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


Hello
Does anyone know if the original B&W CDM-1 speaker is as good as the 805 Matrix?

Anyone have these speakers? know when they were made around? Circa?

Thanks!
mcgarick
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/