I have had these for 17 years and they are still a speaker that will make people tingle when they hear a favorite song for the first time on them. There is a MASSIVE difference in sound-staging when paired with even a modest amplifier (Rotel RB-1070 130W/ch). At their price point, they leave VERY little to be desired.

There is an issue that seems uncommon but possible (happened to me) with the rubber gasket surrounding the drivers. Only one became brittle and cracked/shattered. I replaced it, which was not as bad as I thought it would be, and no change in sound at all. Not a negative, but worth pointing out, is that these certainly have the B&W sound baked into them in a big way. I personally love it, but can definitely understand why someone may not.

Clear cover most of the sound lows mids and highs wide sound still rockin at 2019!!! you can get good price for used ones

maybe little weak at the lows depending on placement and the size of the room the grey rubber is shitty! replace it and youll get a new speaker

Very bright speaker and it needs floor carpets and wall coverings to soften that British harshness. The front aluminum plate removal helps in softening those metallic highs.
Bass is tight but only a tad deeper than my Linn Index II. Linn are impressive if placed close to walls.
Poorly reproduce saxophone. To compare with the smaller Linn, they omit certain saxophone notes and the human voice is more natural on the Kef driver-ed Linns. To be musical they need lots of power and be placed far away from the walls, thus losing in the bass department. Reviews seem to be favourable but compared to smaller Linn Index II and my old favorites Infinity RS 4000 they do not hold water. Overpriced and over hyped. One midrange replaced and now one tweeter on the blink as I cranked them with the treble adjustment forgotten at +1 or one o'

thespeakeroutthere

Wow! is that all I can say. I upgraded from a pair of Mirage Frx-7s which I thought were awesome. But the B&W CM4 is way out of the league. I use them primarily for music. The bass is tight and the vocals sound so good. Clear mid-range and highs. I now realize what I have been missing. I paid $650 for a used pair. Many reviewers here mentioned how beautiful it looks. I won't completely agree with that because my old Mirages look prettier IMHO; but that is subjective. I bought them for sound, and it delivers that well. They appear to be very efficient too. I use a NAD 705 with 45W RMS per channel. It can drive them load enough at 20 % of peak power.

I have owned alot of speakers, and have finally settled on B&W CM4's. They are supreme in build, quality of finish and sound. The bass is smooth and extends really low. The treble is very clear and concise. Listen to music and you can relax. Watch a movie and you can really feel every bump. The midrange could be improved, although for a 6 inch cone, it does its best. If you want midrange go buy some Tannoys with 15 inch drivers, but they would upset the wife etc! I love these so much I now own 3 pairs of CM4's and one pair of CM2's in my office ! I pair these with Arcam A65 and DV79s. Not the best in the world.. but as a setup it just works very well. I'm now in a position where I can listen to my music, and not hifi!

fullrange, weighty midband, goodlooks

cost ??

Definitely the blacksheap of the B&w family. Different because the cm4 is the most forgiving and yet most musical speaker yet to come from this giant of a company. It's got strong bass for it's size with a slightly recessed midband (very smooth)and a not too sharp yet detailed treble. Needs a dynamic amplifier to be at it's best; It works very good with my Naim 5 series kit where I'm often asking myself "what more do I need/want" I tried the belching farting 600 series and no comparo; I've listened to the 800's and still prefer the cm4's - not because they're better, but more in tune with my listening bias's; I tend to look for speaks that'll play all sorts of music styles and NOT dictate what I should listen to. What can I say? I like my pop music. Anylitical speakers? -you can keep em' I'll take my cm4's and enjoy the tunes while the powergeeks nitpic thier tweekery...

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Meadowlark shearwaters, paradigms, psb's,

Good treble, tight bass and very satisfactory mid, overall clear and a touch warm.

Compared to the newer B&W 705's the treble is not quite as clear, but for most music that's more than made up for by superior mid and bass.

