A very good loedsperaker. Set the speaker 50cm from the wall behind the speaker and the bass is perfect.

Hi
Just Selected any year model ad I wasn't sure.
Mine is the CDM7 ( not SE or NT).
I had these for a while and was planning to sell them as I never really could enjoy music for too long.
As some of the reviewers here also mentioned that it wad terrible.

Anyway , during my quest to replace them , I got more and more worried ad it seemed like I was going to have to spend 5 times more to improve on them , bearing in mind I bought them used and a bit cheap a few year earlier.

Anyway's my very trustworthy Hifi dealer set me done and reminded me about the basics wrt placement and room acoustics etc.

So off I went and started to seriously adress the positioning.
Wow man , I currently have them about 1 metre away from back walls(actually glass does with curtain). They gave a 80cm clearance to the nearest furniture piece and are 1.8 metres apart and pointing (toed in) to a central point 1.8 meter's as well. So basically I'm a triangle with all sided measured from the centre of the speaker face iin equal lengths of 1.8 metres.

Then I added the spikes and the disks used for tile floors as I have stone tiles + a pair of loose mats about 20 cm in front of them also pointing to the central point of the triangles front.
I then got a 2metre pair of banana terminated kimber PR8 cables and replaced the imterconnects from my pre to my poweeighth a used audioquest inter.

I sit about a metre away from triangles central point where the two speakers are pointed in to.

Man I turn my Mcintosh power amp to almost full power and my Linn pre to about 3 o'clock and play some vynil via my alphason sonata turntable an I tell you It id domething I can listen to over and over again.

Sure not the greatest soumd ever ... I've listene to many dear systems ,,,I.e. Recently an SME + mark levison + Psaudio + B&W 802 etc..,, and I tell you ,,,, I am not far off.....
Those multi thousand dollar systems are indeed much better , but I have achieved it (on a smaller scale) with same detail , clarity , staging , musicality etccc just on a smaller scale.

I am very happy indeed.

And then mine was all used items and this entire system for less then say in dollar terms 1000$'s.

What I Like most of this system is that it is not only for classic or pop or whatever.
It does well with Jazz, R&B, Disco and even modern rap.

Awesome

Tweeter is very much OK. OK in a movie set. Looks.

Midband smoothness. Bass-control. Overall balance. Price.

Having used the CDM7 for three years i have to report that i made a big mistake then. These speakers suffer from major design flaws. I have tried to get them right for three years by tweaking, positioning, cables, amplification, everything. But what allways remained was flubby and boomy bass that was far from tight or controlled and a basic uneveness in the midband which lacked smoothness and coherence. Don't buy without seriously auditioning other speakers.

Similar Products Used:

B&W Nautilus 805, Monitor Audio New Silver 6.

Definition and unsuspected presence effect. Run good at hi volume too Best compromise price/quality

It was not easy for me to choose loudspeakers. First I bought all the rest: a "Rega Planet" CD player, a "Dissanayake" tube preamplifier and a dualmono "NET MK100b" final amplifier. Some friends gave me the possibility of test their loudspeakers with my devices and the experience was amazing! Each model, starting from low cost untill (almost) the top gave great surprises, everyone gave its own interpretation of the same CD. Finally I choice the CDM 7 because they give me the impression to be a very very good compromise between price and performance. They describe with accuracy every detail of jazz band instruments, they renstitute the massive impression of the classic synfonic orchestras and, finally, they run fast upon the '60 and '70 rock band. For me (I'm not addicted only to few kind of music) these loudspeakers work greatly, and are able to fill without problem my 55 sqm living room. I like very much their HF and the strength of LF (tested also with Prodigi's "The fat of the land"!!!!!) Try to believe (and buy!!)

Great top end, and mids. Good design, well put together, look great in my room - overall an excellent speaker

Perhaps lacks punch at low frequencies. No doubt compensated with use of a sub-woofer.

Just bought these speakers, used, from a dealership with a 6 month warranty for 400 quid. My first set of B&W speakers, and boy what a difference they make compared to my old Eltax standmounts. They sound great, amazing high frequency detail probably thanks for the Nautilus tweeter design, great mids. My only reservation is that whilst this speaker goes low down in the frequency range, some bass can sound a bit incoherent, perhaps this is just my small listening room, but comparing it to my car audio, it certainly hasn't got as much punch. Overall a great speaker, attractive design and well put together. System: Nakamichi AV-10, now have the B&W CC6 centre, Gale Mini Monitor 2 rears, Panasonic RV-31 DVD source.

