Cerwin-Vega stroker Pro 15 - Manual (Page 5)

needs to be
treated with respect.
The Stroker Pro is an amazing exercise in max-
imum potential, and while I don’t think this is every-
man’s subwoofer, for those who want to join the
Cerwin-Vega “loud and proud” tradition, it’s a very
serious piece of equipment. The engineering
integrity of the product is impressive and it has the
features required for producing extreme SPL in a
car (something to be very careful with if you value
your hearing). Given the ability to modify the sound
quality with the spider-adjusting tool, my guess is it
will come off well in the listening test. I’m as curious
as everyone else to know if a woofer that measures
this well sounds as good as it looks. —VD
SUBJECTIVE
The Cerwin-Vega Stroker Pro 15 arrived on my
doorstep in an Anvil-type case with steel flip-up
handles, just like those used to carry concert gear.
Opening the box I was blown away—the sub-
woofer itself looks fantastic. It’s tall, massive and
damn near 70 lbs.! But it’s the clear dust cap that
captures your attention, allowing you to view the
front spider and the carbon-fiber cone structure
beneath. Beautiful!
Once I got the sub out of its case (with a little
help), I quickly pulled out the instruction manual to
see what the power handling was. I damn near fell
off my stool when I read the 2,500 watts RMS
power figure and the mind-bending 5,000-watt
music rating! But this technological wonder doesn’t
come cheap. As a matter of fact, the Stroker Pro 15
is the most expensive subwoofer I have put through
its paces on these pages with a stag-
gering retail price of $1,699.00.
INSTALLATION
A quick call to Cerwin-Vega got me to
Bob Diamond, CV’s senior design engi-
neer. He recommended I use a sealed
enclosure with an internal volume of 2.7ft 3
for the best overall sound quality. Jayson
Olson, master installer at Speaker Works,
was enlisted to build this special enclosure.
The enclosure would be constructed out of two
layers of 3/4” MDF with internal bracing to add
strength and minimize flexing of the enclosure
walls.
Connecting the wires was fairly simple. The Pro
15 uses heavy-duty metal blocks with Allen head
set screws to lock the wires in. The subwoofer’s
dual 2-ohm voice coils were wired in parallel for a
1-ohm load.
Mounting the subwoofer into the enclosure was
a bit tricky. First, you are dealing with a front panel
on your enclosure that is twice your regular thick-
ness and Cerwin-Vega supplies these threaded
steel plates and cap screw bolts to hold the Stroker
in. My guys predrilled the holes in the box’s face
and then glued the threaded steel plates into posi-
tion. Remember, this is a large and heavy enclosure
at an estimated 70 lbs. Combine that with the Pro
15 and we’re dealing with approximately 140 lbs.
It was time to see if we could fit this behemoth
into my Scorched-Earth Black Ford F-350 truck.
There was no way to place it in my normal location
on the floor, so we placed it carefully on the rear
seat. We tried the Stroker facing up and forward,
pointing left and right, but it did not sound correct.
With the enclosure on the rear seat, my seating
location was in a null point and the bass response
was pitiful at best. If I put my head up by the steer-
ing wheel, bass level increased exponentially. I
flipped the polarity of the Stroker, which did not
help, so it was back to the drawing board. Our
solution was to pull the rear seat out of the Ford.
This would allow us to get the Stroker into the loca-
tion that generally works best for most subwoofers
MUSIC SELECTION
Music Points Cerwin Vega
Artist Title Type Possible Stroker Pro 15
Tracy Chapman “Heaven’s Here on Earth” Folk/Rock 12.5 11
Diana Krall “Love Scenes” Jazz 12.5 10.5
10,000 Maniacs “Peace Train” Pop Rap 12.5 11
Usher “Intro” & “Yeah!” Pop Rap 12.5 10.5
Total 50 43
Ratings: 01 Poor 06 Average 12.5 Superior
CERWIN-VEGA
STROKER
PRO 15