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Last weekend I picked up a pair of used CM7 to put in my living room once I move my 804s down into my new listening room in the basement.
The CM7 are wenge, and were purchased new in 2008 (they are marked "Made in England) and are in flawless condition although they are missing the foam port plugs. Price I paid was $900 Canadian.
I have had 804s for about a year and they replaced my 683s which I had for two years before that. The CM7 were placed in the same room/location as my 804s which I removed from the room for the testing.
The source was the stereo analog outputs on my Oppo 83SE, which go to my Emotiva USP-1 Pre-amp and full range out to my Chord SPM-650 poweramp.
I started by listening to my usual CDs as I know how these sound with my 804s. After reading reviews I was expecting the CM7 to be really low on bass, but to my surprise the bass was more then adequate. The bass did however exhibit a little bit of coloration and boominess at the deepest freq (I think around 40-45 hz). There was some minor, but noticeable cabinet coloration through the midrange compared to my 804s. Against the 804s the sounds stange is very slightly compressed (front to back) and the highs don't seem quite as open.
That said, after about 15 minutes of listening I had forgotten about the 804s and was loving the CM7. I found the balance and tonal quality to be excellent, and the imaging was stunning. Compared to how I recall the 683 the CM7 is simply more balanced and refined. I remember when I swapped out the 683 for the 804s, the difference was huge. The 683 was a wonderful speaker, but the 804 just did everything better.
I swapped the CM7s back to the 804s and although there was definate impovement in all areas, I was suprised at just how good the CM7 are.. They sound much better then I was expecting, and the big gap I found between the 683 and 804s was certainly not there between the CM7 and the 804s. The 804s definately had a tighter smoother bass, and were more airy with a deeper soundstage, but the difference was NOT night and day.
Although I don't have the CM7 foam port plugs, I am going to see if I can get some as I think it might tame the boominess on the low end. I did try running them through my USP-1 preamp on the Hi pass outputs with the crossover set at 50hz and this cleaned the bass right up, without any real feeling of loss. I think the CM7 probably should just be restricted to above 50 hz. I would prefer not to have to run through a crossover though, so I will see about the port plugs.
I have to give the CM7 my blessing. I was going into it expecting to be underwhelmed after listening to my 804s, but it was just not the case. The CM7 proved to be a very balanced and capable speaker. I will even admit, that I have kept the CM7 in the system for the last week and have not felt the need to quickly move my 804s back in.
Cheers,
Stuart
The CM7 are wenge, and were purchased new in 2008 (they are marked "Made in England) and are in flawless condition although they are missing the foam port plugs. Price I paid was $900 Canadian.
I have had 804s for about a year and they replaced my 683s which I had for two years before that. The CM7 were placed in the same room/location as my 804s which I removed from the room for the testing.
The source was the stereo analog outputs on my Oppo 83SE, which go to my Emotiva USP-1 Pre-amp and full range out to my Chord SPM-650 poweramp.
I started by listening to my usual CDs as I know how these sound with my 804s. After reading reviews I was expecting the CM7 to be really low on bass, but to my surprise the bass was more then adequate. The bass did however exhibit a little bit of coloration and boominess at the deepest freq (I think around 40-45 hz). There was some minor, but noticeable cabinet coloration through the midrange compared to my 804s. Against the 804s the sounds stange is very slightly compressed (front to back) and the highs don't seem quite as open.
That said, after about 15 minutes of listening I had forgotten about the 804s and was loving the CM7. I found the balance and tonal quality to be excellent, and the imaging was stunning. Compared to how I recall the 683 the CM7 is simply more balanced and refined. I remember when I swapped out the 683 for the 804s, the difference was huge. The 683 was a wonderful speaker, but the 804 just did everything better.
I swapped the CM7s back to the 804s and although there was definate impovement in all areas, I was suprised at just how good the CM7 are.. They sound much better then I was expecting, and the big gap I found between the 683 and 804s was certainly not there between the CM7 and the 804s. The 804s definately had a tighter smoother bass, and were more airy with a deeper soundstage, but the difference was NOT night and day.
Although I don't have the CM7 foam port plugs, I am going to see if I can get some as I think it might tame the boominess on the low end. I did try running them through my USP-1 preamp on the Hi pass outputs with the crossover set at 50hz and this cleaned the bass right up, without any real feeling of loss. I think the CM7 probably should just be restricted to above 50 hz. I would prefer not to have to run through a crossover though, so I will see about the port plugs.
I have to give the CM7 my blessing. I was going into it expecting to be underwhelmed after listening to my 804s, but it was just not the case. The CM7 proved to be a very balanced and capable speaker. I will even admit, that I have kept the CM7 in the system for the last week and have not felt the need to quickly move my 804s back in.
Cheers,
Stuart
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