First Hi Fi Venture. Best amp for CM8 speakers

[WishTree]

So, month or 2 thinking about this and I've decided on the CM8 speakers, anything less I think I'll regret and wish I just pushed the boat a little further. I've not purchased them yet as they are circa £1250 everywhere from what I can see but I understand in the appropriate sale at Superfi they reduce to approx £1050 so I will wait.

I almost did not step into this thread but luckily I did. I know you get many advices and all of them are very good from their experience point of view.

I would try to put my views across too and hopefully it helps.

I had CM7 and CM9 (not at the same time but altogether for around 2 years). Back then I was very new to HiFi and my reference point was JBL Balboa 30 (fantastic first speakers) and then B&W 686 (disaster). So decided to go for floorstanders and smitten by B&W, the natural thought was to get 684. However I kept on looking at the CM series and it felt like I should get them at some point time.

Luckily found an almost new CM7 in maple finish on eBay for a very good price and went for it with out audition. Loved them but as soon as few hours past then the tweeters metallic sound was evident and it was piercing (on hindsight). Back then, I lived with them for quite some time and then thought that by buying CM9 I would be able to compensate the high frequency shrillness with more bass (as I was still attracted to the physical appeal and beautiful midrange). Well with CM9, after few months of run-in the tweeter metallic sound did not go away and I was more annoyed than pleased with the set up.

If I keep writing on the whole journey, it will become a book :wall:

To cut the story short and come back to the point, today with the Tannoy speakers I really started to enjoy the floorstanders and the imaging / layering they can do (sadly this was mostly missing in CM7 and CM9. Also they are fussy about the placement in the room).

If possible, try to have a properly run in speakers for home audition for a week and then if you like them you can buy them. I am sure so many pairs of CM series is sold over the world, so there will be many happy customers with these speakers.

Regarding the amplifiers, I liked them with Rotel (RMB 1075) but the best companion for CM7, IMO, is Denon. I tried with Denon 710 as well as AVR 1910, AVR 2310 and the slight warmth in the Denon electronics compliments very well with the CM series.

Unfortuantely, again IMO, most of the current range electronics are at best neutral and mostly a tad bright (some might not like the word, so let us say sparkle). I can understand the reason. Given the short auditions at the dealer's listening room and the obsession to check more than few options at the same time, a sparkle Amplifier or receiver gets the immediate attention. This phenomenon is even bigger in USA and so the manufactures say some times British tuned (Europe tuned) electronics but still they sparkle.

There is nothing wrong with this, but if all the electronics manufactures and speaker makers think like this, then partnering them together will be an overwhelming sparkle (s) in the living room

If there are any specific views you would like to draw from my experiences, please feel free to ask away!

 

[kevinJ]

You should audition Marantz' PM15S2 or the PM15S2 LE too. It's very detailed, has more than enough power (sounded more powerful than a 150watt/channel NAD), effortlessly dynamic and built like a tank. And I also bought it because it was the best I could find regarding sound quality at low volume.