Proud new B&W owner here...

[sal1k]

New poster to these forums here...

My wife and I are proud new owners of a pair of B&W CM9's (and a Rotel RSX 1550)...

We don't take delivery for a week or two, but we're thrilled.

I was thrilled that she also agreed after the auditions that the CM9's were the way to go for us (we auditioned the CM7's, and 683s, and 684s).

-Sal

(wenge, if you're wondering)

[audioqueso]

Congrats! Glad to hear your wife is along for the ride as well. That's always cool. Be sure to post pictures once you receive them. We love pictures. Happy listening!

[emig5m]

New poster to these forums here...

My wife and I are proud new owners of a pair of B&W CM9's (and a Rotel RSX 1550)...

We don't take delivery for a week or two, but we're thrilled.

I was thrilled that she also agreed after the auditions that the CM9's were the way to go for us (we auditioned the CM7's, and 683s, and 684s).

-Sal

(wenge, if you're wondering)

Since I've done extensive listening at home with the 684 and 683 I was wondering what your thoughts are on them and what you liked better with the CM9's?

[BWLover]

Since I've done extensive listening at home with the 684 and 683 I was wondering what your thoughts are on them and what you liked better with the CM9's?

yes me to. the CM9"s could be my next set. what are your thoughts

[Opus007]

I would be interested in that also.Even though my next upgrade on speakers will definitely be in the 800 series and that is along way off and I wont care if it is a d or s series or for that matter X M N L O or P.....I want some 800's and some Classe gear to run it all...I want to join the big boy's....oh, sorry, ;b> there I go again. :frypan:

[sal1k]

Opinions of the audition...

Disclaimer, I wouldn't call myself an audiophile, nor would I claim to have even close to perfect ears, so everything I say should be taken with a grain of salt; it's my opinion only from an in-store around 6 hour audition. (it should also be noted, that we only listened to 2-channel audio, as that's our setup at home).

The pieces we brought along were pieces we knew quite well, though they may not have been appropriate for an audition to test the capabilities of the speakers. But since we know what we like and listen to, we thought that would be appropriate:

Philip Glass (excerpts from Satyagraha, excerpts from Einstein on the Beach)
Steve Reich (excerpts from Music for a Large Ensemble; Different Trains: After the War; New York Counterpoint (fast); My Name is Daniel Pearl)
Glenn Gould (playing Bach's Prelude #6 in Dmin) - piano
Andra Schiff (playing Bach's INvention #2 in Cmin) - piano
William Duckworth (Lois Svard playing With and Without Memory #1) - piano
Nine Inch Nails (I Do Not Want This)

***

684 - I found the sound here to be too punchy, gritty, esp in the highs. The bass was a bit lacking in some pieces, and overpowering in some pieces, and diluted some of the sound IMHO. I liked listening to the chorus in "daniel pearl" though the marimba and xylophone seemed to blend into each other. (a sub would have corrected some things, though we weren't in the mindset for a sub, nor was our bank account ready for that).

683 - I found the bass seemed to muddle things, though the midrange made up for it. This speaker seemed to be more detailed than the 684, but was missing something IMHO. The midrange was wonderful. Piano music, and the string quartet sounded great, but Einstein and NIN lacked some drive, and the 684 lesser so.

(to be honest, I also didn't like the look of the 600 series, though my wife didn't mind)

CM7 - Sounded "round" and "natural" if those are good adjectives. Much more a neutral sound (a sound that I liken to hearing an instrumentalist in the room), than the 600 series speakers. But there was a distinct ingredient missing in the music (bass). Both 600s seemed to my ears to have slightly more bass and punch that the CM7 lacked.

CM9 - To my ears, just the right amount of salt to potatoes. Punchy when it needed to be, clear detailed bass when it needed to be. And I could hear Glenn Gould's breathing and contortions which spoke volumes. Einstein had the delicacy when it was only Reisman playing the high tones of the organ, and the abrasive quality their (the ensemble's) amps lent to the sound as they abruptly entered the piece. The bass and full soundstage was also pretty apparent.

Well, there... Again, it goes without saying, but this is only my opinion, your audition(s) will yield different results.

emig5m what did you find?

