I second the not getting bw sub, and the Denon units sound good every time I hear them... I am a little confused how the Yamaha sounded the worse? What was different? Output, clarity, balance/EQ, distortion, or was it the soundstage, and the actual reproduction??? Curious...
The Yamaha RXA 3030 + BW CM8 primarily lacked the clarity. I am not a audio expert. So i might not be able to explain this accurately but will try to do my best.
The Yamaha was set to 2 channel mode. So while just listening to the CM8's i felt the depth of sound (clarity) was simply not present (specially on the higher frequencies). Again the same music was played in the same setup with JBL speakers and they actually were better. One explanation the sales person gave me was that CM8 do sound soft naturally and it is better for listning music for longer periods. But in the same place I could not get the sales person to pair the BW with another receiver to determine if the receiver was at fault or not. Also I am not sure if there was some DSP programs turned on the yamaha.
Then again when I was listening to BW + Marantz in another store, The quality of sound was really good. Here also I tried switching the speakers (Polk audio & KEF i think). I felt that the CM8 sounded the best. This demonstration was the primary reason I decided to go with BW CM series speakers.
Also I came across this article
"http://www.whathifi.com/review/bw-cm8" which actually states "requires careful partnering with electronics".
So that's the reason that I started this thread to get some advice from the experts on weather its really a fact that B&W CM speakers could possibly sound differently on different receivers?
My understanding till now was that (Feel free to correct me) :
-> Receivers possibly cannot enhance the quality of sound. they can only amplify it with or without any further degradation of the source. This may be not true in case of DSP programs.
-> Speakers have specific characters like (Good bass or midrange or treble etc) which is consistent regardless of the amp powering it. This was the reason I first started looking for a speaker and then just getting a receiver to match it.
-> Quality of music is dependent on the source. ie cd/dvd/blue ray/turn table/ipod etc.
Maybe it was just my perception that the BW was not sounding good with yamaha.
I will the rechecking this possibly this week or next and post the updates.
-J.Davis.