NHT 2.9 or B&W CDM9NT

I can only provide you this opinion. I currrently own the NHT 2.9's and for what they can be had now a days it's a no brainer $1300-1500 new. Now many out there, which I somewhat agree, state that the Aluminum tweeter can tend to be a bit bright. Matching equipment with your speakers is the key. As my upgrade bug hit I went from receivers to adding amps to complete separates then high end separates and playing around with a tube set up. All along staying with the 2.9's. You may have to spend more on the electronics going with NHT. I use Cardas cables through out which tend to have a more laid back sound. Amps like Classe sound best with these speakers. Tubes sound fantastic, but due to the efficiency they make for a difficult and expensive route.

I have stayed with 2.9's for many reasons.
1.They sound great with all types of music and they have fantastic bass.
2.They do not need to be place far form the back wall.
3.The wife likes the way they look:)
4.They were relatively cheap used.

However B&W makes great speakers I can not ad anything, you may hear from others that will presuade you other wise. And I am sure you'll hear other suggestions. Do what's right for your situation.

Happy listening

Jimmy

I, too, can only comment on the NHT's. I owned a pair of the 2.9's for about 2 1/2 years and would pretty much mimic Jimmy's feedback - I was very satisfied with them for all the same reasons and at $1300/pr used, they're an excellent buy. My listening tastes are almost exactly the opposite (lots of rock, some jazz/blues, no classical), and bass is essential to me. The 2.9's have excellent integrated bass, probably as good as you'll find in that price range. The one thing I would add as a possible detraction - I listened to mine mostly in a dedicated environment. I don't know how I'd like them in a living room while I was walking around. -Kirk

Now Hear This!!! B&W sound weak compared to the NHT speakers. I did a very extensive in store demo yesterday with a set of NHT's, B&W's, Paradigms, and PSB's and the B&W's you mentioned were sad. I have never liked B&W sound and everytime I hear another pair, they just reaffirm my opinion. OVER PRICED and UNDERPERFORMING. This is all subjective to my own ears but it may help you so you don't make a big B&W mistake.

The best thing for you to do is ignore all the advise and go listen for yourself. There are no many variables that go into why things sound the way they do, you can get a rough idea of what is good and what is not from our recommendations, but that is it. Since you have narrowed it down to two speakers, then go listen and take your time.

You don't know our personal tastes? We may like tons of bass and you don't? How good is our hearing? What amp, CD player did we use? It may not have been appropriate or a compliment to one of the speakers in the demo, when some other setup would have yielded the opposite result. What is our music taste? We like rock and you listen to opera. How were the accoustics in the room where we listened? What cables did we use? You know none of these things.

My best friend's Home Theater setup has those Bose cube speakers all around. He likes how it sounds, so who am I to say he is wrong?? I have actually found myself in places where I heard something that sounded good and was shocked I was listening to Bose speakers. It just happened that all the right variables were in place to make it sound good.