Anyone Remember the B&W DM3000s?

I still have a pair of DM1800s that I run in my secondary system. You can infer from the fact that I've kept them for 20 years how I feel about them. Personally, I believe that B&W made really great speakers back then, but in the interim the relentless pursuit of accuracy has led them in directions that often don't appeal to my ears. Just my 2 cents, of course...

I was a die hard Klipsch fan (hence my user name here) and always heard memebrs on the Klipsch Forum bashing B&W's. I had never heard B&W's but figured they must be good if everyone felt that they had to bash them. A pair of used B&W's popped up for sale in the paper and I went too see them with no intention of buying, just out of curiosity. They were DM3000's and not set up well at all. Old Rotel equipment and just thrown together. They sounded wonderful and I bought them the next day.

I then sold my Klipsch speakers and moved to B&W N801's (the next week, lucky find within driving distance) and then my current speakers, the S800's a few year later.

I have regulued the rubber surrounds on the DM's, replaced the gril cloth, replaced the caps in the crossovers with Clarity Caps and oiled them with linseed oil regularly. Every once in a while I put them in my main system. I am always amazed at just how good they sound. The S800's are better speakers, but the DM3000's really hold their own with a serious front end. If I had to I could easily live with them in my main system.

I set them up in another room with a Jolida 100 wpc tube amp that I borrowed from a friend and they had some of the best imaging that I have heard. On Roger Waters "Amused to Death" the track with the radio voices sounded like they were comming from the far left and behind me. Pretty impressive. I liked them with that setup but they did sound better with Classe SS monoblocks in my main system.

Check out this thread:

http://htguide.com/forum/showthread.php4?t=12585

So, to answer your question, yes, they are as good as you remember, but are bettered by $20,000 speakers. Unfair comparison for sure.

I only have long term experience with the N801's and S800's so I don't know what they would compare to in the current lineup. I am guessing maybe 703's but I do not know.

I bought a pair back in mid 1980s new from a dealer in the San Fernando Valley CA..At that time they were one of the best Id heard and certainly owned,since then many speakers have come and gone so a comparison to newer gear is not valid..They served their purpose well..For me Avalon stands out as a past beauty..Cheers

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.

I also have a pair of DM3000's from 1984 and they still work great.

 

I asked B&W in early 2021 what current model supercedes them and was told the 702 S2's