My B&W speakers Journey.

[rbalagopalan]

My passion on B&Ws never ends and search and Journey continues.

This time my journey had a pit stop point of B&W Custom Installation (CI series) In walls the LEGENDARY CWM series of B&Ws yes you read it right CWM series i say this because they are the rarest of rare to find in used market but then my zeal and passion driven me to them and made me to find this gem of a package.

I got the following package of B&W

B&W CWM 8.3 3 Nos. was used as LCRs
B&W CWM 8.5 4 Nos. was used as Surrounds and Rears
B&W CT 7.4 4 Nos. was used as Atmos speakers
B&W CT 7.5 3 Nos. Am not sure of the purpose as it was in the package I just bought them.
B&W CT SW 12 1 No. Front Subwoofer
B&W CT SW 10 1 No. Rear Subwoofer
B&W SA 1 No. Subwoofer Amp

The speciality of this CWM series is that they are top of the line of B&Ws in wall series and houses 800 Signature series drivers and Cross overs.
The back box for the CWM series is insanely priced by B&W around 850$ each for 8.3 and 600$ each for 8.5. So the back boxes were built exactly as per the drawing of B&W with MDF (Original ones are in Plastic) of 12mm and 20mm thick respectively.

After installing the 8.3s in the Back Boxes I tried them in my Two Channel set up as I was sceptical about the size and build of the back boxes. OMG I was totally blown by the Bass produced by these slim box monsters. They are clearly and truly a must have In wall cinema speakers. The bass is truly a movie bass and Ultimate.

I felt I would be insane to use the CT series speakers as Atmos speakers as they are not meant for that purpose and they can do a lot better job as main speakers in any HT set up also the most recommended configuration for Atmos is Concentric design. Hence sold all the CT speakers and CT SW 10 subwoofer to known friends.

Here comes the necessity for the Atmos and I wanted to stick to B&Ws. But then getting B&W CI series CCM ceiling speaker would be next to impossible in used market and the best alternative would be B&Ws CCM 817 so was in search of the same and got two pairs B&W CCM817 from different sellers in US and got them. Now the project of making the back boxes for the ceiling speakers is on.

I will post detailed review on the performance of these B&Ws Custom Installation series package once the whole project is over which I hope should be Mid of April.

 

[vijaykarthik123]

Dear Bala 'ji - Holy cow !! This is blow up your walls & will never get tired with the highs as much on any 800's.

I'm really jealous now , where do you get these rarest finds, despite my 1.5 year search globally :-| to start up with my studio...

Alright, Now lemme see if there's any opportunity for me here....
With the CWM inplace are you letting out the BW-803D pair, existing speaker setup?? Lemme know in either ways & if yes, PM me for the pricing

 

[rbalagopalan]

I am really contemplating of selling my existing HT B&W package. This is something which I built over period of time and I want to take my time before making firm decision. Once I let go it would be great difficult for me to import again given present US Dollar, freight and tighter customs with BIS certification and IEC mandotary for large consignments.

Let's see.

 

[insane79]

I am really contemplating of selling my existing HT B&W package. This is something which I built over period of time and I want to take my time before making firm decision. Once I let go it would be great difficult for me to import again given present US Dollar, freight and tighter customs with BIS certification and IEC mandotary for large consignments.

Let's see.

What are your thoughts on B&W subwoofers? you had a chance to hear/own the asw608/610 subs? if yes any inputs on how they perform?

Thanks.

 

[rbalagopalan]

I did own a ASW 675 in the past with my cdm series package. It was perfectly complementing the package. In fact the Amps pre section of the ASW 608, 610 & 675 are the same, only the power section is increased according to the model.

That way I can say these ASW series will never let you down. BTW what is the speaker you are going to pair this Subwoofer. Cause that again matters. In case your towers are bigger then ASW 608 may not have it's presence. If the sub is higher power no issues as you can always turn it down.

 

[Rajendrak]

I have started my Audio Journey way back in 1994 and from then on the upgrades and changes and brands were haunting me. The last non B&W high end Speaker package I had was Jamo D7 series. By now I had learnt a hard lesson that whoever in Audio Hobby should settle and consolidate in the Speakers first as they are the ones which does not undergo big technical/format changes like Receivers and Processors. So I decided to go with B&Ws.

First I started off with 300 series in B&Ws package. I owned all the models in 300 as my Home Theatre set up.

