I have owned CV speakers in the past. The LS-15's to be exact. Those were great, efficient speakers that sounded amazing at all volumes. But these SL5M speakers just don't sound as expected. They are very inefficient. I did know that this might be the case before buying them but I like CV so I gave it a shot. They require you to turn your receiver up louder than you should have to just to get a decent volume. Others may not care about this but I do. I do have a Yamaha 5.1 RX receiver that I have bought in the past year and a half so I don't believe they are under powered. I just was expecting more for 149.99. I am using these mainly for computer speakers but I just feel like I wouldn't be happy with them for the long term. The inefficiency is the main reason I will be returning these. Again, they aren't horrible, just too power hungry. If they blew me away with how they sounded maybe I would keep them but they don't.

These speaker are really great. Be aware that they are 8omh and not 6 omh and require more power to obtain the same volume as a 6omh product. They are very good at producing clear sound with a good bass and if you have a powerfull enough amplifier you should be abale to drive them really well.

Fueron una gran compra, son pequeñas pero tienen muy buena potencia y un excelente sonido a un muy buen precio

Cinema maison excellent

Sonido bello, nítido, increíble y un bajo arrasador y potente

They are small but pack a punch i have two OMAGE front speakers with the cerwins as surounds running through a DENON recever sounds great