B&W CM5, Standmount Monitors

These are the striking CM5s from Bowers & Wilkins, a halfway house between the company's award winning 685s and the high-end 805S. There's a definite allure to the CM5s. They're stylish and desirable, but they're also a fine example of speaker engineering. It's difficult to point to a rival of its time that looks as classy or, indeed, can claim to be as technologically advanced.

The CM5s use B&W's Kevlar mid-bass driver and Nautilus tube-loaded aluminium tweeter.

And the CM5s are impressive straight out of the box. Faced with Derrin Nauendorf, Live at The Boardwalk (a speaker demoing staple here at the shop) they show that they are very detailed and that at the heart of their spacious soundstage, they present a precise and focused stereo image. Attention is also drawn to the force with which low frequencies are catapulted towards the listener. Real bass that's fast, accurate and above all clean!

These CM5 in beautiful flaw free piano black finish are the epitome of refined speaker elegance. They don't ever stand out optically in a room but their presence is DEFINITELY felt. Solid 9+ aesthetics with only the slightest signs of use and an incredible 11 in sonic performance; just sound "right" with every genre of music.

Demos at the Lawrence shop are always encouraged.

B&W, CM5 High Performance Standmount Monitors: $499 + sales tax where applicable