B&W CM Clearance -- To leap or not?

[Epetti]

I've been planning a big home theater upgrade for next year. Among everything else I was going to upgrade my full speaker setup. I currently have B&W DM602S2 as my front speakers. Some of the choices I was looking at were:

GoldenEar Triton 5 or 7
Paradigm Monitor 11
Aperion Verus II Grand
Revel Concerta2 F35 or F36

and for B&W, either the 683S2 or the CM8,9, or 10S2.

I could afford a higher budget on the B&Ws since I could repurpose my current front and surround to rear and surround, whereas for the others I'd need to get a full system.

But with the announcement of the 700 series all the CMs are going on deep clearance. The CM9 for instance are half off, and they were already the higher price point (although not necessarily quality) speakers.

I won't have time before those clear out to run around a lot of stores and do listening tests on all the speakers I was considering. Question is, is this too good of a deal to pass up and I should grab them while I can, or would you expect the others above to give the CMs a very good run for their money and I'm better off letting the deal pass.

And while we're here, any other thoughts on the speakers I currently have in the running?

Thanks in advance.

 

[TheWarrior]

FIND a way to demo all of them! As I assume you use subwoofers, listening in a show room is fine as long as you are well enough aware to listen above the bass. Move around when you listen to them, don't stay stationary longer than necessary. If you use HT with friends, you'll want a speaker that sounds similar on and off axis.

That's a chunk of change to spend on presupposed improvement. So I'd be SURE!

 

[Epetti]

The challenge I'm finding with doing a legitimate listening test, especially in a short period of time, is simply finding a place to listen to them all. Everywhere carries just a couple of the different brands, and trying to compare that to online brands even with the free returns seems impossible due to all the different listening environments. Unless multiple stores would allow me to buy like several different brands at once, try them all at home, and then return them...

 

[everettT]

Moving within the 600 series isn't an upgrade. The 600s midrange IMHO (and measured) is bloated. The Revels or the GEs would be my choice(in that order)

 

[AUDIOCRAZE]

Well I just underwent a long process of picking a new speaker. Had the Klipsch Reference Premiere 11 channel Dolby Atmos tip of the line model set up and wanted to downgrade in channels and go up in quality. I heard the paradigms but frankly wasn’t too impressed also heard the Concertas and I thought they were amazing for their price point. Starpower in Dallas quoted me 1399 for a pair of f35 towers and at that price point I think nothing can touch them. I’ve read nothing but great things about the golden ear but I haven’t heard them either my reservation I have with them though is the complex internals. Something goes wrong with that speaker down the road good luck. So I sold the entire 11 channel system to settle on the B&W 702S2 and just WOW! That’s all I have to say! Now I have to buy the center and rears but that’s for another day. Did you decide on making a decision??

 

[Epetti]

I did make a decision. I was able to get in home audition of the Aperion Verus II Grand, B&W 703S2, and Revel Concerta2 F36. For me listening to them all the F36 were the clear winners so that's what I ended up going with. I have a fairly large room and that may have been part of the problem with the B&Ws for me. They were a bit smaller than the other two pairs and just didn't feel like they were able to fill the room. Also being by far the most expensive of the three it made the Revel decision easy.

GoldenEar I ended up eliminating auditioning them in store. I tried a couple different models in different rooms and I just was not crazy about how the high end sounded.

So I've got the LCR setup (did a step up to the Performa3 C208 for the center). The rest of my Atmos setup is purchased but not yet installed.

 

[2channel lover]

I did make a decision. I was able to get in home audition of the Aperion Verus II Grand, B&W 703S2, and Revel Concerta2 F36. For me listening to them all the F36 were the clear winners so that's what I ended up going with. I have a fairly large room and that may have been part of the problem with the B&Ws for me. They were a bit smaller than the other two pairs and just didn't feel like they were able to fill the room. Also being by far the most expensive of the three it made the Revel decision easy.

GoldenEar I ended up eliminating auditioning them in store. I tried a couple different models in different rooms and I just was not crazy about how the high end sounded.

So I've got the LCR setup (did a step up to the Performa3 C208 for the center). The rest of my Atmos setup is purchased but not yet installed.

Congrats...I haven't heard the Concerta series, but I demoed the Revel F208 & 206...had I stayed the OEM route I probably would've gotten Revels as well...impressive.