August 2001 Reviewed by Anthony DiMarco	Cambridge SoundWorks Newton MC300 Home-Theater Speaker System

Description Model: MC300 speakers Price: $199.99 USD each Dimensions: 13.25"H x 5.25"W x 6"D Weight: 10 pounds each Model: S300 surround speakers Price: $449.99 USD per pair Dimensions: 7"H x 11"W x 5.75"D Weight: 6 pounds each Model: P1000 powered subwoofer Price: $999.99 USD Dimensions: 16"H x 15"W x 14"D Weight: 45 pounds System Price: $2199.00 USD (with a Marantz SR7000 Dolby Digital/DTS receiver) Warranty: Ten years parts and labor on speakers, two years on subwoofer electronics.

Features (continued) 4" graphite-reinforced co-polymer drivers Molded-composite acoustic-suspension enclosures 1" reinforced silk-dome tweeters Heavy-duty, five-way gold-plated binding posts Magnetically shielded Switchable direct, dipole or bipolar dispersion patterns (S300) Available in slate black or white (MC300 and S300) 1000W built-in B.A.S.H (Bridged-Amplifier-Switching-Hybrid) amplifier Outboard bass-control module utilizing balanced RJ11 signal interconnect (P1000) Variable 0 to 180-degree phase adjustment (P1000 via controller) Parametric bass EQ, adjustable +/- 6dB from 20Hz to 60Hz (P1000 via controller) Built-in clipping LED (P1000 via controller) Available in UV-cured polyurethane as well as mahogany or maple wood veneers (P1000)

To anyone who has heard the radio ads or owns the speakers, the Cambridge SoundWorks (CSW) name is synonymous with affordable, good-quality, audio products. Still, while home theater and low-priced stereo has allowed the company to flourish with Joe and Jane Consumer, many enthusiasts continue to consider Cambridge SoundWorks speakers as well-marketed, uninspired, pseudo-audio for the masses. With Newton, CSW takes aim at those skeptics who would sooner listen to a smoke alarm than step foot into one of the company's stores. A critic myself, I was more than willing to take the Newtons to task, and see if there was any validity to CSW's ambitious claim.

Like other speaker products in the Cambridge SoundWorks’ stable, the Newton series includes bookshelf speakers, satellite speakers, surrounds, towers, and subwoofers, all of which can be purchased á la carte or as part of a no-hassle package. Prices start at $250 per pair for the M50 bookshelf models, to just over $2200 per pair for the four-way, veneered T500 towers. My evaluation system was the $2050 Newton MC300 package (available for $2199 with a Marantz SR7000 receiver), which included MC300 satellites for left, center and right positions, a pair of S300 surrounds for the rears, and a P1000 subwoofer in charge of bass. With knife in hand, and a fair level of skepticism, I opened the first box.

The players

Fresh out of their snug cartons, the MC300s mildly sculpted enclosures not only surprised me with their solidity but also the attractive midrange-tweeter-midrange driver array that lay beneath their sturdy grilles. High-quality binding posts also contributed to the speaker’s overall appearance and audiophile aspirations, as did the consistent fit and finish of their white enclosures. The only faults I found were confined to white paint over-spay and adhesive stains on their black front baffles and user-installable logos (which, due to their undersized mounting-holes and fragile plastic pins, were nearly impossible to affix to the speakers’ grilles). These sample defects aside, the MC300s still presented good value in their construction.

The half-moon-shaped S300 surrounds provided the same sturdy build quality, binding posts, and principal drivers of its cousin, while additional 2.5" drivers enabled them to serve-up three different flavors of surround dispersion. Operation was pretty straightforward and involved selecting the dispersion mode via an externally mounted three-position switch. In dipole and bipole modes, the 2.5" mid-high frequency drivers teamed up with the 4" midrange via a Dolby Pro Logic-specified 400Hz crossover point, while direct mode substituted the 2.5" drivers for the 1" dome tweeter transitioned in at 2kHz. According to Cambridge SoundWorks, the S300's competition does not adhere to the Dolby Pro Logic-specified 400Hz crossover point or offer the same flexibility.

