Cerwin-Vega CVA-121 Powered Subwoofer (2400 Watts, 1x21")

This 21-inch C-V subwoofer puts out a massive 1200 watts continuous power and 2400 watts peak. Add this bad boy to your PA system, and make the floor shake!

Overall User Ratings (based on 14 ratings)
  • Overall:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Sound:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Features:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Ease of Use:
    4.5 out of 5 stars
  • Quality:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Value:
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Manufacturer Support:
    4 out of 5 stars
  • The Wow Factor:
    5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
(14) (see rating details)
Submitted April 27, 2014 by Heath R

"cva 121 in action"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Since most reviews i read are either misleading or lack in details i decided to place a review on this sub that everyone can understand. I spent a lot of time researching powered subs for our needs...it was frustrating due to mixed reviews on practically every one of them...so in the end we basically did a hail marry and went with the original sub kings Cerwin Vega..we ware glad we did. The use for these subs for us is for both DJ and band use. We gave them a go last night for the first time and i have to say these are fantastic subs. They hit very hard, and got special attention from our female clientele ;). The gig was in an 80' x 80 building and was more than enough. We drove them about 50%sub gain...and 40%on the mixer... and it was all we could take. We are big Bassnectar fans and wanted extremely low and powerful bass ...and we got it in a powered package. It felt as though the building was going to fall apart bolt by bolt...brick by brick. We have been let down in the past in purchasing equipment by relying on reviews, our most recent mistake was investing in EV powered setup with subs......which proved to be less than impressive ....but the reviews about them had nothing but praise and hype. There is no hype when it comes to the cva121...it really delivers. I cant speak at this point about reliability, and the speaker itself is heavy as h....heavy....did i mention it was heavy. Plan on getting some cheap carts with big tires to make your life easier....the included caster wheels are nice but we wont be using them.. due to the speakers weight the caster wheels would hang up on every crack and crevice and make life hard not to mention all the rattling and jarring of the built in amp and all its sensitive contents . Even though the thing is heavy, it is very well made and most options you could ever want or need as far as control and input.

Musical Background:

rock band/ dj playing all types of music.....25 years

Musical Style:

rock, hip hop, country, blues, electronic
70 of 71 people (99%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!

Submitted January 7, 2015 by Michael P in Henderson, NV

"I don't care what it was made for."

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
I received the box on a palette on 1/6/15 after ordering on Christmas night 12/25/14. Quicker than expected since I went through two holidays and two weekends.When you ship this item freight you can't really track it like Fedex or UPS, it will only show processing even after you recieve it. The box was in great condition and was completely wrapped in saran wrap. Inside it was well protected with more extra thick cardboard and styrofoam.If you get your saran wrap or box damaged make sure you investigate inside the box first before signing the paperwork. Once you sign for it you pretty much release the carrier of any liability during the shipping process. Well thats what it says on the Cerwin Vega box. I had the driver fork lift it into the garage and after examining it I signed for it. He offered to dolly it into my bedroom so I let him do that and gave him a tip. Only way to get it out of the box without destroying the box was to lay it on its side and pulled it out. There are 4 heavy rubber feet at the bottom of the sub that are about 3/4" thick and would be ideal use on hard flooring. It came with a 5' standard 3 prong black power cord the same one's computers use and four casters ( 2 fixed and 2 swivel ) each wheel is hard black rubber and a wheel diameter of 3" the castor would add 4 1/2 " to the depth of your sub if you screwed them on. They are pretty heavy duty at 2 pounds each that you would need to screw in with 4 screws each so a power drill will be nice there. Since I will not need to move it again I opted not to use them. It is heavy but not so much as to not be able to move it around without the castors. So since it will be stationary, it could weigh 400lbs I don't care. It has all the controls recessed in the back all the knobs are easy to turn and feel solid. Also has a very large heatsink in the back for the amp which I will never utilize since I set mine on 2 or 3 on the gain. I wanted to improve the bass coming out of my computer. I like to listen to my mp3's, games, midi's and movies. I have not done anything since 1993 when I bought a pioneer vsx-9700s receiver and a pair of pioneer TZ-9's. Everyone at best buys and fry's pointed me to the bose systems with the sub but to me they sounded like little speakers trying too hard to be big. My TZ-9's sounded better anyway. I want to hear music as though I'm there live in a concert where they have monster speakers that you can feel! Then I came across a thread about someone who asked "why not use a CVA 121 for home theater?". It was either audiohaulics or hometheater.com . They didn't recommend it because it didn't go low enough for HT. They told him this speaker was for proffesional use only that you find in clubs, churches, concerts etc.. Matter of fact almost everyone recommended me not to get it for home use. I thought I like the way music sounded in clubs and concerts so I pursued the cva 121 which eventually landed me on zzsounds. I knew I had found the right place with the right equipment. I researched every PA subwoofer they sold and decided on the cva 121. The real clencher was due to learning that in a bedroom the cva 121 could make your ears bleed and cause brain damage as well as it being a leading cause of post traumatic stress disorder when in such a confined space. So it was a no brainer for me. I was thinking about the CV TS42 but you have to be about 8 feet away at least for the full sound wave to develop and since it's sitting next to me and the computer I needed something that would be fully developed when the sound leaves the speaker. With that being said everything was very reasonable and the cva 121 was a steal. I am so glad I did and that ZZsounds sells all the cables needed to adapt my computer to the cva 121 via a 1/8 TRS to Dual 1/4 TS and my home reciever via a Dual 1/4 TS to Dual RCA connectors. I was a little worried about line noise since i was going to be using lots of unbalanced cables but after plugging everything together there was ZERO READ MY LIPS 0 = ZERO HUMM I was very very pleased. I as ready to order that line zapper if need be. I set the crossover to 85HZ and let my TZ-9's take the top end. Let me tell you this my friend, the first music I played was a live concert DVD from Madonna's 1985 Virgin Tour, I felt like Iwas 15 again when I was there live! It was sooooo (explicitive) great, everything I imagined could be felt in the music like I was at the concert. You get that big concert sound that cannot be replicated in home systems. It has solid endless bass in all the right frequency's that matters the most!! I tried it out on my good old handy Roland MT-32 MIDI module and it sounds awesome! I love the percussion, taiko, koto and timpani are just the best on the mt-32! I don't care what or who this was made for it sounds a hella a lot better than anything else I heard. Only thing I would change is having the controls on top or front of the sub. I know its made for PA but thats not what I'm using it for and its on my wish list. I might try turning it around and let it bang the back wall to get easy access to the controls but I don't know how it would sound. And SIZE DOES matter... well that's what she said. Sorry Bose!! If I'm wrong than I don't wonna be right!

