B&W CDM-1 original ............... opinions wanted

At the time, these were one step below the 805 Matrix. I had these when they first came out(1997, I think). I did a direct comparison at the time and noted that the Matrix sounded a bit less muddled at higher volume. This was due to the Matrix cabinet design. The tweeter and midrange were the same.

I did an in-home demo of these back in the day and didn't think they were special. The mids sounded thin and a bit "pinched"...not as fleshed out, smooth, or as dynamic as my Fried Q5s. They didn't sound bad, just not my cup of tea.

I have them since new, and like them....very neutral, very surprising soundstage considering the size.

At high volumes sure it won't be confused with a full range and the small cabinet size shows, finally, but it's a solid performer. Not the last word on large-scale symphonic music, but for simpler-textured stuff like rock and jazz and acoustic/vocals at moderate volumes they are fantastic. And look awesome too. WAF extremely high especially if you have the grille covers off.

Stereophile did a review on it and John Atkinson though they were very close to his Silver Signatures @ 8X the price.

http://www.stereophile.com/budgetcomponents/630/

theu are good small moniters

thanks for all the comments, I think I might go after the 805..

I owned the CDM 1SE for almost a decade. Good monitors at their price range. I owned the N805 for a short period and find them to sound smoother than the CDM 1SE from top to bottom. The price one is paying for the 805 includes the beautiful curved cabinet apart from improved sound quality.