The last to exit its cardboard home was P1000 subwoofer, whose good-looking, well-finished compact enclosure presented 45 pounds of lead-like weight in my arms -- arguably a good sign for a device which, according to its manufacturer, was capable of delivering clean bass down to 22Hz. Like the S300, the P1000 could also brag about some interesting design choices and technology.

While many subs at this price point use a single driver in a ported enclosure or a single driver mated with a passive radiator, the P1000 utilizes twin active 10" drivers connected to a 1000W B.A.S.H amplifier in a sealed enclosure. Thanks to the P1000’s extremely rigid structure, supplied floor spikes, and the canceling effects allegedly afforded by its opposing drivers, resonance concerns were easily pacified during my testing. I found that even under the most demanding bass passages, the P1000’s cabinet was silent enough to leave anything placed atop it unaffected.

The P1000’s control of bass was further augmented by its standard, slightly retro-looking external control module, which allowed a user to really tweak bass via variable phase and EQ. But it wasn’t the controller’s flexibility that ultimately won me over. What hit me over the head with its ingenuity was how the controller was connected to the sub. Foregoing a potentially expensive, typically hum-sensitive RCA-type unbalanced interconnect for an inexpensive two-line RJ11 phone cord, Newton engineers were able to create a fully balanced, hum-proof connection between the sub and controller module. If anything was proven during the course of my evaluation, it was that this single feature worked like a charm. No matter how far the sub was from the controller, no hum ever ruined my fun.

Setup

The Newtons took residence in my 17' x 22' family room, which provided its own set of sonic and placement challenges. I needed to wall mount one of the MC300s to the left of my TV, while the other needed to sit on the fireplace mantle to the right. With the Newton’s flexible mounting options, this was no problem. Completing the front array, I made use of the included stand and placed the third MC300 on top of my 32" television. Admittedly, at five and half feet apart and four feet high, the MC300s' positions were not optimal, but they represented a real-world restriction that many users could face. My only hope was that the Newton designers realized the same and didn’t make the MC300s too placement-sensitive.

For the rears, the S300 surround's shape made corner placement easy and secure, and allowed the speaker to blend seamlessly into my less-than-accommodating room. By using the included drywall anchor and an optional CSW plastic bracket, I was able to place the S300 slightly forward of my listening position and within the recommended four to seven feet height outlined in the manual.

P1000 setup was a little more involved, but hardly complicated. Over the span of a couple of weeks I moved the hernia-inducing sub from corner to corner in an attempt to get the best balance and blending with the MC300 and S300 satellites. After all positions were exhausted and measurements taken, via an SPL meter, the most acceptable location for the sub was six inches behind my TV, within two inches of a corner, forming a 45-degree angle with that corner. Once the sub was positioned, the controller’s bass EQ took care of my room’s uneven bass gain. The simple twist of two knobs was all it took to mitigate an annoying boom at 60Hz and assure a relatively flat frequency response down to 30Hz.

Needless to say, my overall experience setting up the P1000 was positive -- with one annoying exception: the controller’s credit-card-sized remote only allowed adjustment of sub's volume when, to be useful, it would have been nice to have complete control of all the sub's settings.

Listening tests

No matter how demanding the soundtrack, the Newton Series MC300 did a brilliant job of providing tight control, excellent separation and exciting playback of every film I threw at it. The X-Men's stellar Dolby Digital 5.1 mix not only demonstrated the thunderous bass and nerve-racking effect of young Magneto's splintering of the gates in chapter 2, but also reproduced perfect surround panning and balance, which convincingly made the X-Jet (chapter 19) move from stage right to rear-surround stage left.

While this level of control wasn’t a complete surprise for a $2000 system, the Newtons did manage to couple it with refinement. Effects like shattering glass and metal under stress weren’t uncomfortably bright or harsh, and vocals were presented with perfect intelligibility no matter how complex the surrounding effects. The DTS playback of the X-Files-Fight the Future, while slightly bass-shy, had gobs of startling, yet polished impact. Not only were Mulder, Sculley and Skinner’s vocals presented in vivid detail, but the limousine explosion in chapter 14 and the helicopter chase in chapter 11 made me grin like a madman, while scaring the living daylights out of my wife in the next room.

