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/