Beautiful finish, and incredible sound. A strong centerpiece for anyone who can't afford the Nautilus line, but who wants near-Nautilus performance.

Could be awkward to shelf this one. You need to measure and prepare for this one as it is 12 inches tall.

This center is paired with 7NT's, an ASWCDM sub and 601 s3's for the rear. The front three speakers are bi-wired using Audioquest cables. B&W's have been a favorite of mine for a long time, and when they discontinued this line, it became affordable. This center is more than I originally planned for and am amazed at its performance capability. The voices are clear, clean, accurate and natural sounding. I've noticed a difference when moving to separates, but was very content when the system was managed by a Yamaha RXV-2400. During busy soundtracks, such as the Matrix, the detail was never sacrificed for volume. At loud levels, it remained clean. Even though this center is matched with 7NT's from the same lineage, the CDMCNT requires more adjustment as it is louder. The speaker did soften after break-in and I think that that is why they recommend periodical re-calibrations. The center is the most important speaker during movie playback, so I based my initial theater speaker setup on this speaker first before I picked the remaining speakers. So good luck with your research, and I hope this review is helpful.

Similar Products Used:

CDM Series speakers, Audioquest cables, Classe SSP-60, Earthquake Cinenova amp, Denon player

Real hi-end looks & sound without the price.

None

This is a beautiful and excellent sounding center channel. The sound is extremely detailed, open, crisp and clear. Voices sound accurate and it seems to have a real overall sweetness in the sound. It looks very elegant with nice wood finish and good style, even better with the grill is off to reveal the kevlar driver. Compared favorably to the nautilus center.

Similar Products Used:

b&w nautilus, CC6 s2, infinity renaissance, kappa

all except the weaknesses

too bright, too big

well, i used b&w dm601, dm604, and cdm1 in the past, now i'm using b&w matrix805 for the front and cdm2 for rear,cdm cnt do not match my 805 and cdm2 sound,805 and cdm2 have the same tonal balance,sensitivity,etc though,only differ in quality,but this cdm cnt really ruin my system,i already know it's very sensitif(91db) from the spec,so i thought i only need to turn my center volume down a little,but i didn't expect this speaker would be so bright in upper midrange,after i tweak the equalizer in my yamaha dsp amp (-2db 1kHz - 6kHz)and have an excellent tonal matching with 805,805 and cdm cnt sounds exactly the same loud,my question : did b&w sacrifice cdm cnt frequency response for sensitivity(to keep up with cdm nt tower) or my matrix 805 freq. resp. is not flat enough for today standard?please listen carefully with your cdm nt main speakers, 600 series and nautilus have 2 center speaker choices to really match their main speaker,but cdm nt and 700 series dont,doesn't it too loud and bright for your cdm1nt?doesn't it too bright but not enough bass for your cdm9nt?it's surely too loud,too bright,and too big for my cdm2 speaker

Similar Products Used:

jbl ht1f

One tweeter above one woofer design High quality crossover between tweeter and woofer Wide dispersion pattern Non-metalic sound from a metal tweeter High seperation Compliments the CDM NT9s extremely well Bi-amp capable Transparancy

Size Weight

This is a big center speaker, and heavy. However, it sits on top of a 48" widescreen televion so it's not a problem in my set-up. My room is 24' X 24' with 8' ceilings. It is flanked with two NT9s and a SVS sub, driven with a 200watt/channel amp. I use an 80db crossover for this center channel and trimmed it using a RS meter. With vocals, the males and females sound natural. This speaker has an airy sound to it. Has an extremely wide dispersion patter, you can be off axis 40degrees and it still sounds the same. Music sounds very accurate. Pans never have that left-center-right sound, just a smooth transition from left to right. Hard to determine if the center is even on, quite an engineering compliment. Would highly recommend this to anyone with the space and weight requirement.

great dynamics sweet mids, and great frequency response.

Cabinet a little on the large side.

The CDMCNT compliments my CDM9NTs in my hometheater / audio setup. Before purchasing the B&Ws I listened to a multitude of speaker manufacturers. The CDMCNT center speaker is dynamic, sweet sounding, has a sweet aire to it, and never sounds strained or overly bright. Just very accurate. The speakers is on the larger side of center channels, but the cabinet size lends itself well to the performance it achieves. The performance is sweet, so I don't mind the size. Bargain even at 600 bucks. You won't find a better center channel at any price.

Similar Products Used:

ads, monitor audio, energy, boston, klipsch, martin logan, theil, krell

voices are very clear and music sounds great

a little too big, bad wife factor

This is a great center speaker. I did not know movies and music can sound so good. I had a PSB C5 before and it was a mistake. This speaker has great bass, and clear highs. Voices sound very clear on this speaker and finally i am able to hear what people are saying on every movies.

Similar Products Used:

PSB C5

Clear voicing and excellent treble. Can be run full range with easy. Plus i think it looks gorgeous.

Small problem with driver/cabinet characteristics but all but inaudible to anyone not as fussy as me :-)

Great centre speaker and far better than many at a higher pricepoint. Only one issue ive ever had is that at certain frequencies when only teh centre is playing an audible noise can be heard emanating from the driver. I have since found out that its not the driver at all but just an effect of the air in teh cabinet interacting with the driver. At anything more than a few feet away its almost inaudible anyway. Dont let this discourage you. This is a stunning centre with amazing power handling, crisp clear treble and surprising bass depth. It does drop down to almost 40Hz and as a result is run as a full range centre. makes everything happening on screen completely crystal clear to understand and it intergates with my B&W P5's perfectly.

Similar Products Used:

B&W LCR 60, Snell, Kef Q range

It looks beautiful, even if it is huge (it does not fit on top of a 27 inch TV). I got it to complement my CDM 7s after two years of complaining about my tiny cheap Klipsch I got as a handme down. Although the sound is a bit clearer, I still don't feel that dialogue from DVDs is clear and loud enough, although it now seems to me that this is the DVD's fault, not the speaker. It may even be the fault of my Rotel-965 receiver. I do wonder after trying out new cables, DVD players, and now this speaker how much extra sound quality you get when you spend money. I got cheap B&W 303s for my new rears, and they sound almost just as good as my expensive CDM 7's and CNT. Perhaps if I had separates and listened only to two channel music, better speakers might make a difference, but I am not entirely convinced. I am happy that I have matching speakers, and the timber does sound more accurate, but I am just not sure it was worth $500! B&W's are great, but I am not sure that just going with the 300 or 600 series might not be a better idea, if you're willing to accept a plain black look instead of beautiful real wood veneers. Overall, this is a good product. Just be prepared to put it on top of an audio cabinet rather than on top of a TV. One salesman even put it on the floor, but he blasted it. If you can't blast the speaker, you want it on ear level.

After having waited a few months to add the cdm cnt to my cdm 7nt setup, I am very pleased that I have done so. Its a great center channel, and obviously if you have the cdm nt lineup you should go with this as your center channel. I couldn't be happier with the 7nt and cnt lineup, I can't see the home theater being improved much more.

See my CDM-1NT Review

See my CDM-1NT Review

The CDM-CNT is the center channel version of the CDM-1NT's. They are acoustically identical, so check my review on the CDM-1NT's. (I've given them both the same rating of five stars, because they definately deserve it)

Similar Products Used:

See my CDM-1NT Review