Beautiful construction

Excessive warmth, slowness, flat

Seriously, for those who like warm sound this model would suffice. Those looking for balanced accurate sound should check out ribbons or if not possible Dunlavy. I just hate that CDM 1SE like sound. As for the bass problem, why replace the amp when you can use an equalizer (it's a good thing), get better placement, or simply get a sub. To do justice, I've only had the opportunity to audition the B&W once. The price is actually not bad especially considering the materials used. But they need to go back to the engineering room. No hype please, we want performance.

Similar Products Used:

Too many to list... ribbon, es, you name it.

Well balanced across the musical spectrum. Does not empahasize one frequency over any other. Very transparent in my environment. Able to handle complex musical passages without stress. Very good highs with air around the instruments. Good lows (to about 35hz). Excellent Soundstage and depth. Excellent binding posts, fit and finish. They keep sounding better as my equipment improves!

Long break-in period. Bass is reasonably deep but not enough for deep bass lovers. Footprint is very small and can tip over without too much effort, so need to be careful when smaller children and medium size or larger dogs are around.

I really, really like these speakers. They are not flashy and do not say "Hey, Look At Me!" They are very competent without calling attention to themselves. Just like a person who excels at art or sports or whatever can make what they do look easy, so do the 7SEs. They are so calm that its easy to ignore all that they do so well. I have pretty good and fairly transparent equipment (see list below), so I need speakers that get out of the way and let me get into the music. These do that very well. I can't think of higher praise

My listening tastes are as follows:
I listen to Classical, New Age, Classic Rock, Acoustic Folk, Jazz and whatever else strikes my fancy.

My system is as follows:

Front End:

Audio Research CD2 CD player
Ortofon MC200 Moving Coil cartridge
Luxman PD 375 Vacuum platter turntable w/ integrated arm
Mark Levinson JC1 head pre-amp
Denon TU800 Tuner

Rest:

Musical Fidelity A3cr pre-amp (review to follow)
Musical Fidelity A3cr power amp (review posted)
Sony TC-707ES Cassette Deck


Interconnects:

Analysis Plus Copper
BEL: The Wire
Transparent Audio Music Link Super XL
DH Labs Silver Sonic
Kimber PBJ

Speaker: Dual run of BEL SS24 speaker cable bi-wired

Power Cords: BMI Virtue Majik and Transparent Audio Reference.

Similar Products Used:

NEAR 40MEs

Highs and mid, vocals, power, build quality, ...
Great all-rounder

Could do with some more bass. Rather difficult to set up right. Highs can sound edgy with poor software, cables or other bright equipment.

I own this speaker for more than a year now. It's a great speaker. There are of course many speakers that perform better, but cost much more.
I bought them because I listen to a wide selection of music. It performs well with all kinds of music.
It really sounds great with vocals!
At 150WPC and 90 dB sensitivity, it is easy to drive with any amp, and it really goes loud. However, the bassresponse sometimes is not quite what it should be. But hey... a sub can make it right!
But the bass is mostly sufficient, if you don't listen to heavy music.
Even then : with 40Hz at +-3dB it is not a bad performer.

I used them with silver cable, which could be an extra cause for them to be weaker at lows.
I don't use a sub, since I tend to like a brighter sound.
The Arcam is not a good choice since it's too lame at mids, which makes a really bad combination with the CDM7SE's.
The Sphinx make them sing. The JVC is my old amp, and it lacks power with 85WRMS PC.

In short : Carefully selecting wiring and interconnects can adjust the sound to your taste. Ideal speakers for vocals! (for the price)

Test system :

Speakers : B&W CDM7SE
Amps : Arcam Alpha 10
NAD S200
Sphinx Project 12
JVC AX-A662
Sources : SONY CDP-XB930
ARCAM Alpha 7
Marantz ... (It's not mine and I can't remember)
SONY MDS-JE520
Interlinks : Some cheap stuff ;-)
Profigold
Van Den Hull D102 III HB
QED Qunex Silver Spiral
Speaker cable : QUDOS Silver 25th Anniversary Edition
Homemade Twisted Pair LS Cable
(10mm²/strand)

Similar Products Used:

B&W 600 series 2, Dynaudio, Revox, several electrostats, ...