Then upgraded to 600 series in this also I owned all models excepting 604 S3. I need to mention one thing here, the 603S3 was highly musical with clean clear rounded bass and was jellying with almost any integrated I threw at it.

In the meanwhile I got my hands on CDM 7NT, CDM CNT, CDM 1NT then ASW 675 sub. I got two packages of the same one in Natural Veneer and another one in Black ASH. In this the CDM 7NT and CDM 1NT were great performers. These were real upgrades from 600 series.

This CDM series was then 700 series later became CM series and this CM series is the one which I hate the most in the B&Ws line. I briefly had CM9 and gave it off with in a week. Actually 700 series was discontinued by B&W only because the price difference between 800 and 700 was marginal and hence customers were either buying 600 or 800 so 700 has become slow runner. Having launched a product with a price tag B&W could not reduce the pricing so they launched it as CDM series with a decent price gap.

I changed (NOTE: not upgraded) to Full 680 series. ie 683, 684,685,686 I had everything imported from Dubai before even it was launched in India. This was a big mistake these were no where near to CDM series.
683 was too boomy in the same set up and I had tough time in pairing them with suitable amp combinations and ended up spending a lot on Amp correction.

Having auditioned 68series S1 I just wanted to get the feel of 68series S2 versions so just bought 685S2 and I should admit that lot of refinement has under gone in the S2 versions and this was sounding lot better than 685 S1.

Here comes the high light while getting 683 I had also bought Nautilus 804. My god it was a phenomenal upgrade and the difference in performance was from sky to deep sea. Though the driver complement was almost similar to CDM series still this is all together a different league.

Then I started building the chain of 800 Series so I imported HTM3S for my center, SCM1 for my surround and one more SCM1 for Surround Back. The whole set up has become lively and no words to describe that too after started to drive them with Anthem Receivers and Anthem Processor and ATI power combo.

In the mean while I had purchased B&W 801 Matrix S3 from Manav Malvai for my Stereo set up. This is one of the best B&Ws I heard so far and this was paired with Accuphase E303X and The deadliest combo mesmerising. Our forum Friend Clearcut was wanting this from me but for him I would not have given this combo to anybody.

Briefly I changed to 805N book shelves with Symphonic line and this combo was blowing the synergy out of proportions.

I had a luck favouring me. I had a call from our forum member Rajeev one day that one of his friend is moving away and wanted to sell some B&W speaker he said. I called his friend he said its 802 Nautilus. thats it I took my car and was in his place the same day and picked 802 Nautilus. Which I still own.

By now it has become that almost any B&W movement in India the news started flowing to me either the seller wanted to know the best price or the Buyer called me to have my opinion on the lowest possible price that he can offer.

This way I had an info of 803D with box packing is available for sale along with HTM3S and 805S so I rushed to this place and bought the package. Retained the 803D with me and sold my 804N along with HTM3S and 805S to our forum friend.

Here I have to say one valid point. In any HT setup all the speakers will be configured as SMALL only, that too by ANTHEMs ARC1 room correction I thought the size of the speaker will not add any change in sound performance, but to my surprise the upgrade from 804 to 803 taught me a lesson that though both are configured as small and the frequency band width being the same but then the body that the sound gets with in that frequency band width is phenomenal and one should hear it to believe it. In fact I tried my 802N in HT set up it was a great addition in that chain. But then it would be brutal on my part to kill them in a HT set up.

With the same connections I had got 802D2 in Mint condition and the sound signature when compared to my 802N was a sure shot improvement especially with smooth and far more controlled bass. Being D2 If I dont say about its Tweeters performance then there is no point. The highs were neither bright nor grainy it was excellent and non fatiguing even after hours of listening.

Owing to the fact by now I have got in to full Tube set up and Altec building I had to let go this rare gem 802D2. So this was given to the same forum friend who bought my earlier 804N.

This is how I have become Balagopalan to B&WBalagopalan.

Still the search and Journey continues on B&Ws.

Thanks for Reading such a long post patiently.

R. Balagopalan

Dear Mr. Balagopalan,

It was very interesting and informative to read your b&w journey. Would be really grateful if I could use your guidance in making a right decision in my proposed acquisition of a B&W speakers system.

Regards,

Rajendra

 

[heliumflight]

I had a vintage B&W DM4 once for over 30 years, and it blew so many brands of speakers.