Musical Background:

Play at home

Musical Style:

everything
31 of 32 people (97%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!

Submitted July 25, 2012 by Joseph Vaughan in Austin, TX

"Great sub but HEAVY"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Great to add to your PA speakers so you don't have to push your main PA speakers so much. But, there is no getting around the fact that it takes 2 people to move this speaker. Even a body builder would have a problem picking this up solo due to its wide dimensions. Great sub tho, you will definitely turn heads! BREAK IN THE SPEAKER SLOWLY! USE FOR HIP HOP GENRES!

Musical Background:

DJ/Producer since 2002

Musical Style:

Hip-hop / Pop
34 of 36 people (94%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!

Submitted June 6, 2013 by Matthew Cincotta in Chicopee, MA

"Thumping!!!!"

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
These subs are sick!!! They literally give you that arena low end inside a club!!! Use with 3 way cross overs (stereo). Yes they are heavy but I'm always getting compliments on my low end bass!!!! 21" speakers? Cerwin Vega took out the guess work of matching speaker with power amp. I highly recommend these powered subs to those who want to stand out from the rest of the crowd!!! Don't take my word!!! See for yourself!!!!Peace!!!

Musical Background:

Guitarist, Drums, vocals, you name it!

Musical Style:

Hard Rock
19 of 20 people (95%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!

Submitted May 23, 2014 by Johan M in Miami, FL

"The beast..!"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
For those of us that love quality, durability, and SOUND. This sub stands out to its power. I'm an amateur DJ that just loves all kinds of music and mostly plays in friends and family venues but likes to go with the best quality my pockets can afford and let me tell you: this sub will not disappoint anyone; I use a rather simple set up but very efficient and this sub really completed my set up and more than met my expectations. At first when I plugged it to my mixer (basic mixer to sub connection) and turned up the volume just a tab, the windows in my house felt like they were about to give. The sound is excellent and perfect for a large number of venues, crowds, and spaces. I named it, THE BEAST..!
Sound
I would say this is the workhorse of subs. The sound is excellent and perfect for any type of music genre. I play all kinds of music, latin, freestyle, electronic, classic rock, you name it, I have a little bit of it, and this unit performs great with any genre due to the incorporated controls and settings you can play with, that come with the amp. For those of us that like electronic music the way it should be played, this is the sub to own. Overall, excellent sound quality.
Features
The versatility of the incorporated amp in this unit is one of the best I've seen in a unit and after reviewing a good number of subs and different brands, I decided to go for this one based on the reviews and specs. The amp in this unit comes with a variety of controls for basically any application and needless to say, a very powerful amp. It also comes with different connectivity options depending on the set up we like to use.
Ease of Use
Definitely an easy to use unit even though it can get very technical, beneficial to those sound experts out there, (I'm not. Very simple user) This unit can be plugged in a variety of different ways depending on the set up and needs, it can go from very basic connectivity (mixer straight to unit) or a more complex set up such as daisy chaining multiple units and so on. Now comes the fun part and the only drawback for some people: For those of you out there that don't like to deal with heavy items, this unit is not for you. This is an almost 200lb beast and it is NOT easy to transport and handle. Think seriously about this when considering this unit. If you don't mind the size and weight of this beast, this is the sub to own.
Quality
This unit is awesome straight out of the box. The built quality is excellent, the appearance of the unit is very appealing to any eye and the materials used to build this product are by far, excellent quality. I'm very confident that this sub will last a very long time and A LOT of parties to come. The amp is well built, placed in the right space and the buttons/knobs are strong and efficient, yet easy to use by almost any user.
Value
I would say this unit is worth every penny to those that appreciate a good quality product and want the best. In comparison to other brands and sizes, this is by far, the best value.
Manufacturer Support
No issues to report yet, however, I contacted Cerwin Vega by phone before purchasing this unit and they seem to have a very good customer support, they answered all my questions and concerns I had before buying this unit.
The Wow Factor
This unit in general is very appealing and it just looks great. The part that impressed me the most, I would have to say, it's the front grill; this thing looks, feels, and its built like a tank. I just love everything about this unit! and yes, even the weight of it. It just gives it character and along with its bad-ass all steel grill, it shows who's the boss..!