Vocal, Guitar, Mid and high

Really low bass. (10-20 Hz)
Also when there are too many intruments the speaker looses his sharpness.

My system consists of :

Marantz 6000 OSE CD

Motif ms 1001 f.e.t Power Amplifier 2*100 watt (which is Conrad-Johnson trademark for Mosfet transistors)
Coral Interconnects cables.
Pioneer 525 DVD

Am very much pleased with these speakers.
Dianna Krall or any other vocal music simply sound incredible.
Jazz/blues with not too many instruments is excellent.
Violin /guitars is very sharp and colorful.

Don't expect really low bass from these speakers,
but the bass they produce is more then enough for me.

I originally connected them to a home theater system with a Meridian 565 processor, Meridian active center speaker and Mission 760 surround speakers. Result was good but not breathtaking. (even with the eagles DTS :)

When I directly connected them to the Marantz 6000 OSE through the Motif power amp, the sound improved dramatically.

Bottom line,
Value 4 Stars - (a little expensive)
Overall 4 Stars - If you look for low bass, look somewhere else.

Similar Products Used:

Mission 760ose Speakers
Nad 304 Integreated

Detailed, smooth

Sound shut-in

When is a Special Edition not a special addition. Why the B&W CDM series of speakers. B&W is a victim of their own success. These are not bad sounding speakers, but the original CDM series sounded better.
So why did they change them?
If you browse the sales literature there are clues.
First and foremost is the mention of a separate crossover boards. They are 2nd order filters. 2nd order filters are easier to mass produce. So what this really means is B&W is mass producing the crossovers and mounting them in the speakers later instead of building each crossover into the speakers (the 1st order filters in the original CDMs).
This change was made so they came build more speakers faster to keep up with demand, it was not done to improve the sound as they would like you to believe.
The new dispersion techniques they discuss to improve the detail is proof. These techinques were not needed in the old version, they sounded fine the way they were. The SE version needed a quick fix.
I like B&W speakers, don't get me wrong. But the CDM SE series is overpriced for what you get and how they sound.

Similar Products Used:

601, 602, P5, CDM-1, Matrix 804

Clean, detailed presentation; build & looks

Limited bass, arid/cold sound

What a bloody disappointment. I auditioned my dealer's floor models at home for week. They were well broken in, etc., and I heard both with tubes (CJ MV 55) and solid state (Rotel RB 991, Bryston 4B ST, NAD Silverline). I find their sound to be analytical, clean/crisp to the point of distraction (this cleanliness seems to be a B&W trademark, re: 803), and the lack of deep bass really limits your enjoyment of rock and rap. It produces what bass it can quite well, but I found the roll off at those deep registers annoying for an $1800 speaker.

I agree that the speaker is tonally balanced, being neither bright nor warm, and yet this speaker is stubbornly uninvolving and surprisingly boxed-in. The midrange is surprisingly dry. It made Diana Krall and Glenn Gould sound mechanical and uninteresting. Orchestral works are detailed, but there is no depth to the soundstage. Given all the glowing reviews on this board, I was completely underwhelmed. I ended up buying a pair of Studio 100s which basically do everything the CDM7SE cannot.

SYSTEM:
Arcam FMJ CD 23
NAD S100
NAD S200
Sony SA50ES
Paradigm Reference Studio 100
Audioquest Viper
Tara Labs RSC Prime 1000 bi-wire
Audioquest Little Feet/Vibrapods

Similar Products Used:

