YOu know, the CDM9NT's are terrific speakers for the money! I think with this receiver based system (receivers are a sonic compromise overall compared to separates really!...ALWAYS!!!), you would do very well with these slightly easier to drive CDM9nt's! Yes the 804's have a tick more potential, but not at twice the money!!!! However, the speakers are the most important component in the electronics chain overall (but it's all balance in the end!), and you should chose your budget accordingly!
years back, when I was working in a high end salon, my compatriots and I tried playing "mid-fi" wars with top of the line receivers by Yamaha(DSPA3090)and Denon(AVR5600) (actually I've owned the B&k AVR202 for a shortwhile). We drove some modest little B&W DM601's full range, as well as some big Mirage M5i's, through the receivers, playing a variety of regea, rock and classical music through the set-up's, and came up with the follow conclussions about receiver based systems for fullrange music dubties on ANY SPEAKER BUT POWERED/ACTIVES!!....RECEIVES CANNOT COMPETE WITH SEPARATES!!!!...It's alway's a sonic compromise! The
sound of the little speakers played full range off of either of these big receivers was simply NOT very good, in most aspects that counted! When we simply used the receivers as preamps, and attached a little modest 2 channel power amp for our tests, drivin the speakers off of the external amps (in this case we used a simple little Denon POA8200), the sound was AMAZINGLY light years better!!...WOW!...I cannot state how much an improvement it was sonically! Yes, I can say that I don't give any receivers amp section that much credit really! They're just not that impressive on their own. The only way I think any reciever (and the B&K is clean and clear..Don't get me wrong) would work out on some full range speakers ok, and sound good, is if the speakers were "powered" by their own internal amp, thus assisting the receivers amps!...this works very well with receivers actually!!)
It appears that the amp sections in these big receivers do better when you configure the speakers for "small" instead of full range dubties, letting a sub fill in the bottom! But of course, this has it's compromises for "fullrange" 2 channel applications in the end..but better than letting a full range speaker be driven on it's own by a simple receiver!...just sound week and flat overall!!
I guess the amps in receivers need to drive too many other components (i.e, digital processor, tuner, preamp, lights and switches, etc, etc..plus the speakrs!). It's ultimately a pretty week pressentation compared to what a good quality amp can do on some speakers!
So, anyway, enough with my little "side-trip" here. My advise would be, if your going to drive either of these quality speakers (cdm9's or Nautilus 804's), you should really prepare to get a separate amp to drive these guy's!!!!...the sound will be much much much better than what you'll get off of that otherwise clean sounding reciever!(just use the pre-outs)! If you do not want to do this however, I know you'd get ok results (just not stellar) using the CDM9's with that reciever. And they are very good speakers!...I'd buy em sure. It's just that, whatever you end up with, you can be sure that you'll get 100% improvement easy using a better amp to drive the speakers you end up with!
My recommendation would be, for the money, Your receiver as a Pre/pro, adding a better B&K 4BST (at least, if you must use matching gear) for the 2 mains, and get the CDM9's and matching center/rears!!!....the sound will be very very good I assure you!!! (I've experiece with ALL thes pieces in question!). If you really want to go more all out then, by all means, get the Nautilus 804's (about 5-10% better over all I guess....?), the matching center/rears, using your receiver as the pre/pro (you could also sell and get a stand alone prepro???), and add some better amps!!! This would sound muy muy fantastic if set-up correctly!
One of my favorit 2 channel/HT system set-ups, for modest sized rooms, consists of B&W CDM9NT's, with matching center and rears, driven by Classe SSP25/30 and 5 channel Classe Amps!!!...wow! For the money, this is extremely satisfying for not a whole whole lot of money!!!
Anyway, I'm starting to drift again here...sorry!