Musical Background:

Amateur DJ all my life, love all kinds of music and just enjoy playing at parties of all kinds.

Musical Style:

All genres, I don't have a preference although I do mostly latin and electronic.
14 of 15 people (93%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!

Submitted March 1, 2014 by James L in Lexington, TN

"Cva 121"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
These cerwin vega cva121 power sub. Are some kick azz subs they are the best subwoofer for the price. I have two of these in my game room and they are amazing

Musical Background:

I have been playing music for 25 years

Musical Style:

Rock, hip-hop, and country
12 of 13 people (92%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!

Submitted June 30, 2014 by george g in Alice, TX

"Great sub, flawed speaker glue design"

Overall: 1 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Gave overall rating a 1 and cannot recommend this sub unless CV addresses the glue issue on the speaker itself. Owned this sub going on 2 years. Works great, sounds great. Using in a medium size sports bar that has DJs Thu, Fri, Sat. After bout 10 months of weekend use, a rattle started so the sub could not be used due to the loud rattle. Contacted the manufacturer and found an authorized repair shop in San Antonio 2 hrs away. As soon as I told the repair person about the problem, he immediately knew that it was a glue issue. The speaker was not blown. something under the dust cone had come unglued and was loose causing the rattle. He already had an exact speaker with the same problem and showed me what it looked like with the dust cover removed.. CV replaced the speaker free of charge which was installed by the repair shop. Awesome! Back in business, great sub, great sound until this past weekend when the rattle returned after 11 months which means that the replacement speaker is having the same glue issue. So I will be contacting the same repair shop to report and see what happens now since speaker has already been replaced once. Have not read any reviews detailing this problem. The repair shop had only 1 other speaker besides mine. So maybe not a widespread problem but one that CV is aware of.

Musical Background:

mobile and club DJ for 20 years

Musical Style:

Rock, Top 40, Tejano,
9 of 10 people (90%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!

Submitted June 2, 2014 by John Fischer in Rockwall, TX

"Nice little package!"

Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
I bought 2 of these from ZZounds. I was using 4 L-36 folded horns. The L-36's took up too much room in my trailer and were just too big. After much research I decided to go with these 21" powered subs. They took a couple of gigs to get broken in. They deliver thunderous deep low end. They do NOT throw real far so if you are playing anything beyond a small to mid sized venue you will likely be disappointed by that. Of course, the L-36 had very long throw so I was spoiled. The Good: Solid deep bass, lot's of power and headroom, amp runs cool, easy to move around with the built in casters (except one of the casters was defective, and ZZOUNDS has yet to respond to my inquiry about that 1 week later...). The NOT so Good: These ship with NO covers! These will get torn up easily because of that, The casters are lame. On a box that weighs damn near 200 lbs put some half decent casters on there. I was on the fence about keeping them but after the 3rd gig with them I am now convinced. Probably will buy 2 more which will solve my biggest concerns... I am also planning to buy the top cabs (wish they were powered too).

Musical Background:

Professional Musician... Guitar, Keys, Vox, Band Owner.

Musical Style:

Rock, Pop, Country, Jazz, Techno
6 of 7 people (86%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!

Submitted February 9, 2014 by William Johnson in castleton, VT

"cerwin vega"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
amazing sound

Musical Background:

DJ for bout 20 yrs

Musical Style:

music of all kinds
5 of 5 people (100%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!

Submitted March 30, 2015 by Bryan K in Alliance, OH

"Great Sub!"

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
(see rating details)
Verified Customer zZounds has verified that this reviewer made a purchase from us.
Yes it is heavy. But the range of frequency is great. Not only thumps hard but sounds amazing.

Musical Background:

Mobile DJ

Musical Style:

Pop, Hip Hop, Techno.
4 of 5 people (80%) people found this review helpful. Did you?
Thanks for your opinion!
Please wait.