Paradigm, Polk, NHT, Joseph, B&W 803

the cdm1se is better. the 7 cabinet is bigger, so it vibrates more, so the music is not as clear. a 3 way speakers crossover is overly complicated, making the crossover cross, for example, right down the middle of a piano, where i hear the crossover more. a crossover has some distortion, & is necessary, but without them frequencies would overlap too much. both speakers have the same midwoofer, excect the 7 has less travel movement, resulting in less mid bass.the 7 cabinet is too big to have good mid range, but has betterbass, but the 1 with a sub, i get the best of both worlds. if the 7 had the lower woofer sealed off airtight from the rest of the cabinet & had 1 more port added to this cabinet, it would be a better speaker. what this does is make the mid woofer not be in such a large inclosure, thus better mid range sound. also, about the new more exspensive series of b&w, they are not as good, it is just a money making scheme for unsuspecting rich people. one thing i do like about the 7 is the tonal balance, the ability to play a wide range of frequencies that blend in well together.

clarity and warmth

positioning

After 5 days of constant running in (24 hours a day) I was
very dissapointed, lousy soundstage, clarity and 3 dim.....
(so I see why these speakers have only 2 stars from some reviewers)...........then suddenly....bang....soundstage clarity and 3 dimensionality all started to click into place and after two weeks of constant playing I was delighted with these speakers, piano sounds clear, vocals sound sweet and guitars just sing.
I agree with the other reviews these speakers need to be positioned just right, but after this is done just sit back close your eyes and drift of into a musical wonderland

Detail, Clarity

Low, loud bass

After my Infinitys died, I looked for a quality speaker. I had a budget of $4000.00 to spend at first. Bought a boat so I had to drop the budget to $2500.00 I listened to Def. Techs, Paradigm(studio 100s and 80s, Ariel, Infinity, and the B&W lines of speakers. Oh yea, I even tried the Legacy speakers. Compared to my old Infinitys, MOST all these speakers sounded better. I had listened to the B&W DM602 I think at one point as my first B&W speaker. Hated it. It wasn't untill about 4 months later that I heard the B&W Nautilas 802. Way too much money for me, but boy did I hear some detail from the cd I had not heard before. The music just seemed to come to life. It was a Yanni cd I was using as a test cd. I also used a Kenny G. cd and a Brooks and Dunn cd. I also used a live Roxette cd. I like all types of music from jazz to country to techno to metal to new age. I also wanted a "forward" sounding speaker. Once I heard the 802s, I started listening to the other speakers again, and to the CDM 7SE. I found the 7SE sounded like I wanted it too. Forward, detailed, crisp, good soundstage. It was all there with a great looking cabinet and price. $1650.00 or thereabouts for their "B" stock. Bass was a little light. I do not need to "goose" the bass knobs on my preamp, but I found that with some material, the 6.5" yellow Kevlar cone will modulate a bit. In other words, the volume I play it at will allow the voice coil to move too far from the magnetic gap and cause distortions in the music. I knew I would need to buy a sub anyway so I did not let a little shy bass rule me against these. The sub may come this year. I do find that CDs that arn't recorded well are noticed right off. I think thats good. Those that are recorded very well, sound very good. I use a Yamaha Preamp, Yamaha main amp(250w/ch@8ohms. 2ohm stable. Will produce over 1000w/ch@2 ohms) Yamaha cd player and Panasonic DVD player. They seem very easy for my amp to drive. Future upgrades include a sub or 2, and Krell amps and preamps. I give 4 stars because 5 stars would be perfect, and we all know, there is no perfect speaker.

Similar Products Used:

Infinity Ref.5

Accuracy, clarity, detail. Build quality. Looks.

Bass, average soundstaging

I hate to be the spoilsport amongst all these glowingreviews, but these speakers just did NOT rock my world for $1600 ($1800 list). I returned them after a week and got a pair of Paradigm Studio 80s which for me are clearly the better speaker.