A wonderful speaker even at the original price point ($1500/pair) from perhaps the premier speaker manufacturer in the world. This line has been discontinued; if you can find a pair snap it up! I purchased the last pair (the floor model) at Hi-Def for $1000. I originally went intending to audition some speakers with a price point of around $1000, so I had in mind the B&W 603's. I spent several hours in the listening room, comparing the 603's to the 705's (a $1500/pair large bookshelf) and then the CM4's, as well as some much more expensive models in the 800 range. First, the 603's could offer no competition whatsovever to the more expensive models. Conditions in a listening room at a good audio store are pretty ideal for comparing speakers - you have identical electronics driving them, nearly identical placement and listening position, can add a sub or not, quickly switch back and forth, etc. In such head-to-head competition the 603's frankly sounded miserable, exhibiting muffled treble and mushy bass. David Bowie singing China Girl sounded as though he were being smothered with a pillow, and normally clear and bright treble accents on Gene Harris' wonderfully well-recorded Tribute to Count Basie (piano jazz/big band) were muted and dull. At this point I started to worry for my wallet, as $1000 was really my cutoff. The same Gene Harris recording, played through the 705s, sounded completely different. The incredible clarity of those speakers at high frequencies made the music come alive with detail - I had that cliched sense of "listening for the first time" to a very familiar recording. On the other hand, the 705's had trouble playing more bass and mid-range rich music. On Radiohead's Creep, the visceral "couging" guitar peddle which kicks in partway through sounded thin and a bit clinical, without the warmth and punch it should have. Adding a sub improved matters somewhat, but still seemd to leave a hole in the mid. Feeling despondent, I was rescued by the salesman who suggested I try the CM4's, hinting I could have them at a considerable discount off the $1500 sticker price. I was blown away - while not quite as clear in the tweeter as the 705's, they were enormously more full, with tight bass and a just warm enough midrange. The Harris didn't quite sparkle as it had on the 705's, but on nearly everything else I tried, from Pavarotti singing Nessun Dorma (a nearly orgasmic experience to hear) to My Bloody Valentine, the CM4's benefited from their size and outshone the 705's. Compared to the 800 series... well, given the much greater price and worried for my financial solvency, I didn't do extensive comparisons, but my general impression was that (at least for B&W) the audio quality per dollar ratio levels off sharply above $1500 - you do get better sound, but you pay through the nose. In the end I went home happy, and remain unequivocally so after a few months - so I highly recommend the CM4's - grab a pair while you can!

Similar Products Used:

B&W 603, 705, 800 series

everything

Bass, but lets get realistic here 6'5 inches would not dip real low, even on most higher end speakers, that's why the sub is needed,but the CM4 has enough bass that you would hear on normal to extreme conditions.

The CM4's reproduce sound that gets you addicted by listening to it everyday. WOW!! It sounds excellent. It never fails to deliver the music you expect, great recordings sound great, bad recordings sound bad. These speakers do not color your music except give you an accurate sound on how it was recorded.I never listen to Madona but on her CD "Something to Remember" I was rewarded with sound that I never knew existed on that CD, lots of bass with the exception of my VTF-3 MK 2 by HSU, it really made it wonderfull to listen to. I had a cd that was just collecting dust probably heard it a few times (Toni Childs-Union) for about 12 years when I tested it, the recording was just amazing and the CM4's just delivered. I've had the 604 S3 and it never sounded like this, very realistic. You could test these on good recordings and you will be rewarded plenty. I'm just buying cd's now wether it's Mozart, Pachelbel, Lizt, Chopin, just to hear that I have miss much from listeng to Metallica, ACDC, Iron Maidens, you could not go wrong with these. They are affordable B&Ws that does not cost more than a high end mass market speakers that does not even come close to the sound of the CM4's.I'm running these on Rotels and somehow they sound great, I tried to use NAD and Denon but really just opt for the Rotels since they brought out everything that the other products were lacking. And besides Rotel & B&W has the same distributor in the US so it's pretty much one place.Test these before dipping your money on Monitor Audio,Ruark, Dynadio, Energy's, Vienna Accoustics, they will not dissapoint you. Highly recommended!!!!

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Sumiko, Revel,Ruark,Lexicon

Fluid sound,price, quality, perfect for the critic who thinks he can do better.It will devour anything in it's price range and up.

I love looking at it, I don't know if that's a weakness.

Reading reviews from the Brits tried to put this product down, which made me decide to purchase this.After 2 months of casual listening,these babies proved the Brits wrong!! They sound absolutely marvelous, it makes you keep listening over and over again and see if there's anything that the Brits saw that was not up to par, I ran these with Conrad-Johson-PV14L Series2(pre-amp) and Conrad-Johnson-MF2250A(amp)in which I saw nothing to degrade about, It just handled it perfect, whether imaging and transparency, pro reviews on these babies are considered incomplete since they use more expensive equiptment, but hey it works well with the Conrad-Johnsons which I find very competitive with Krell and the Mark Levinson or any high end gear with the price that you have to take out a 2nd mortgage to your house. B&W should sell these twice their price. I've listen Dynaudio, Monitor Audio, Paradigm, Ruark and these just came out the winner with Dynaudio just up there with the CM4, but truly for the price you can't go wrong with these, you could opt for a more expensive speakers but if you're hardware is not up to par then you're just fooling yourself.I could never part with these, they're a fixture to our house and everyone who enters just notice these and starts asking where I got em.My wife likes these(rosenut color) and ussualy women would rather think about clothes or make-up, but for these she even wipes em.hehehehehehe.So I completed the setup for HT, might as well, I bought the CMC and CM2 but opt for another sub HSu VTF2 came to mind since I still needed to get a great A/V receiver, my dealer suggested the Rotel RSX-1067 which I got to use for 15 days to audition, and eventually bought it from them since the Rotel sounds great with the CM4's for some reason, but not as real as the Conrad- Johnson's, otherwise it's a great buy, If you're gonna be owning these, please leave the mass produced electronics alone and do yourself a favor for not upgrading in a little while. You will like these!!!

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Dynaudio,LINN,Energy,Denon DVD-2900,Audioquest Cheetas Interconnects, Tara Labs RSC.