Looking for alternatives to B&W CM1 and im a bit lost in this world!

Hi shaihulud,

First of all I can say that the CM1’s do have powerful bass . Not too deep, but punchy. The most powerful you can get for the money. All IMHO. This is why I stopped at this model after having listened to about 10 budget bookshelf speakers and about 20 pairs priced around the CM’s. What I can say from this experience is that if you do not care about the bass (powerful or deep) there are many good and excellent speakers of price lower than the CM’s. And you do not care .

I am not sure it is good idea to advise some speakers. My understanding is that when people advise they often:

1) Using just emotional adjectives

2) Using wrong words

3) Are not understood correctly even if they use right words

4) Do not take into consideration acoustic environment

5) Forget level of setup (cd/amp/chords)

Let’s take your case. You compare Dali and CM’s. If I get it right CM’s have much better “detail to the midrange/treable”, the case why you fell in love with them. For me it is a real surprise. Before my B&W I had Dali Zenzor 5 floorstanders. For me they had maybe a little less treble detail than the CM’s, but they had much better detail in the midrange. Mind that Zensors are a very budget line. The CM’s sound as if they really lack a lot in the upper mids. Though I chose them because of the punch. This is I think the case of p.2 or p.3 of my list. Or 4?

I can give you an example of p.4. At the beginning of my experience I listened Dynaudio 2/6 in a shop in a very large room with horrible environment.. The Dyns sounded like a pare of plastic $6 computer speakers. Maybe with a little more detail in mid/treble J. Accidently I listened to the same model after two days in a 12m2 room. It was a really good hi-fi with plenty of details in treb/mid/bas, balanced, energetic, etc, etc.

So my advise that you need to listen yourself. And never buy by advise. Just listen by advise and then you decide.

If you like treble and mid details I would recommend the following speakers which are not that expensive as the CM’s:

- PSB Image B6 (considered to be more like HT speakers, but I would not agree)

- Kef Q100 or 300 (I really liked their trebs and mids)

- Paradigm Mini Monitor (Be careful – too many trebs, and they are very exaggerated)

- Paradigm Studio 10 (very detailed trebs but balanced throughout)

I would not be surprised if you reject all of them. Still…

Good luck!

The CM range of speakers has more in common with the entry 600 series than the upmarket 800. So if you can do without a little of the fancy packaging,  try those.

regards

Agree with drummerman here and I also think the bass is better on the 6 series as well and less of that treble I need ear muffs for too

You don't mention the rest of your system, but like others said here if that's what you're looking for I'd suggest you save some pounds and look at the B&W 685. I had one, it's still a class act and IMO unbeatable at the price.

I've listened to the B&W 685 several times and it is very good.