help w/home audition (B&W CDM1NT)
Hello all and Merry Christmas!
I'm auditioning the CDM1NTs at home. I have about a week to decide to buy. These are discontinued and are demos so the price is right if I decide to buy. I listen to a variety of music including jazz, classical, classic rock, alt/indie rock, a new age/jazz/world music radio program that airs nightly and other artists like chemical bros., leftfield, stereolab, & DJ Shadow. Here's my system:
Acoustic Energy Aegis Ones
Acurus A-100 (100wpc amp)
Parasound P/HP 850 preamp
Pro-ject 1.2 turntable w/Parasound cart.
Yamaha CT-44 analog tuner
AMC 8b cdp
Immediately I noticed that the high frequencies from the B&Ws are more detailed. More high frequency info is coming through. This took only about an hour to get used to so I cannot characterize the tweeters as harsh or fatiguing. However, the midrange and particullarly the bass are lacking compared to the AEs. The AEs, though not as refined on the top end, are more balanced. I can hear the B&Ws mids and bass but their levels are much lower compared to top end. I don't think the B&Ws are broken in. The dealer didn't think they were broken in yet. I would appreciate your comments on whether the kevlar drivers need a long work-out period. They are bi-wirable, but I'm not biwiring. I'm using the jumpers and have the speaker cable connected to what would be the high frequency binding posts if they were bi-wired.
The most interesting change in my system is that the B&Ws sound really good with classical and jazz cds. Right now they sound weak with rock. With the AEs, I preferred listening to vinyl and FM slightly more than cds. With the B&Ws, vinyl and FM sound thin.
My room is small. I was assuming that I would get at least the same bass response from the B&Ws as I get with the AEs, but not so so far. This is the last pair of CDM1NTs within 50 miles. The price will be right ($650 - 700). But so far they don't beat the AEs as an all-around speaker. They're only clearly better with classical on cd. If these don't work out I would like to try the Vandersteen 1C and Dynaudio Audience 52s, but I would not be able to audition them (I may be able to return them for refund). Any comments on how these would compare to the B&Ws will be appreciated.
Thanks - Tim (sorry for the long post)