TWag

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
1.00 of 5, 1.00 votes

Price Paid:  $425.00 from Ken Crane's

Summary:
This center is paired with 7NT's, an ASWCDM sub and 601 s3's for the rear. The front three speakers are bi-wired using Audioquest cables. B&W's have been a favorite of mine for a long time, and when they discontinued this line, it became affordable. This center is more than I originally planned for and am amazed at its performance capability. The voices are clear, clean, accurate and natural sounding. I've noticed a difference when moving to separates, but was very content when the system was managed by a Yamaha RXV-2400. During busy soundtracks, such as the Matrix, the detail was never sacrificed for volume. At loud levels, it remained clean. Even though this center is matched with 7NT's from the same lineage, the CDMCNT requires more adjustment as it is louder. The speaker did soften after break-in and I think that that is why they recommend periodical re-calibrations. The center is the most important speaker during movie playback, so I based my initial theater speaker setup on this speaker first before I picked the remaining speakers. So good luck with your research, and I hope this review is helpful.

Strengths:
Beautiful finish, and incredible sound. A strong centerpiece for anyone who can't afford the Nautilus line, but who wants near-Nautilus performance.

Weaknesses:
Could be awkward to shelf this one. You need to measure and prepare for this one as it is 12 inches tall.

Similar Products Used:
CDM Series speakers, Audioquest cables, Classe SSP-60, Earthquake Cinenova amp, Denon player

Price Paid:  $0.00

Summary:
This is a beautiful and excellent sounding center channel. The sound is extremely detailed, open, crisp and clear. Voices sound accurate and it seems to have a real overall sweetness in the sound. It looks very elegant with nice wood finish and good style, even better with the grill is off to reveal the kevlar driver. Compared favorably to the nautilus center.

Strengths:
Real hi-end looks & sound without the price.

Weaknesses:
None

Similar Products Used:
b&w nautilus, CC6 s2, infinity renaissance, kappa

Price Paid:  $400.00 from audio store

Summary:
well, i used b&w dm601, dm604, and cdm1 in the past, now i'm using b&w matrix805 for the front and cdm2 for rear,cdm cnt do not match my 805 and cdm2 sound,805 and cdm2 have the same tonal balance,sensitivity,etc though,only differ in quality,but this cdm cnt really ruin my system,i already know it's very sensitif(91db) from the spec,so i thought i only need to turn my center volume down a little,but i didn't expect this speaker would be so bright in upper midrange,after i tweak the equalizer in my yamaha dsp amp (-2db 1kHz - 6kHz)and have an excellent tonal matching with 805,805 and cdm cnt sounds exactly the same loud,my question : did b&w sacrifice cdm cnt frequency response for sensitivity(to keep up with cdm nt tower) or my matrix 805 freq. resp. is not flat enough for today standard?please listen carefully with your cdm nt main speakers, 600 series and nautilus have 2 center speaker choices to really match their main speaker,but cdm nt and 700 series dont,doesn't it too loud and bright for your cdm1nt?doesn't it too bright but not enough bass for your cdm9nt?it's surely too loud,too bright,and too big for my cdm2 speaker

Strengths:
all except the weaknesses

Weaknesses:
too bright, too big

Similar Products Used:
jbl ht1f

Price Paid:  $550.00 from Clark Music

Summary:
This is a big center speaker, and heavy. However, it sits on top of a 48" widescreen televion so it's not a problem in my set-up. My room is 24' X 24' with 8' ceilings. It is flanked with two NT9s and a SVS sub, driven with a 200watt/channel amp. I use an 80db crossover for this center channel and trimmed it using a RS meter. With vocals, the males and females sound natural. This speaker has an airy sound to it. Has an extremely wide dispersion patter, you can be off axis 40degrees and it still sounds the same. Music sounds very accurate. Pans never have that left-center-right sound, just a smooth transition from left to right. Hard to determine if the center is even on, quite an engineering compliment. Would highly recommend this to anyone with the space and weight requirement.

Strengths:
One tweeter above one woofer design High quality crossover between tweeter and woofer Wide dispersion pattern Non-metalic sound from a metal tweeter High seperation Compliments the CDM NT9s extremely well Bi-amp capable Transparancy

Weaknesses:
Size Weight

Price Paid:  $600.00

Summary:
The CDMCNT compliments my CDM9NTs in my hometheater / audio setup. Before purchasing the B&Ws I listened to a multitude of speaker manufacturers. The CDMCNT center speaker is dynamic, sweet sounding, has a sweet aire to it, and never sounds strained or overly bright. Just very accurate. The speakers is on the larger side of center channels, but the cabinet size lends itself well to the performance it achieves. The performance is sweet, so I don't mind the size. Bargain even at 600 bucks. You won't find a better center channel at any price.

Strengths:
great dynamics sweet mids, and great frequency response.

Weaknesses:
Cabinet a little on the large side.

Similar Products Used:
ads, monitor audio, energy, boston, klipsch, martin logan, theil, krell