Similar Products Used:

Friend's B&W DM601's

The CDM7 is the big (but younger)brother of the CDM1. I owned a pair of CDM1s for about a year before auditioning and exchanging them for the CDM7s. I liked the CDM1s a lot, but yearned for a well-integrated low frequency extension capability - some people have achieved this with the addition of a subwoofer, but I never found one to integrate really well in my living room. Unlike the CDM1s, the CDM7s have received less than universal applause in the European press. My own opinion is that they are simply sensational! For me they do everything right, providing the speed, detail, imaging, coherence and harmonic richness of the CDM1s, with the added low frequency, authority and dynamics more typical of the floor-stander variety of speakers. All this comes in an attractive real wood veneer (mine are cherry), tightly-braced cabinet, about 37' tall, which takes up no more floor space than the CDM1s on good stands.
Like all speakers, optimal subjective performance from the CDM7s is dependent upon careful system matching. I have found that both the CDM1s and CDM7s benefit enormously from bi-wiring. I use Audioquest midnight for the LF drivers and Audiquest Type 4 for the HFs. I have found the Midnight cables to be unequalled at their price for their ability to help generate tightly controlled bass response, and extraordinary dynamics. Given the production shortcomings in many recordings, I personally lean towards creating an audio system that allows me to listen to ALL of my favorite music, poorly recorded or not (don't let the tail wag the dog). I have found the Type 4 speaker cable to perform very well at achieving an acceptable compromise between detail and extended listenability - in other words it seems to filter out HF harshness, while retaining the dynamics, harmonics and musicality in HF information (at a surprisingly reasonable cost). With these wires, my CDM7s are hooked up to a Bryston 3B-ST amp, Rotel RD995 preamp, and the CD source is a Cal Audio Labs CL-15; interconnects are Cardas Golden Cross (I arrived at this combination of outstanding products over several years). In the context of this system, the CDM7s themselves disappear, but fill my living room with musicians performing before and around me. I find the CDM7s to be one of those rare and special audio products that are capable of bringing into the home environment the full intensity of emotional communication within music.

After months of auditioning speakers in this price range I purchased a pair of B&W CDM7 SE and am happy to say I'm delighted about the purchase. With my modest NAD 317 integrated amp and decent speaker wires and line filters for A/C interference I can truthfully say the sound is spacious, clean, tight etc.. A great sound stage with very nice imaging, these speakers do a great job of vanishing leaving nothing but the music to enjoy. They do not seem to possess gut wrenching bass (which is ok by me) but rather are well balanced, enjoyable to listen to and the detail they exhibit is uncanny. Mostly I listen to Jazz and they do a great job of making the musicians appear in my midst. I feel these speakers are well worth the $ spent and are finished nicely. B&W seems to have finally got this product right after redesigning the CDM 7. The new changes to this speaker elevate to a "best buy" status in my opinion. These speakers deserve a careful "listen to" if you're in the sub $2000. price range. Bring your favorite cd and I think you"ll be impressed; best if you can get them home where they can be listened to with your equipment. Good luck

I have been looking for new speakers for a long time, when I suddenly saw this amazing speaker at my local store! What a design 1000000000000 stars/speakers for that B&W!!! The CDM 7 speaker looks very high tech and it is! I have listen to them very intencely, and found them to be very open and detailed. What impressed me the most is the very very tight bass, and a good and deep 3-dimensional listning perspective. You will find new instruments and joy on your old cd's, a must have speaker. however I did not buy this speaker I waited for the CDM 7 SE, which is an even better speaker they provide a bit more clarity but apart for that the two speaker are similar in many ways. The CDM 7 is yet another great speaker from B&W!

I had the oppurtunity to listen to these speakers along with the Matrix 805, Castle Harlech's at a demo earlier this year. The speakers were all hooked up to the new Celeste Moon integrated amp, high end Linn equiptment with a Linn Mimik as a source. I have to say that the CDM7 are the worst pieces of trash for speakers that I have ever heard. To call the bass boomy was an understatment. In fact the entire sonic spectrum sounded bad. The retailer agreed with me entirely and looked embarassed from the sound. The Matrix 805's sounded great as did the Harlech's. If you want to spend approx two grand on loudspeakers (floorstanders) buy the Castle's otherwise do not and spend the extra money to buy the 803-2's. If you want to buy a monitor...805's are the way to go.

Quickness, detial, sound field

Bass

I auditioned many speakers before finally settling on the CDM7's. Frankly, I have not seen any other speakers in this price range which had all of the strengths of the CDM7's. They are extremely quick, which makes them wonderful for jazz. They also have a rich, 3-D sound stage, fabulous detail and imaging, and good, realistic bass response. I've never been more satisfied with a pair of speakers than I am with these.