Quality of materials and craftmanship, nautilus tweeter

i dont think so

My journey with B&W began a few years back when i heard the DM302 with its prism design. The 302 worked great with my cheap jbl sub woofer and all was well until..i heard the dm602s2...The 602's began revealing to me a series of weak links in my system. Over the next year i upgraded my sub to the M&K v75, got the parasound HC1000A,and the adcom gfp-710 preamp. (audioquest cables)i thought my upgrading was complete. i knew id never be able to afford a class A system, however class B was all in place now, except i still had the dm602...

I have heard the N804 on several occassions. a truly splendid speaker as it should be for 3500 clams. But i still feel to get the 800series you really should have class A electronics to fully benefit. I even heard some of the cdmse series but didnt see much reason to get them. Then along comes the cdmnt series! Stop the presses!

The cdmnt arrived and my auditions commenced! For roughly the same money the next upgrade meant the cdm1nt or the dm603. i got cold feet reading an earlier review of the cdm1nt as being a bit to bright. i also knew the bookshelf design has its limitations on producing the full spectrum of music without sounding cloudy or generally lacking in subtle details. I decided to test the 603 with the cdm7nt.
testing was done at the dealer with denon equipment using
two recordings: zappa-yellow shark, 81/2 souvinirs -happy feet. (classical and jazz respectively)

Both the 603 and the cdm7nt are floorstanding, 2 1/2 way designed vented enclosures. the 603 is 900 clams cheaper.
the difference was not only palpable it was instantly ascertained that the 603 was veiled and murky to listen too.
The cdm7nt was more open, detailed, and sharp on every level especially the midrange and highs.

In the cdm7nt price range also falls the N805. I tested these out next using the same recordings above. At first inspection i heard no difference as the salesman worked the controls. i was impressed by the N805 to keep pace with the cdm7nt..then the salesman left me alone to listen more closely. i switched recordings to the jazz next. Now the differences began emerging. im not an audiophile, but to me the 805 began sounding laid back, less dynamic and detailed. The 805 simply didnt reach out and GRAB me like the cdm7 did. The 805 was less sensitive than the cdm7 with its rating of 88db. I felt to really get the full benefit of the 805 id have to upgrade my amp to at least 200w/ch.
The cdm7 simply had a more overall accurate picture of the full musical spectrum. The contest was over!

The cdm7 is simply put a "baby" N804. It deserves a place in a decent system for the audio enthusiast on a budget with the taste of true high end! Well done B&W, for bringing this technology down to earth!

Similar Products Used:

N805,N804,DM602s2,DM603s2