Let me start with what I loved about this speaker:
Amazing detail and clarity. They're so accurate you better have good gear and CDs. No grain I could hear. The mids and highs are precise and just-right sweet. (So precise in fact that I occasionally found the sound a little arid.) The pair I demoed were fairly warm when paired with neutral-ish electronics like my Rotels, which is good. When playing jazz/vocals and acoustic music, the CDM 7 SEs are fairly untouchable at this price point. Diana Krall, Phillip Glass’ "Koyaaniqatsi" soundtrack (the choral bits particularly), Eric Clapton unplugged—all are immaculately rendered by this speaker. Build quality is perfectly solid. And they’re the best-looking speaker I’ve ever seen.
(BTW, I did let the B&Ws play for four days straight with a variety of CDs and volumes for break-in. Still, I would say they were only about 75% of the way there...but more about that later.)
I was not stunned by the soundstaging, however. Maybe they were just poor recordings, but for me, this speaker generally had little depth, nothing which involved me emotionally. I A/B’d these speakers against a pair of Thiel .5s, and boy do those babies have air, imaging and soundstaging to rival a good concert hall. INCREDIBLY transparent. If I only listened to jazz, classical, and vocals I would have kept these (demoed for 6 days). The B&Ws, while very very accurate and fairly musical, just couldn’t begin to caress certain mids and vocals the same way. Unfortunately, the Thiels have quite limited bass response unless you go up $750 to the 1.5s, which are magical...
Which brings me to the straw-breaking reason I finally had to bring these back—not enough quality bass.
First let me say I am not a club hopping bass junkie, but I have an EXTREMELY eclectic CD collection. I do like a strong bass presence, when appropriate. My speakers must be versatile enough to jump from Coltrane and Jarret and Ry Cooder to Roxy Music to Underworld and Deep Dish with a touch of Fela Kuti and furious Neil Young. My speakers need to be able to express bass musically but forcefully whenever necessary, no hesitations. These B&Ws just can’t do it. They seem thinnest on synthesized/sampled bass (a la Chemical Brothers, Portishead). Fluid stand-up bass is actually pretty well-rendered. But the fact remains, the only way I could get muscular, satisfying bass was to crank the volume uncomfortably high. I did not want to buy a sub. I’m not a spec freak, but I the bass extension on these is only 40 Hz (and it’s a genuine three-way!!) Incidentally, bi-wiring only seemed to help the clarity of the highs, at least with my electronics. No significant improvement in bass power or detail.
A good number of other reviewers have already noted this bass problem, and I would just add that it’s because the mids and highs are so well-engineered. This speaker can actually appear a bit unbalanced with SOME music (Beastie Boys). Some reviewers were content to "compromise" because of the extreme musicality, but I just couldn’t shake the nagging, no gnawing, sensation that 25% of the melody was being strangled when I threw on certain house, techno or rap CDs. For $1800, these speakers should shout just as well as they sing, and not just on snobby "audiophile" recordings.
Folks, I really wanted to love these speakers. I don’t work for a competing brand, I have no hidden agendas. They were still way better than the boomy Polks and somewhat muddy Kefs. I may have kept them another week, but I had to return within 7 days. I do know they would have gotten warmer and more detailed. But break-in just can’t add that much bass. The dealer tried to tell me that my "ear" would eventually re-orient and I would learn to appreciate lovely mids over "throbby" bass. That seems like an awful lot of work for a speaker of this price, I say.
In closing, I would recommend these speakers for this this price if you ONLY listen to well-recorded classical, opera, jazz/vocals and acoustic guitar. Maybe soundtracks. But for the rest of us who ALSO enjoy to house/techno, hard rock, pop, rap and funk, I’d have to give these a thumbs down and highly recommend the (cheaper) Paradigm Studio 80s. (If interested, check out my review of them—love at first listen.) You’d be giving up a tiny, miniscule, have-to-really-be-nitpicking amount of detail, for a much fuller, realistic gorgeous sound, with more airiness and sensuality to vocals to boot. I’m giving these a 2 for value, 3.5 for sound, 3 overall.

This is, of course, all laughably subjective.

:)

System:

Rotel RB 981
Rotel RC 972
Rotel RCD 950
NAD 515
Audioquest Jade IC
Tara Labs Prism 2+2 bi-wire

Similar Products Used:

Kef reference 2, Dynaudio, Paradigm Studio 60 & 80, Polk RT 2000