The thrills and chills didn’t stop there. As the opening sonic-boom sequence of the recently released Space Cowboys proved, the system was quite capable of reproducing demanding transients without yacking up a woofer, thereby abolishing any concerns that the Newton’s designers sacrificed some of the system’s shear speed for its aural finesse. In the end, the culmination of all these virtues made the DTS presentation of Gladiator a major treat. Massed sound effects were not only well delineated, but placed with pinpoint accuracy. The movement of cavalry and infantry as well as the dramatic "snaps" and "kabooms" of catapults and firebombs were excellently positioned within my room. In a market where good-sounding compact 5.1 speaker systems often need to trade power handling for refinement, the Newtons were the exception and never showed signs of stress or break-up, no matter how loud or dynamic the soundtrack.

However, no matter how proficient the Newtons were at 5.1, what would ultimately allow them to one-up their competitors would be a genuine adeptness of music. Just how serious were the MC300’s and P1000 about their musical ability?

Three songs -- it took three songs to convince me that the Newtons were serious, very serious, about music. First impressions pointed to excellent tonal quality and fine resolution of ambient and low-frequency detail as highlights to their abilities, while transparency coupled with velvety smoothness punctuated the analytical yet refined nature made evident during my movie evaluation. One good example of this was the dark yet super-crisp playback of Depeche Mode’s "Freestate" off the CD Ultra [Mute 946522-2], which despite its electronic roots, had a big analog sound that came across as dynamic and involving. Tight synth bass was reproduced by the P1000 with nice weight and authority, while the "snick-snick" of the silicone-driven cymbals came forth from the 1" silk tweeters with light, quick precision.

Not only electronic, but also acoustic music seemed to benefit from the Newtons' traits too, with fine texture and an engaging sense of pace. Tightly plucked double bass, sweet-sounding strings, fluid vocals, nicely weighted guitar riffs and weightless percussion drew me into Everything But the Girl's superbly recorded Amplified Heart [Atlantic 802605-2], while the rich cello and dense imagery of Anton Dvorak’s Concerto Pour Violoncelle Et Orchestre [Erato 88224] lulled me with its orchestral swings. On both these CDs, the well-recorded guitar and cello were especially palpable and didn’t exhibit any of the steeliness usually associated with bargain-basement tweeters.

The Newtons' transparent yet velvety quality established itself as the essence of their strength and allowed the MC300s to play well-recorded songs beautifully while imparting tolerant delivery of flawed recordings -- and without torturing the listener. As Paul Simon’s well-recorded Rhythm of the Saints [Warner Brothers 926098-2] pulled me in with its rich atmosphere, percussion and African rhythms, Peter Gabriel’s CD So [Geffen GHS24088] failed to display the overly aggressive edge that tend to plague lesser speaker designs. Even poorly produced pop songs of the early '80s still managed to get me hooked to their clever melodies when played through the Newtons. For most of us who enjoy music but don’t have the room for capable floorstanders, the Newton P1000 and MC300 pairing is a good choice.

Conclusion

Well, there you have it: a 5.1 subwoofer/satellite system that can please not only the home-theater aficionado, but the avid music lover too. I honestly never thought Cambridge SoundWorks had it in them, but like all forms of poetic justice, they proved me wrong. For the money, with Cambridge SoundWorks’ 45-day trial policy, taking the Newtons home and living with them for a month is a serious no-brainer -- especially if you’ll be watching movies and listening to music equally. Do me a favor, though: if you decide to give the Newtons a listen, make sure you leave all those preconceptions about affordable, uninspired audio at the door of your local CSW store. 

Manufacturer contact information

Cambridge SoundWorks
311 Needham Street
Newton MA, 02464
Phone: 1-800-FOR-HIFI
Fax: 1-617-527-3194

E-mail: info@cambridgesoundworks.com
Website: www.cambridgesoundworks.com  

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