Anyone Remember the B&W DM3000s?


Although, I had had a few other before them, the first "real" hi-end speaker I owned were the DM3000s purchased in about 1985 for $1800 during a big sale at SF Stereo...

I often wonder if they were really as good as I remember...and I do remember them being fantastic! Hearing lots of new informations, slamming bass and wonderful midrange...

I wonder where they would lay in the B&W scheme of things today...? Or speakers in general...

Do you have a speaker that you think of often...like that old girlfriend or SO that you had so much fun with but didn't want to bring home to meet Mom????

Thoughts?
jb8312
I was bitten by the B&W bug back in the early 70's while a DJ in Chapel Hill, when a stereo salesman buddy brought a pair of small DM 12's over to my house, and proceeded to destroy the large Advents I had previously thought were close to perfection.
I bought them on the spot, still have 'em, still use 'em. Went on to acquire those slightly larger stand mounted units with the tweeter on top which I also still have, then a pair of series 80 802's, and finally, thanks to a very large room, a set of monster 808s, powered by two Krell MDA 300 monoblocs, the KBL pre amp, with XLO balanced interconnects and speaker cables. Nice.
I got divorced in the late 90's, and with that had to choose between the Krell gear or the 808s, and I took the Krells, replacing with an MC2500 I had in my office.
Not long thereafter, I came across a pristine pair of DM3000's for the paltry sum of $600.
It's ten years later, and my company does online music research for about 200 radio stations, so there is a constant flow of all kinds of new music rolling in, from Country to Alternative to Americana and Hip Hop. I am still listening to all of it on those DM's on a practically daily basis, and they still sound great.
Now I'm in the market for something new and different, and I am sure there are many speakers on the market that will crush those good old B&W's. My only question is, how will they sound a few years down the line? I can't think of too many speakers, regardless of technology, that still get mentioned as much as those pointy backed 3000's. On that note, does anyone have a nice set of 808's out in the barn that they'd like to get rid of?
"Now I'm in the market for something new and different, and I am sure there are many speakers on the market that will crush those good old B&W's."

I don't know if "crush" is the right word. The S800's are better, but they do not "crush" the DM3000's. Then again, many say that the Diamond series "crushes" the nautilus series B&W's, so many consider slight differences as crushing. I heard the B&W 300 series speakers. The higher end stuff does crush those, but we are talking major differences.

Whatever you buy, hang on to the DM3000's.
I too have a lost love tale for the DM-3000's. They were my first high end speaker. I bought a couple different "Box Store" speakers while a teenager and college student. My first room mate after college had a great system from a high end dealer, so I began stopping into Almas HiFi in Dearborn in the mid-80's looking, listening, and learning. After I married a few years later, I stopped in, and they had a used pair of DM3000's at the front of the store. They sounded GREAT, and looked better imho. I bought them on the spot for $1200, and hooked them upto a Sony receiver I had purchased a few years back. Sounded good, but lead to my constantly changing system. When you think about WAF - I will always remember the day I brought them home. She cried. They are so big and UGLY she shreiked. I loved them, glass top and all (Good for safe beer keeping during a party! I eventually went the HomeTheater route, and bought one of the first HTM-1 center speakers from B&K. I drove them with an Onkyo 919 receiver in DPL mode. I built a new home, and put in ceiling rear speakers to complete the 5-channel system. My wife HATED the big speakers in the middle of HER living room, so we negotiated. I gave up audio upstairs, and promised to keep the speakers in the basement, if she allowed me to build a theater. A real WIN-WIN. I later sold them, and have made the evolution through a number of NHT speakers.

Still a soft spot in my heart for those B&W's.

jeff in Detroit
I bought a pair of DM3000's in 1985. I still have them connected to a McCormack DNA 225, a Carey Audio Design SLP-98, and all Acoustic Zen interconnects and power cables, with a PS audio power conditioner.

Sounds great. I've listened to the new B&W 703's, 704's, and 803's and I think the DM3000's sound better. It's more balanced. The high's are not so sharp, the midrange is fuller, and the bass is deeper and tighter. But that's my opinion.