Build. vocal, classical.

Rock. Bass.

I recently retired my DM7s. They have provided excellent value at their price point for more than 25 years. Paid approx $1,250/pr, new. They still seem to sound "new" to me. As with all B&W products of that era, the build quality is excellent.

They were originally powered by Phase Linear 400/4000 system [original Bob Carver]. Later, Adcom 555/565. The speakers performed superbly... it's the electronics that could have been chosen better. Mid-range excellent, bass could be a little boomy and uncontrolled depending on the source. I think the DM7s today would compete well, performance wise, with new speakers around $3,000/pr and more.

I now have PMC IB2s [British again!] powered by Bryston [Canadian]. Although there is no comparison to be made, I will always remember and respect the performance of the DM7s.

Customer Service

Never required in over 25 years.

Similar Products Used:

none.

Amazingly well detailed soundstage, plenty of depth. Laid back sound, very smooth bass which is very snappy at higher volumes. Incredible bass extension (good for LFO fans). Sound awesome with organ music. Very large sound for a relatively small floorstander. Percussion sounds very very real. Contour controls on MK2s allow them to be "customised" to gel with harsher sounding Nautilus speakers in a surround sound setup. Phase distortion alignment works well with midrange/treble frequencies.

Sound more musical and "grown up" than speakers costing £2000 nowadays.

Mk2s look quite cool when cleaned (some tarnish on aluminium panel, but can be cleaned off with various cleaning products). Wooden cabinets built beautifully!

Bass can be slow and slightly vague at lower volumes. Drive cones suffer from extreme looseness, so bass rumble off vinyl tends to send them a bit haywire. Frets rattle unless taken off, or if someone can find a way of stretching them. Very power hungry (60 watts and above for larger rooms).

Not bi-wireable

Try and get the Mk2s if possible. Contour controls help to curb their extreme frequencies which can be annoying for the neighbours.

I bought these speakers when I saw them advertised in the local paper. I already had DM303s which I love to bits, and I am a big fan of B&W loudspeakers. I'm a student on an income of £30 a week, so I really can't afford much. I use the speakers with a Rotel RSX 1055 which I bought on eBay.

As people have said above, they are very power hungry. I originally used them with a 25 wpc Nad C300, and I was getting nothing out of them. Sounded no better than my sister's Hitachi micro system. Very very week and unstable bass, hollow midrange and the treble seemed very blurred and seemed to respond differently to dynamics to the bass/mid driver & passive driver combination.

I then borrowed my dad's C350 for a while, just so I could utilise some of the speaker's capabilities. The difference was huge. The bass was now stable well down below 40 Hz, and into subwoofer territories, and offered good response even at VERY low volume levels. I could turn the volume up quite high and they remained in control well, although the stereo image gets a bit confused at very high levels. As you turn the volume up more and more the bass gets better and better. Much snappier at higher volumes and very clean when it comes to kick drums. At low levels the bass can be a bit poorly defined. Midrange is pretty natural, although there sometimes seems to be a bit of bias in the upper midrange area.

When I moved up to the Rotel amp, it was just a general improvement across the board. Snappier bass at lower levels (although not that fast by today's standards) and much more detailed high end. The soundstage seemed much more forward, and spacious. The bass gained depth in the very low register and the response was imporved even further. Midrage seemed to lose it's slight lumpiness and the result is that certain instruments (particularly female vocals) seem quite real.

They play very loud when needed, although not recommended for those who listen to very loud vinyl, as the drive cones don't like very low bass rumble. They begin to reach their XMax pretty quickly, and while bottoming out doesn't make as much of a "bang" as a lot of speakers, these will let you know when you're giving them too much below the audible range. If you give them something which is excellently produced, and has had the ultra extreme low end filtered off, then they play VERY loud when needed.

I had to take the drive cones out and blu-tack the cables to the top of the cabinets as I found they were rattling at certain frequencies. To do this, lay the speaker on it's side and SLOWLY unscrew the top drive cones (not the tweeters). Be very careful as most of the weight from this speaker comes from the HUGE magnets on the back of the drive cones. When unscrewed, just put the drive cone face down on a soft carpet just by the baffle, and blu tack the cable to the top of the cabinet (the aluminium section in the MK2s like mine) at around 5 cm intervals. The result is no rattle at all, if you take the covers off. Don't worry if the iron on the magnet seems to be deteriating, It's natural in a speaker of this age, and these suffer from it much less than other models as the cabinets are very well sealed.

If you can get them with the original instructions, then you also get a frequency response graph and a date of the tests. Drive cones also have a date sticker on the back, and mine were made on the day of my birthday!

In very very good condition, I would pay up to £900 for a pair of these nowadays.

Customer Service

B&W have always been great when it comes to customer service. I've never had any problems with their products (100% reliable!) but I've rang them a few times and they're always great at answering the questions I have and the staff are very friendly!!

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Linn Ninkas compared directly (and the Linns weren't anywhere nearly as musical)

B&W DM604 S3 (again, not as good as the DM7s)

Neutral,uncoloured sound.Very low distortion.High power handling.Low frequencies give the impression of being aided by a subwoofer.

