Cambridge Audio SX50 review

Speakers with grilles on.

Speakers with no grilles.

Test equipment used.

Denon Dm39, Pixel T80 stands, Van Damme Blue studio cable and Sewell Pro Maestro Banana Plugs.

In the box you get your 2 speakers, 1 manual, 2 port bungs (to help reduce bass if required), 8 foam disks to protect the underside of the speaker.

Aesthetics

To kick this off I would first like to mention that these speakers come in a choice of either Black ash
(above) or Walnut (Below). I prefer the walnut as it just seems to give the speakers more presence in the room, if you don’t like speakers that take point in your room then I would suggest black, however it’s all down to preference. 

The speakers at first glance with the grilles on appear to be designed more towards traditional design rather than ultra-modern. However this classic design has a few flourishes of modern design, the lack of fixings around the drivers and the soft touch matte plastic surround brings the modern whereas the shape and cabinet finish brings the classic. The design however really works with surrounds complimenting the design rather than hindering it.

The front of the speakers is quite minimalistic with the exception of the grille mounts, which brings me to my only real negative about the design. That is the lack of magnetic grilles. This feature would have further optimised the design and made the front face much cleaner. The grille mounts aren’t a deal breaker but magnetic grilles would have been nice.

The tweeter is a pretty standard looking silk dome design and features the Cambridge audio logo stamped into the surround. The main driver is a treated paper cone and a rounded dust cap. The paper cone is ridged and gives an impression of increased depth to the driver. It may not sound like much but it really is quite nice. Combine all this with the vinyl finish and lovely surround it really works better than expected and really finishes off classic design.
 
Build Quality

I will start this section by talking about the grilles. The grille looks quite classic, however it’s certainly not built that way. The grille is very well made, it doesn’t flex or bend and generally feels very solid. The grille is nicely wrapped in black fabric and features the Cambridge audio logo on the front.

The vinyl that wraps the speaker cabinet is quite high quality, it looks very nice and you can see it has a grain effect to add a touch of realism to the vinyl. The vinyl is nicely wrapped, however on closer inspection it was a little rough on the front edges of the speaker. Though not noticeable from a distance it can be noticed up close. **To note though, this may just be the review set I have and not be on every set** 

Speaking of the cabinet it is really solid and adds to the build quality of these speakers. The speaker itself is reassuringly heavy and to suggest that no cheap thin MDF was used in the speakers construction. 


The soft touch finish around the tweeter and driver looks and feels very nice, you can see that Cambridge audio put a lot of effort into making this area of the speaker high quality. Round the back of the speaker the first thing that you will notice is that Cambridge audio haven’t scrimped on the soft touch material as it features on the bass port and binding post surround. This is something I was not expecting and to be honest I really like that they have but effort into making this nice, as some other manufacturers don’t. 

Specifications

A dedicated foam damper for the tweeter, helps reduce reflection and enhances the sound stage. The Frequency range is 50Hz – 22kHz. Their Sensitivity is 90dB. The speakers are 8ohm with a recommended amplifier power of 10 – 100 watts. The speakers feature a 25mm (1”) silk dome tweeter and a 5.25” treated paper cone. It has a 2 way crossover and the speakers are rear ported.
Dimensions (W) 225mm (8.9”) x (H) 161mm (6.3”) x (D) 240mm (9.4”). The speakers weigh 3.0kg (6.6lbs) per speaker. 

Sound Quality 

These speakers straight out of the box seemed to be naturally bass biased. If you don’t like this in a speaker it can be easily remedied by turning the bass down on your equalizer or using the port bungs provided. However now the speakers are run in and with a few adjustments to the eq, the bass is now more controlled whilst maintaining its initial impact. The bass (after adjustment) doesn’t have an overpowering effect on the rest of the sound field and now really compliments the sound rather nicely. On the other hand, if you like your bass heavy music, these speakers despite their compact form really can pack quite a surprising punch. So it can be easily said that in terms of bass power these speakers really do punch well above their size and price.

The rest of the sound field is really balanced, there is no real bias towards either the high end or the mid-range, which makes for a really relaxing sound and listening experience. However switch it up and play something faster paced and the speakers really come alive. I think this is due to the very lightweight driver being able to be driven easier. These are very versatile speakers and sound great on a number of different genres. They fill my medium size bedroom with ease and do so with deep rich bass, controlled mids and subtle highs. Sound that I was not expecting from these speakers and from such low input from my Denon Dm39. Push them a little harder and they seem to come alive even more. Also if you paired them with something a bit more high end and you would definitely get even more from these speakers. Don’t get me wrong the Denon is great but something of higher caliber would really make these speakers shine.   

Value for money   
At £129 from Richersounds
http://www.richersounds.com/product/standmount-speakers/cambridge-audio/sx50/camb-sx50-blk these speakers are relatively cheap, they are very good speakers and I am definitely not disappointed in them at all. They pack a sound that you would not expect out of something so small and they are very nice classy and classic looking as well. So taking into consideration everything I have written and heard, these easily are easily worth their price tag, especially if you don’t have the largest of rooms to fill. Not saying they wouldn’t fill a larger room but if you have a larger room and you like the look of the other speakers then I would recommend the SX60 which are only £149.95 http://www.richersounds.com/product/standmount-speakers/cambridge-audio/sx60/camb-sx60-dk-wal and were designed to fill larger rooms. 

So to sum it up, yes in my opinion these really are worth the money. 

To hear these speakers head over to my channel
 
http://www.youtube.com/user/AcousticAppraisal