I had been searching three years to find a pair of speakers like these B&W CDM-1's. This is the only speaker I have heard in this price range to have the open soundstage as the CDM-1's, I was stunned the first time I sat down in front of them. The treble is smooth and precise. The midrange is accurate and smooth. There is nothing harsh about these jewels of a speaker. Keep in mind that my profession is in Noise and Vibration engineering, I work with acoustics for a living. I can listen to them for hours without fatiguing my ears. As a bonus, these are extremely beautiful speakers, with a real wood red ash vaneer finish. Everyone comments one their good looks. I highly recommend them to anyone, especially for the price.

B&W speakers have a certain flavour that might not be fore everyone. What i mostly notice (in most of there line) is the punchy, dynamic quality of thier products. The CDM1's are no different.
What I get is a punchy, open, 3-dimentional, slightly dry sound. The CDM1's do much softening (like some Mirage speakers) or colouring. Of course where/how you place the CDM1's will have a BIG impact on thier sound. The BOTTOM end is pretty extended (though not loud), but doesn't compare with a full range design. It is very detailed, throws a FINE wide/deep soundstage, and has a very smooth top end.

Compared to the B&W 805(mini monitor) it is brighter. This brightness brings out the upper midrange, bringing a vibrance/presence to most music. I like em, though they may not be for everyone. The BASS limits are understandable though, seeing as they are MONITORs, and are also being aimed at the PRO AUDIO market. Give them a listen, but keep in mind they may not sound thier best in an audio shop.

I purchased B&W CDM1 SE few months ago and most important thing I can say about them is they need a very, very careful matched components, a lot experimentation in positioning and lot of time to break in. As real monitors they're extremely sensible to any changes including height of stands and distance between speakers. They need plenty of room behind and on both sides.But when I finally (after a wild experimentation’s with layout of our main room - yes, I had to pay this to my wife) find a RIGHT place and matching cables I was awarded with musicality it's hard to describe and must be heard.
This observations are also consistent with remarks from other reviewers: this is not a speaker of install-and-forget type and it's hard to hear them best in hi-fi shops.

Just picked these up very cheap, as the model has recently been upgraded. I compared closely with the B&W 805's, which seemed like a great bookself minimonitor. To be honest, they have the stuffiness in the lower midrange which some have complained about, and in the store they sounded like crap. It sounds like I have a head cold. I took a deep breath and bought them on reputation. I hope this will go away as they are broken in, as others have reported. Still, the detail in the upper range is great, and gives a hint of that third dimension lacking in many other sub-$1,000 speakers. In my tiny apartment, the lower end is punchy enough to worry about complaints from the neighbors. With only a 6.5" driver, I can see how bass would be lacking in a "full-size" room. Clean without being overambitious. If they end up sounding good enough to be competitive with the 805's, I'll be pleased indeed. I look forward to biamping and adding a good subwoofer for real entry-level audiophilia in the future. Would rather not rate just yet.

The CDM1 is a very difficult speaker. On 'good days', it shines while it can be a terrible bore on others. In- room placing is very difficult to get right. The base is a little humpy, which in turn muddles the lower mid-range. It needs very capable electronics, and I found that I can get quite good results, from my Rotel Michi amp, Meridian 200/ Audio Synthesis/Meridian 518 setup.It is not very revealing of cable differences, as, on the other hand are the Yamaha NS1000, which although around 12 years old are much better allrounders.I do not, in any way pretend to be a reviewer, but some of the reviews, namely John Atkinsons' in Stereophile, and the HI-FI British press, must be taken with a pinch of salt. Is Politics playing games here?

Aye rove ij waely muzh.

I purchased the B&W CDM 1'SEs about two weeks ago and continue to be impressed by their performance. The bass is punchy and clean and their treble is copiously detailed. They sound effortless with voices, finding no trouble with James Iha`s lover lover.

I auditioned the CDM1 at a local dealer when it first came out (about 2 years ago), and was some what impressed with it. At that time I was looking for a pair of bookshelf speaker, but decided to go with the Monitor Audio 700PMC instead. I did not have the chance to compare between the two side by side, but to my ear at that time, the 700PMC sounded more clear and tight than the CDM1 in the mid-bass and mid-range. The CDM1 is a little bit more open than the 700PMC in the tweeter.
Any way, I acquired a pair of CDM1 recently, and have the time to check them out properly. After a long breaking in (approximately 100 hours of playing the Purist Audio System Enhancer CD), the CDM1 still sounded very crappy. It sounded congested in the mid-range and tweeter, and boomy in the mid-bass. The cabinet echoed like crazy, and interfered with the sound. I took it to a local audio shop and compared it against much cheaper speaker such as NEAR 15M and Wharfardale 7.2. It sounded worst than both of them. At that time I have a pair of Wireworld Atlantis I speaker cable that the dealer just terminated them for bi-wiring. As a last resort, I try this speaker cable on the CDM1 to see if bi-wiring makes any different. AS SOON AS I BIWIRED THEM, THE CDM1 TURN INTO A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT SPEAKER. It sounded nice accross the frequency range, and sound much better than both the NEAR 15M and the Wharfardale 7.2. I then took the speakers home, and used different brand of interconnect and speaker cable on it to see if cable brand has any effect on it. The finding is as follows:

a) With the WireWorld Atlantis I speaker cable and interconnect, the CDM1 performance approached the B&W 805. The Atlantis I speaker cable managed to firm up the some what uncontrolled base on the CDM1 (This is an area that the 805 beats the CDM1 the most). It also added additional dynamic to the mid-range, and I think this is necessary for paper, and Kevlar woofer to be able to compete with metal woofer. Over all, I was extremely impressed by the combination.

