$75 Cadence CWM-6KIT 6.5" comps--new value leader?
Disclaimer: Sound Quality is subjective and this review should be used as a baseline of reference
Background:
I have a teenaged young man named Kevin that keeps up my yard and grounds during the spring and summer months. It’s a father and son team. Over the years I’ve built a nice relationship with both of them. After having a discussion with Kevin a few weeks before Christmas, it was brought to my attention that he was trying to save up enough money to install a nice system in his 2006 Toyota Scion xB. As usual, he made stops at the local shops to inquire about prices. I was not shocked at the quotes that were given to him. I had a nice one-on-one tutorial with Kevin and told him what to look out for in order to make his first audio system special.
I felt a compelling need to help out this young man. My wife and I admire him on so many levels. I just haven’t ran into many teenagers or 20 something’s that are respectful, level headed, and don’t have the attitude that they have the answer for everything. This kid has an amazing way of seeing the world through the eyes of others and not just his small little area of society. His parents did a hell of a job!! Plus, he is going to my old alma mamma for college; good ol’ Vandy! I must note he obtained a full ride scholarship as well.
The hardware:
After surfing the net and my storage house, I managed to come up with a few items for him. I picked up a new Cadence TX-6004 4 channel amplifier, 150x2+600x1, and a set of Cadence comps, CWM-6KIT. Both were shipped for around $250. Kevin didn’t know that he was also going to be a guinea pig for me as well. I’ve been curious about the Cadence comps for a while. With a price of $ 75 shipped, who wouldn’t be curious?
I inspected the hardware from Cadence upon its arrival. The amp is LARGE, with a nice board layout. Much more than what I expected for the price.
The comps are very well made. The woofer has a vented pole piece, aluminum cone, gold plated connectors, beefy voice coils, and a nice heavy 20 oz magnet. Honda owners will have to use spacers for sure. The woofer is right at 3 inches in depth. Moving along to the tweeter, it’s a 1 inch silk dome, with mounting hardware for flush or surface swivel mounting pods. Packaging was also top notch. Cadence included a simple, but nice instruction manual with the comps. I found it shocking they also had a response measurement graph within the packet. A very nice touch for a $75 pair of speakers. I’ve known comp sets to cost 2-3 times as much that didn’t include this information. Passive crossovers are set at 12db per oct, but I couldn’t find where the X over point setting anywhere in the information. Overall though, still well worth $75 on just construction alone.
Subwoofer duty came in the form of an ID 12 D2 that I had laying around.
I built a basic 1.75 cf ported box, tuned @30hz. I wrapped the box with black automotive carpet. The sub and vent are firing in the upward position. I also had some Rammat and Ensolite I had left over from another project that I was going to give to him as well.
A couple of days before Christmas, my wife and I stopped by Kevin’s house to drop off his Christmas gift from us. I knew that he would be shocked. He already had a Pioneer 880 installed in his xB (he picked it up on eBay for $175 shipped). Kevin’s eyes beamed like Christmas tree lights after showing him the goods. He hugged us and told me his friends would install everything over the break.
The review:
Last weekend I had a chance to catch up with Kevin. The install was nothing short of professional. His friends mounted the Cadence amp in the rear next to the sub. They also installed two small fans within the amp rack in a “push-pull” array to ensure that party will never stop. The mids were installed in the door and 1” silk domes were mounted in the dash. Ensolite and Rammat were installed in the doors and rear area of the hatch.
Kevin fired up a CD that he recorded with his jazz band at school and a few other “test” cds. First thing I noticed was how wide and deep his soundstage was. We all know that soundstage depth is hard to achieve in many installs. Midbass was solid, very solid. The type of midbass you can feel at the bottom of your legs. Vocals were strong, but maybe not as strong as some would like. B.B. King did sound very natural within the stage. At times imaging would “wonder” a bit with some tracks, but nothing seriously bad. Kevin noted that the 1” silk domes were a tad bright and his friend made some cuts with the 880. The entire time I couldn’t believe I was listening to a $75 dollar pair of comps.
After further investigation, I found out that the install was running active?? Wow. His friend did a hell of a good job, but meanwhile in conversation, Kevin’s friend works for a local install shop part time and views this forum consistently LOL!! Small world. I was also informed that the comps do sound well with the passives, but due to the tweeter mounted in the dash area, Kevin’s bud wanted a little bit more control. Smart.
The tweeters are being driven off of the Pioneer 880, Mids 150x2 and 600x1 to the ID sub all from the Cadence Amp.
Side note: I had forgotten how good the ID subs were. In fact, I don’t know why they are not more highly regarded than the IDQ. The ID digs deeper and $$$ cheaper than the IDQ. Better build quality as well in my book. It’s 2008 and the IDQ’s are still using spade terminals???