If we didn't go for the CM9s we would have purchased the 683s, and scrounged enough money for a sub, but that would have meant no carpet for the new house! LOL

Sal

[emig5m]

Is the 600 series a gateway drug?

emig5m what did you find?

If we didn't go for the CM9s we would have purchased the 683s, and scrounged enough money for a sub, but that would have meant no carpet for the new house! LOL

Sal

684's was a fairly significant leap in clarity over my previous Cerwin Vega's. First thing that caught my attention was the first song I played. It had birds chirping in the beginning and was so much more clear and detailed and airy and not to mention the more 3D-like imaging. Bass was more than I expected out of a small speaker (the Cerwins had 15" woofers). I was initially just bored one day and picked them up on a whim from my local dealer on a seven day in-home trial just out or curiosity of the B&W brand and had no intentions of purchasing anything. I wound up keeping them, lol.

683's... main things over the 684 is deeper and more weighted bass, much-much better and clearer mids (my favorite thing about the 683 is the mids) and bigger soundstage - totally worth the price to me over the 684 so again I kept the demo's that I took home for the seven day in home trial and then later wound up trading back in and ordering brand new, lol. I do find that when I place them (and seating position) for best possible 3D imaging in my room that the deeper bass does lack a tad so I'm currently crossing over to a Sunfire Signature EQ at 80Hz. Hard to integrate a sub seamlessly for 2-channel music where the sub doesn't draw attention but I did it.

Oh and can't forget the 685's... sound MUCH bigger than what they look and have all the superb detail and clarity that the 684 has minus some of the weight/punch in the deeper bass when not using a sub but still sound impressive on their own. Sound just like big speakers when integrated with a sub. If you have a good sub, they make the 684 a total waste of time IMO. I had actually borrowed a set of stands from my dealer a couple days ago to give my 685's a good proper 2-channel test and boy am I blown away with how good of a sounding system you can have with just the 685 and a sub. The 685 is the most impressive speaker in the 600 lineup IMO. They take you 90% of the way and with a good sub that's properly integrated you can never tell that you're listening to bookshelf speakers.... but the mids in the 683.....mmm... on a elevated level there.. :P

Now it's like the curiosity has kicked in. I want to know if the the higher up models are more prestige of having fancier cabinets not made in china and paying for more fine grade furniture and that the 600 series gives you the performance without the prestige or fancy looks? Would I notice more improvements same as I did going through the 600 series lineup (like the noticeably better mids that the 683 has over the rest of the 600 series, lol.) Is the 600 series a gateway drug? hehe.. :lol:

Thing is I don't like demoing speakers at a dealer that's in a different room with different/better gear because the sound that I hear there means absolutely nothing to me. I also hate being hovered on by salesman. I want to hear a system with absolutely no distractions... not even other customers. I want to have my entire music/movie collection on tap and hear it on my own system in my own room with no time constraints. And on top of that, being able to A/B between the new speakers and my old. That being said- if I did go for a set of used 800 series I'll be paying just to try them. So it's a risk that the money will be a waste or I'll be satisfied. How much am I willing to risk throwing away just to try? That's a good question. I "can" afford a used set of 803D....but am I willing to risk paying that much money just out of curiosity? Not quite. Regardless if I liked them or not one thing I'm 100% positive on, I am not willing to pay full retail price for the upper end models. That's why I want hear as much as possible from people with experience throughout the different series to get a good idea of what to expect if I decide to take the plunge on a used set. :

[sal1k]

... Is the 600 series a gateway drug? hehe.. :lol:

Thing is I don't like demoing speakers at a dealer that's in a different room with different/better gear because the sound that I hear there means absolutely nothing to me. I also hate being hovered on by salesman.

I think you're right. Initially it was the glowing reviews of the 600 series which drew me to research further and decide on and audition B&W speakers, and with a little more money, going up the line, the CMs were the ticket.

Going into this "project" of rebuilding my hi fi, I had my heart set on the Rotel RSX 1560, but after listening to the CM9's I could live with the 1550 instead.

As for the demo, I had every speaker auditioned with the receiver I'd be purchasing, and in different sized rooms of the small dealership, which is set up in an actual house in a small Indianapolis neighborhood. The salesperson (small world) was a former coworker's stepson, a fact which I used to get a discount!

I'll definitely keep the forums posted with pictures, and the in-home review.

Sal