![]() ![]() The actual radiating diameter of the pulp cone is 4.5". ![]() Though specifications and literature state that the Ambiance features a 6.5" woofer, this dimension misleadingly includes the mounting plate. The Ambiance, Cambridge SoundWorks' second product, is a more conventional minimonitor that resembles a slightly larger-scale version of the Ensemble satellite. In addition, the notion of selling only direct to the public, with a 30-day money-back guarantee and a toll-free number where expert advice would always be available (at least from 9am to 10pm EST, Monday through Saturday, and 9am through 6pm EST on Sundays), proved a winner. The company's first product, a tiny satellite/dual subwoofer package called the Ensemble, along with a similar package from Bose, set the style for what now appears to be a bestselling "lifestyle" loudspeaker system (footnote 1). He appeared to lose his way in the '80s when his company produced a projection TV system, but the appearance of Cambridge SoundWorks saw a return to his woofer'n'tweeter roots. Kloss has been a speaker man all his life, being involved in Acoustic Research in its formative years, leaving that company to found KLH, then becoming the force behind Advent. They cost $218/pair plus $10 S/H.Ĭambridge SoundWorks' Chairman is one Henry Kloss, a name that will be familiar to anyone who has followed the US hi-fi market for more than five years or so. We bought the Cambridge SoundWorks Ambiance speakers through the mail. This company, which has demonstrated an astonishingly fast rise from nowhere on the strength of Henry Kloss's name and superbly written ad copy, has even disposed of the conventional retail network to sell its products, relying instead on an aggressive mail-order operation, coupled with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Nevertheless, for this review, I chose a model from a company renowned for its marketing strength: Cambridge SoundWorks. No matter how good the product, without good marketing the manufacturer stands little chance of success a poor product superbly marketed may make a company successful overnight, but that success will have hit the end stops by the following night. In the audio separates market, conventional wisdom would have a hard time categorizing any individual company: no matter which you choose, it would be simplistic to say that it is either product- or marketing-led. Regarding my Soundworks 740 I'm now right back at the start.According to the conventional wisdom, companies selling consumer products fall into two categories: those whose sales are "marketing-led" and those whose sales are "product-led." Marketing-led companies tend to sell mature products into a mature market where there are no real differences between competing products-soap powder, mass-market beer, or cigarettes, for example-whereas product-led companies tend to sell new technologies, such as personal computers and high-end hi-fi components. For my project this information comes too late but others having to replace a character display while the original part isn't available anymore (PowerTip as I've found out has discontinued this product by the end of 2012) my findings may be helpful. For a product like the Soundworks 740 this timing is defined within the units firmware, so it's not possible to adapt it according to what the ST7066U requires without reengineering. 1:1 compatible by dimensions and instruction set the ST7066U requires a slightly different initialization timing as I've got to know by reading lots of contributions on several other forums meanwhile. The part came in really fast and I replaced the old, broken one the same day - unfortunately just to discover the Soundworks 740 does not like the change in LCD-controller at all ! While the original LCD-strip PC1602WRT-LWB-F-YB is built around a Hitachi HD44780 controller the Newhaven unit uses a ST7066U by Sitronix. Following TheFlinx suggestion I've ordered one of the Newhaven displays (NHD-0216SZ-FSW-FBW) at Digikey. ![]()
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