Overall, this is a damn good comp set. I think this should be the new value leader. I feel this comp set would still be worth the value if priced at $150 shipped. I ordered another pair just to have. I know the PG vs. Cadence question will pop up. After spending time with the PG set, I would have to go with the Cadence, only because of the extra saving. Performance wise is close, maybe the PG set taking the victory. PG’s have just a tad more midbass, but both are smooth movers. For $ 75 bucks, I’ll go with the Cadence with some minor tuning. On overall great value that should be looked at.
Cadence CWM-6KIT
For the tecs:
4ohm
Fo (res freq) 55 hz
Qms( Mech Q) 9.4323
Qes (Elec Q) .7701
Ots (Total Q) .7120
Vas .36 cu ft
System:
100 rms/200 peak
fq rs 65hz-22K
Sens 87db@ 1w/1m
Below $200 though, which these days doesn't seem to be much, I think you're still climbing toward the peak of the performance/value curve, and beyond $300 you're really on the downward portion of the curve for a car.-Npdang
Re: $75 Cadence CWM-6KIT 6.5" comps--new value leader?
I had 2 sets of them before...to bad my install wasnt any good so I didnt get the most out of them...seemed like good stuff for the money to me as well...
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Re: $75 Cadence CWM-6KIT 6.5" comps--new value leader?
i would recommend these as a budget set, i have mine runnin off a cadence 6004, once it finally warms up here in MI i'll actually be able to deaden my doors and i'm sure they'll sound better. but for $80 you can't beat them.
Re: $75 Cadence CWM-6KIT 6.5" comps--new value leader?
any body else use these components? iam thinking really hard about them .
very nice review it a lone has almost convinced me to buy them and run them in the factory spots in my 03 envoy off of a zed built opti 100.2
Re: $75 Cadence CWM-6KIT 6.5" comps--new value leader?
I had them in my first install. very good sounding for the money. was running passive. A good install does them justice. a bad install makes people blame their equipment...common mistake.
Re: $75 Cadence CWM-6KIT 6.5" comps--new value leader?
So how would you guys run an active setup for the cadence?
Will this work, just for the front stage tho the mids run to the amp on a 4 channel amp and tweeters run to the hu using a p880prs?
And the rear speaker will probably be eD 6000vs2 or the same cadence but not run active.
Will that work or will it ruin the active setup in the front?
Re: $75 Cadence CWM-6KIT 6.5" comps--new value leader?
I had 2 sets of these in a sorta JL Audio VW set up (in my 95 dodge minivan) w/the 6's side by side and the tweet in the middl at the top of the pair and the othr pr of tweets mount on the dash far forward off axis. I used the passive xovr.
They sounded wonderful never shrillest or overly bright. I was always complimented on how good my minivan sounded I had the sets power off a Diamond Audio D5300.4.
My install was not exceptional but I did have the doors dampened and sealed just ok. My Xovrs didn't last long, I believe they would have lasted longer had I mounted them more securely and out of the way.
I'd buy this Cadence set again (altough I have anthr set BNIB) and recommend this cadence set to any one looking for good inexpensive sound.
Re: $75 Cadence CWM-6KIT 6.5" comps--new value leader?
I had 2 sets of these in a sorta JL Audio VW GTI set up(in my 95 dodge minivan) w/the 6's side by side and the tweet in the middl at the top of the pair and the othr pr of tweets mount on the dash far forward off axis. I used the passive xovr.
They sounded wonderful never shrillest or overly bright. I was always complimented on how good my minivan sounded I had the sets power off a Diamond Audio D5300.4.
My install was not exceptional but I did have the doors dampened and sealed just ok. My Xovrs didn't last long, I believe they would have lasted longer had I mounted them more securely and out of the way.
I'd buy this Cadence set again (altough I have anthr set BNIB) and recommend this cadence set to any one looking for good inexpensive sound.
Re: $75 Cadence CWM-6KIT 6.5" comps--new value leader?
I have installed roughly 15 sets of these in many budget set-ups for friends. I love them for the money. I had a set of these in my old Focus, with a set of the 5.25" coaxials in the rear doors. Sound great with 75 watts of power and had plenty of midbass with no audible harshness to me. Still love them.
Re: $75 Cadence CWM-6KIT 6.5" comps--new value leader?
Quote:
Originally Posted by 328iBMW
Thanks for posting. Good read.
How can he go active on that head unit when it only crosses at 200 Hz and below?
Not correct. 880prs can do a LP on the midrange that is much, much higher than 200 Hz. If you were reading the manual, make sure you understand the difference between network and normal mode.
$75 Cadence CWM-6KIT 6.5" comps--new value leader?
Linear Mode