Ok, if you must keep that decent receiver (and I think you put the cart before the horse here...the speakers are more important factor than the reciever for the sound overall!), my suggetion is that you, again, go with the CDM's(and save some money here), and simply add a better 2 , 3 , or 5 channel amp to your system!!!! B&K, Parasound, ATI, all make affordable 5 channel amps under $1700 range new!! Adding one of these to your receiver would make a vast difference!...vast!!! also, for more money/better performance, Classe makes a very good choice in 5 channel amps to go with your speakres!!!! I like the Classe 5 channel best with the B&W's, then the Bryston (forget the class A rating thing!...this is expensive for your purposes!!!), this combo just works well!!!
anyway, good luck
years back, when I was working in a high end salon, my compatriots and I tried playing "mid-fi" wars with top of the line receivers by Yamaha(DSPA3090)and Denon(AVR5600) (actually I've owned the B&k AVR202 for a shortwhile). We drove some modest little B&W DM601's full range, as well as some big Mirage M5i's, through the receivers, playing a variety of regea, rock and classical music through the set-up's, and came up with the follow conclussions about receiver based systems for fullrange music dubties on ANY SPEAKER BUT POWERED/ACTIVES!!....RECEIVES CANNOT COMPETE WITH SEPARATES!!!!...It's alway's a sonic compromise! The
sound of the little speakers played full range off of either of these big receivers was simply NOT very good, in most aspects that counted! When we simply used the receivers as preamps, and attached a little modest 2 channel power amp for our tests, drivin the speakers off of the external amps (in this case we used a simple little Denon POA8200), the sound was AMAZINGLY light years better!!...WOW!...I cannot state how much an improvement it was sonically! Yes, I can say that I don't give any receivers amp section that much credit really! They're just not that impressive on their own. The only way I think any reciever (and the B&K is clean and clear..Don't get me wrong) would work out on some full range speakers ok, and sound good, is if the speakers were "powered" by their own internal amp, thus assisting the receivers amps!...this works very well with receivers actually!!)
It appears that the amp sections in these big receivers do better when you configure the speakers for "small" instead of full range dubties, letting a sub fill in the bottom! But of course, this has it's compromises for "fullrange" 2 channel applications in the end..but better than letting a full range speaker be driven on it's own by a simple receiver!...just sound week and flat overall!!
I guess the amps in receivers need to drive too many other components (i.e, digital processor, tuner, preamp, lights and switches, etc, etc..plus the speakrs!). It's ultimately a pretty week pressentation compared to what a good quality amp can do on some speakers!
So, anyway, enough with my little "side-trip" here. My advise would be, if your going to drive either of these quality speakers (cdm9's or Nautilus 804's), you should really prepare to get a separate amp to drive these guy's!!!!...the sound will be much much much better than what you'll get off of that otherwise clean sounding reciever!(just use the pre-outs)! If you do not want to do this however, I know you'd get ok results (just not stellar) using the CDM9's with that reciever. And they are very good speakers!...I'd buy em sure. It's just that, whatever you end up with, you can be sure that you'll get 100% improvement easy using a better amp to drive the speakers you end up with!
My recommendation would be, for the money, Your receiver as a Pre/pro, adding a better B&K 4BST (at least, if you must use matching gear) for the 2 mains, and get the CDM9's and matching center/rears!!!....the sound will be very very good I assure you!!! (I've experiece with ALL thes pieces in question!). If you really want to go more all out then, by all means, get the Nautilus 804's (about 5-10% better over all I guess....?), the matching center/rears, using your receiver as the pre/pro (you could also sell and get a stand alone prepro???), and add some better amps!!! This would sound muy muy fantastic if set-up correctly!
One of my favorit 2 channel/HT system set-ups, for modest sized rooms, consists of B&W CDM9NT's, with matching center and rears, driven by Classe SSP25/30 and 5 channel Classe Amps!!!...wow! For the money, this is extremely satisfying for not a whole whole lot of money!!!
Anyway, I'm starting to drift again here...sorry!
Ok, if you must keep that decent receiver (and I think you put the cart before the horse here...the speakers are more important factor than the reciever for the sound overall!), my suggetion is that you, again, go with the CDM's(and save some money here), and simply add a better 2 , 3 , or 5 channel amp to your system!!!! B&K, Parasound, ATI, all make affordable 5 channel amps under $1700 range new!! Adding one of these to your receiver would make a vast difference!...vast!!! also, for more money/better performance, Classe makes a very good choice in 5 channel amps to go with your speakres!!!! I like the Classe 5 channel best with the B&W's, then the Bryston (forget the class A rating thing!...this is expensive for your purposes!!!), this combo just works well!!!
anyway, good luck