The Short Form

Price $4,900 (AS TESTED) / bwspeakers.com / 978-664-2870

Snapshot

Skillfully tailored for maximum musical performance, these Euro-chic speakers can also hold their own on most Hollywood fodder.

Plus

•The CM7's exceptional midrange transparency •Decorator-friendly styling and fine finish

Minus

•Not the last word in big-scale dynamics •Unprotected tweeter domes vulnerable to damage from small fingers

Key Features

CM7 ($1,800/pair) •1-in aluminum-dome tweeter, 5-in cone midrange, 6.5-in cone woofer; 36 in high; 44 lb CM Centre ($600) •1-in aluminum-dome tweeter, (2) 5-in cone woofers; 19 in wide; 16.5 lb CM1 ($900/pair) •1-in aluminum-dome tweeter, 5-in cone woofer; 11 in high; 14.8 lb ASW750 ($1,600) •12-in driver; 1,000-watt amp; 15.8 x 17.3 x 19 in; 70 lb

Test Bench

The curves for the CM7, CM Centre, and CM1 all showed a midrange depression between 1.4 and 4 kHz that was apparent at every radiating angle and got worse as the angle widened. The CM7's response also exhibited a 3-dB floor-bounce notch at 300 Hz, but with the foam port plug inserted (as reflected here), output below 200 Hz was cut notably (-2 dB at 100 Hz and -10 dB at 60 Hz). The sub had impressive output from 40 to 62 Hz, hitting 109 dB max SPL at 62 Hz, but it fell 21 dB/octave below 40 Hz. — Tom Nousaine Full Lab Results

These speakers are strikingly handsome in a simple, elegant, almost Scandinavian kind of way, especially in the blonde maple veneer. The other real-wood veneer options are something called wenge, similar to dark oak, and the "rosenut" finish sent for review, which appears to be rosewood-stained walnut. Other nice touches include the hidden magnetic mounts for the grilles, bi-wirable binding posts, and spiked feet with optional rubber covers. And as someone who has become accustomed to nicely made gear like this sporting an Asian point of manufacture, it was a bit of an eye-opener to see the speakers proudly wearing their Made in England badges.

Although it seems clear that the CM7 was designed to work as a standalone speaker for the stereo music listener, we rounded out a multichannel package with the matching CM Centre, a pair of the CM1 bookshelf speakers for surround-channel duties, and an ASW750 subwoofer. Much like the CM7s, the CM1s can be used as standalone high-performance mini-monitors, and though these are so-called bookshelf speakers, for optimum performance they can be mated with a dedicated stand, the FS 700C/M. Both the CM Centre and the CM1 use the same tweeter as the CM7, although being simpler two-way speakers, they pair it up with a more conventional Kevlar-cone woofer.

Usually, a CM Series package would be completed with the striking PV1 spherical subwoofer, but B&W must have figured that we take our bass particularly seriously, because it supplied the somewhat heftier ASW750 sub from the company's more upscale 700 family. B&W's use of a sealed enclosure rather than the more commonly seen ported or passive-radiator designs again suggests an emphasis on musical accuracy over ultimate output, although the massive 1,000-watt amplifier tosses aside any fleeting thoughts of wimpiness.

SETUP As with many other speakers that are tuned to deliver extended bass from a relatively compact cabinet, these are fairly inefficient speakers on paper — although I found that in practice, even the 65-watt-per-channel Outlaw 1070 receiver could drive them quite effectively. The CM7s are perfectly satisfying when used by themselves for two-channel music, but there's no question that for a home theater, you'll want to augment them with a subwoofer. With the ASW750, I got the most transparent blend when I crossed over the CM7s at 60 Hz, using a higher 80-Hz setting for the CM1s and CM Centre (although 80 Hz all around would work if your processor won't set crossovers independently for each speaker).