Rotel Owner's Thread - Page 3

Since they are in the same "family" (B&W Group), I thought I'd mention that the new CM 7's mate very well with the Rotel gear I have. It is shown here standing next to a Klipsch RF5.

Well, you know how it goes. The living room doubles as our home theater. It is MY listening room, but OUR room where we entertain guests. Speakers look like plant and nick-nack stands to some people.

After almost 33 years of marriage, one learns to compromise on some things for the sake of harmony.

Oh, it gets worse than that in the bedroom:





We have her stuffed animal collection on the speakers there. However, I do get to have a 5.1 system plus a Sony KDF-50E2000 there. The compromise is worth it!

Why yes, absolutely. Those are Klipsch RF 81s, so the precise number of stuffed animals are needed to tame the upper range. Apparently 4 monkeys and 4 bears are the right combination to make them blend in seamlessly with the Velodyne CHT 12.

Sure. I've only had them for less than a week so consider these initial impressions.

As you probably know, they have both a Nautilus tweeter and an FST midrange which typically are found in their "big brothers". Because of that, I find that the midrange and high end are exceptionally clear. Also, for a three way system that sports "only" a 7 1/2 woofer, it produces a surprizingly solid low end.

However, I tend to like to hear very deep bass when it is in certain recordings (such as an organ pedal), so I am using the second set of output jacks on the Rotel RC-1070 preamp to feed an SVS 20-39 PC+ sub. I have the crossover on the sub set for 60 hz and it blends in very well with the output from the CM 7.

Sizewise, they are very compact compared, for instance to my Klipsch RF 5s which I use for HT. The CM 7s are for music listening only.



So far I have tested them with a fairly wide variety of music from Alison Krauss to classical. Vocals are extremely clear with a sense of "space" around them.

Massed orchestral music has good placement of instruments across the soundstage and a nice sense of depth.

Although I have them 2 feet from the back wall, I found that in my situation, I need to use the included port plug.

Not that you can tell too well from the photo, but the finish I picked is maple. It is a very light one. The cabinet is very well braced. I have them on the included spikes for stability and to ensure there are no microvibrations to distort the sound.

The combination of the CM 7s with the SVS sub produces a very "big" sound. I would say they are a serious contender.

Just as an aside, I read in another forum a posting suggesting that B&W speakers are somewhat mellow in sound. I'm not sure which models to which that may refer, but the CM 7s are far from mellow. In fact, they are closer to the sound of my Klipsch RF 5s in terms of high end detail.

I have these sitting in a room with wall-to-wall carpeting, drapes, bookcases and lots of furniture, so the high end is never out of control, or harsh. I could see, however, that in a room with bare floors, reflective surfaces and minimal furniture that they might tend to sound a bit on the "bright" side. I don't see that as a flaw in the speaker. I recommend room sound treatment for any system.

Well, I'm not sure what happened there. I have a similar setup as yours: the RCD 1072 CD player, RC 1070 preamp and RB 1070 amp and I am not experiencing any issues. Then again, I bought the CM 7s after I had acquired all of the electronics. Up to that point I had been using the Klipsch RF5s for both music and HT.

The Klipsch produce a very wide, detailed and deep soundstage with those electronics. The CM 7s enhance it in a subtle, though positive way. It is always best to audition new speakers in your own listening room with the associated equipment you will be using, whenever possible.

Of course. I used an SPL meter to properly place Kermit and Miss Piggy to control the specific defraction patterns resulting in an improvement in high frequency dispersion and lower intermodulation distortion. Transient response has also dramaticallly improved (see, and you thought just exotic cables and power cords could do all that).