Red protection LED speaker safety indicator may come unglued from front cabinet face.(Easy repair)

B&W DM-2000 LOUDSPEAKERS.I have used these speakers since 1985.They sound execlent on all types of music.The speakers are of a 2-way design.A third driver is used as a passive radiator for the lowest frequencies with no electrical connection.Each speaker weighs 55 lbs,sealed enclourse.Has apoc automatic speaker protection circuit.

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Carver M-400t amp,Yamaha preamp,TEAC tape deck,Technics tape deck,Tuner,Technics CD player,Carver H-9av signal generator.rear channel Sony receiver with B&W DM-110 speakers.

Ultra smooth; low coloration

A bit bland for the 90s

I had these speakers for 5 years. They are very smooth, low coloration and extended but they lack the snap, transient accuracy and speed of newer designs. But I bet you they're not very phase linear. Everything sounds bland and slow through these speakers. I think the steep old fashion butterworth crossover is responsible because the drivers are of very high quality. Most newer designs use impedance compensated 1st order or 4th order Linkwitz Rileys these days that have better phase and time characteristics. I also had KEF 103.2s and DM12s (smaller version of DM7's and DM14s sold at the time) that exhibited the same problem typical of early 80's British designs. Overall these speakers are better suited to classical musical than rock or jazz.

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Thiel 04A; Vandersteen 2C

Nothing irritates your ear.

Poor dynamics. Sounds like peaks are rounded.

I had these speakers for some years, and was happy with them. They can't create the illusion of a life concert like the DCM Time Window's, but they are a very good compromise.
Smooth sound and adequate bass in smaller listening rooms.
They are power hungry like most speakers from B&W that were built in the 80's. 200 watts are OK. The protection system will disconnect them before you damage anything. Don't expect realistic dynamics from these fine speakers. They are softening everything somehow.

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DM 802F

You guys are lucky. This is one of the very first speakers that ever really showed me how musical a speaker can be. It's still on my short list of all-time great speakers. I hope yours stay healthy for a long time to come. A great speaker.

Even though these speakers are quite old (1983) I still enjoy them very much.Sound is first rate and build quality is excellent. Just last week I performed
some upgrades - more for looks - new gold plated binding posts, wood refinishing
etc. I was going to replace the internal wiring - but it's one big harness with
connectors, too complicated. Maybe later. They work very well with my Adcoms.

Build quality,smoothness,imaging(in comparison to some more conventional speakers)

ill defined bass, occassionally hollow mid-range, scratchy treble that wasn't integrated with the rest of the spectrum

I bought these back in 1982 and had them for about 2 months before I sold them through the local "Buy & Sell" free ad paper to a guy who, after an audition, gasped that they were the "clearest speakers he ever heard." He bought them on the spot. I later purchased the 802s which I had until recently.

The first "high end" system I ever heard was at a friend's house and utilized the DM 7 Mk I version. I was very impressed by the clarity, imaging and detail I heard (Sansui, Pioneer, AR was all I knew up till then). I was also intrigued by the pedigree of these speakers - "British" speakers? Don't the Brits make lousy cars, what about the "British disease" etc., etc. I researched B&W (Bowers and Wilkins - a type of steak sauce?)and have been a fan ever since.

It's hard to give value ratings for speakers I had almost 2 decades ago, since the quality of speakers have improved so much.

Similar Products Used:

B&W 802F, B&W DM-12, Rogers Studio Monitors, B&W DM -100i
Hafler amplification, SOTA TT, Denon CD player

I bought my DM7 IIs in Belgium in 1985. At the time I auditioned them with many other speakers including several other B&Ws. I used them first over there with a Denon PMA730 - 60wpc, & really enjoyed them. So much in fact I brought them back with me. Since then have used them in several different rooms, with Crown DC300A, Hafler DH500, B&K ST202 and various tube amps (Fisher, Scott, Pilot, Dyna, etc.). They image extraordinarily well and sound very musical. They do have significant bass extension but as someone pointed out don't have the slam you would get with a good subwoofer. In a smaller room they work really well with 25-50 watt tube amps, and I have crossed then to a sub too in bigger rooms. I can't bring myself to give them up, keep going back to them. I guess that's what you call a "reference". I have had to replace the cones on the woofers two or three times in fifteen years. I would rate them very, very highly - really maybe 4.5.

I've owned a pair of these since since 1979. I bought them to replace a pair of Magnepans that I simply couldn't accomodate. The trade in value of these speakers is about $200; if you can find a pair and you have adequate power, buy them. They like power -- 100 watts is the minimum. They are slightly less forward than some newer models by the same company, but they image very well, especially if you are sitting down. The speaker has a deliberate controlled-dispersion design philosophy, which limits upward dispersion from the tweeter. There's honest bass flat down to 35 Hz, but don't expect the weight that a larger speaker or subwoofer will deliver. I think they're a great used buy.