b) With the Purist Audio Design (PAD) Aqueous Interconnect, and speaker cable, the CDM1 sounded some what dull, and not very involving at all. By the way the PAD Aqueous cable is much more expensive than the Wireworld Atlantis I cable. The uncontrolled mid-bass came back, and the midrange is some what suppress. It turned out PAD cable sounded better on the Monitor Audio 705PMC than the Atlantis I. It's all in the system matching.

Conclusion: Matching with proper equipment the CDM1 is an excellent bookshelf if not one of the best. I would give it a 4 stars if B&W allows some discount on the price. $ 1,100.00 is too stiff. I could get a pair of Monitor Audio 700PMC for $ 800.00 through local dealer, and it sounded a little bit better than the CDM1.

Hola!! I don't se how Nathan could give this speakers even 4 stars, according to what he wrote they sound like crap and he's "hoping" for some divine intervesion to make them sound good. I compared this speakers vs Paradigm Reference Studio 20 (you can read Robert Reina' reiew on February Stereophile) and NHT's 1.5. Remember we are paying premium to get this speakers to the US from England. There was no comparison ( I had also heard and read great things about the CDM1) . The Paradigm's had better midrange, more clarity and extension than the B&W's, and then the $$ difference was outstanding. Why would I want to spend more. I heard both speakers with Quick Silver tube electronics, Linn, Rotel, Nad, Exposure and ATI- Lexicon ( we have some decent dealers in Puerto Rico). I got the Paradigm Reference LCR450s for my home theater set up and are planing to get the new ACTIVE 20 for audio. PS The B&W's 805 is in another class.
The CDM 1 is a decent speaker but for the value vs performance I can't give it more than 3 stars.

I have had these speakers (the original, not the SE version) for about a year now so I pretty much know what these speakers are capable of doing and not doing. The went through and listened to many different speakers (and among many other audio products) such as B&W DM 601/2s, B&W Matrix 805s, B&W P4/5s, Paradigm Studio 10s, Paradigm Active 20s, Infinity Reference 2000.5/2000.6s, Infinity Overture 1s and various models from Boston Acoutics, Definitive Technologies, DCM, Platinum Audio, Dynaudio, Jamo etc, etc. before purchase and decided that these speakers are excellent if setup correctly.
All of the speakers that I have mentioned above have there pluses, but of all speakers that I thought might have made me change my mind on my purchase would be the Matrix 805s. The CDM 1 are superbly clean and transparent. Their top end is extremely controlled, and its bass is good. In contrast, the 805's top is more extended and "airy", midrange is laid back more and the bass is powerful and better defined. Personally, liked the CDM 1 better in every aspect except for the bass. The bass nearfield response is exaggerated, so in a small room it could give a satisfying combination of weight and definition. Setup improperly like having it too close to walls, or even the speakers too close to itself made it difficult to distinguish notes in the lower midrange. Too big of a room even ed out the response but there would not be a lot of activity going below 50 hertz. Still, overall though, the lower midrange to upper bass is not as defined as the rest of the spectrum.

But the midrange and treble! The imaging and transparency! I have not found (in any of the above speakers or even the B&W Matrix 801s!) a more musical sounding and involving speakers as this one. The music was "live" and right in front of me as I have never heard before. It was almost like perfection! But to be critical, the midrange sat on the forward side of neutral; the treble a little polite; bass is on the softer side of Sears than tight-as-a-nut.

The only thing I don't like about these speakers (almost the only thing, the cheap brushes that hold the grill in worked loose in a couple of removals needs to be replaced)is that the speakers are extremely sensitive to what you hook them up to and where you put them. Don't hooked them up to cheap speaker cable and make sure you bi-wire them. Cheap cables make the speaker sound harsh, congested and thin. If you bi-wire them, expect the speakers to open up more and become clearer sounding. Also, no receivers of course--everyone knows what they sound like. Class A amplifers, in general, sound better than Class AB or tubed amplifiers. Don't put them to close together and make sure that they are far from the side walls. Other silly but noticeable things to me is how you plug them in. Certain outlets in my wall (or different surge suppressors) change the tone of the speaker. I don't know if the crossover on the speaker is kind of cheap and lends itself to such miniscule current changes or it is some other kind of component in the speaker. All I know is, if you are willing to worked and play the game that the speaker demands, then you are in for a huge reward.

Needless-to-say, I love these speakers! Sure I would like a little more bass response and definition but there isn't another speaker I have heard yet that out does it in the midrange-treble or imaging, transparency and localization. Unfortunately, the original CDM1 are discontinued and you will not longer be able to buy them. The new SEs, which I have auditioned seem brighter so it gives the tweeter a little "hear me" quality to it. For 500 dollars more, you might as well buy the 805s or the Active 20 (extremely neutral and saves buying a preamp!) in comparison the the CDM 1 SE. But I am pretty sure that would raise another debate...

But overall: