When you have been doing this music thing for as long as I have — as both a musician/bandleader and sound guy — you see a whole bunch of gear and countless numbers, types and brand of loudspeakers. Which makes it kind of nice to see one of the brands that defined live sound for a long time reclaim that pedigree after some time wandering in the wilderness. My first set of pro PA speakers featured Cerwin-Vega bottoms — huge folded horn enclosures that I bought used in 1978. Since then, for a long time Cerwn-Vega became pretty much synonymous with DJs and, indeed, you would be hard-pressed to find another brand that offered the thump for the buck that Vega did. So, given that my previous experience with Cerwin-Vega had all been pretty much low-end based, I really did not know what to expect from the new Active Series. What I got was a very pleasant surprise.
The Active series consists of three different sized powered subs (an 18-inch, a 15-inch and a honkin’ 21-inch) and the CVA-28 top box, which was a real revelation. This compact box is a three-way design with dual 8-inch speakers and a compression driver mounted in the center of the top woofer in a concentric configuration. Even though it is small, it is beefy, weighing in at 48 lbs., and it’s considered a full-range box with the ability to go down to 70 Hz. It has integrated fly-points for mounting as well as accessories that allow you to put two or three on one pole above a sub, allowing myriad options for coverage.
The CVA-28 is powered by a 400-watt amp and is capable of some serious SPL. A “sub/no sub” switch rolls off the lows, so the enclosure is really efficient when used with a sub. A contour switch takes some of the edge off for high-volume situations, allowing you to get loud without getting harsh and painful. Nice touch.
We used the middle sub in the line, the CVA-118, and again, it is all about flexibility and scalability. A master/slave output allows you to daisychain subs without multiple long cable runs. The 700-watt amp is fed by an internal crossover that allows you to set the crossover point for the tops at 65, 85 or 130 Hz, and it is matched to a continuously-variable low-pass filter with the same range. The addition of a polarity switch on the sub gives you plenty of tools for shaping the overall sound.
Outdoor event for about 150 local TV bigwigs. Five-piece blues band. We got four CVA-28s and a pair of the CVA-118 subs and took it all to the gig. It was total overkill. We could have easily gotten away with half of the system. The system was fronted by an Allen & Heath Zed mixer, and we used no EQ except what was on the board.
Sometimes it is the small stuff that makes the difference, and CV provided a couple of cool little things that made it all easier. A small bag contained short AC and XLR “jumpers” to connect one CVA-28 to the other, which made for a much cleaner setup. One XLR from the mixer to the sub, a shortie to the first CVA-28 and the jumpers to the second kept it all looking good with no cable spaghetti at the bottom of the speaker stands.
Setup was quick and easy, with one exception. With two CVA-28s on the pole adapter, it took two strong guys to raise the stand up to an appropriate height. Two top boxes on the adapter plate weigh right at 100 lbs. These will take some abuse, but they ain’t light.
As soon as we turned the system on with some canned music we knew we had way too much system. We turned off two of the CVA-28s and had each sub running at about 25 percent of capacity. Like I said, we could have done it with half the system, and since each sub has both left and right ins and outs, one sub would have been plenty.
The band was a five-piece blues act that I work with regularly, so I know what they sound like through various systems, and they know that if I am on the gig, they will be keeping stage volume to a minimum and let the system to do its job.
So how did it go? The last system I used with this band was a similar “sub plus top box on a stand” system that sounded great. It also lists for $26K for two subs and two top boxes. You can get into this two-subs and four top box system for less than a quarter of that price. And it is appropriate for everything from small acoustic gigs to rehearsals to full-blown gigs. In fact I am planning on using the full system at an upcoming outdoor gig for 500 just to see what it can really do. Can’t wait.
