B&W ups the ante on speakers with CM Series 2

If sound is one of your favourite areas and you don’t shy from spending big when it comes to making your home theatre sound amazing, it might be time for an upgrade, as legendary speaker makers Bowers & Wilkins have something new up its sleeves.

They’re not small sleeves, either, as the new B&W CM series includes some big speakers, with several models ranging from the smaller CM1 ($1299 per pair) to the mid-sized tower CM6 ($2699 per pair), and stretching all the way to the big boys, the CM10 tall speakers, carrying a cost of $5700 per pair and sporting on-top tweeters for more sound, a feature shared with the CM6 and B&W’s 800 Series, which fetches a pretty penny more, from what we hear.

Overall, though, it’s an update to a product that made its way out this time last year, and while a year gives Bowers & Wilkins some time to add another number to the model name, the company has also changed the speakers a bit, with an aluminium dome and a thicker aluminium ring to make the tweeter lighter and prevent distortion, a technology which B&W calls Decoupled Double Dome tweeter technology.

Aside for this and the tweeter up top, the speakers have been redesigned for better performance, with more solid internal wiring and dust caps aimed at reducing vibration and resonance, with Kevlar kept around for the top speaker in the models.

The smaller Bowers & Wilkins Series 2 CM5.

Pricing for these speakers isn’t cheap, though, and while B&W won’t provide us with an official recommendation for an accompanying amp, it does suggest one with between 30 and 300W of power at the minimum.

Matching an amp to a pair of Bowers & Wilkins speakers won’t be cheap, but if that doesn’t raise an eyebrow, you’ll find the prices below, with availability in specialist retailers across the country from roughly September onwards.

All prices recommended retail (RRP) and include GST

  • Bowers & Wilkins CM1 – $1,299 per pair
  • Bowers & Wilkins CM5 – $1,999 per pair
  • Bowers & Wilkins CM6 – $2,699 per pair
  • Bowers & Wilkins CM8 – $2,999 per pair
  • Bowers & Wilkins CM9 – $4,199 per pair
  • Bowers & Wilkins CM10 – $5,700 per pair
  • Bowers & Wilkins CM Centre – $999 each
  • Bowers & Wilkins CM Centre 2 – $1,599 each
  • Bowers & Wilkins ASW10CM S2 – $2,199 each
  • Bowers & Wilkins FS-CM – $799 per pair