need more smoothness


I own B&W CDM 1NT's and have a love-hate "relationship"
with them. Excellent finich, great mid and detail but
violins sounds to sharp. Maybe I buy other speakers or hope they do well with smooth electronics such as the LINN
Classik system.
Are the B&W's with a linn classik a good match ?
Maybe I'm a little bit hi fi - neurotical.
willydelatter7b8b
You are using low-end budget components with your CDM 1NT and that's why you're getting a 'hard' sound. I have the CDM 1SE for 5 years(they are now used as rears in HT) and have upgraded my amplification from Arcam to Classe and then to Audio Research and the sound changes dramatically with every component change.

I agree with Timf that you change your electronics and cables since they are not on par with the CDM's. They are not bright speakers but just ruthlessly revealing of the upfront components. If you don't believe, try using the Arcam Alpha 10 integrated and Alpha 8 cd player(my first system) with Cardas cabling throughout and you'll see how warm the sound will get.
I sold my B&W's because my system frustrated me.
So I intend to buy new speakers and listened to Sonus
Faber Concerto's with my Rotel amp.
It sounded bad, but when the salesman used an other amp,
in this case the LFD Mistral, I was schocked from the
improvement, I bought the LFD Mistral and use them with Dynaudio audience 40 (my first speakers), now I realise this was a perfect partner to my B&W's, the salesman said that the amp and speakers are the most important components, not the source, I'd agree with him.
You quoted:

"the salesman said that the amp and speakers are the most important components, not the source"

Although it may be quite true but the the salesman is definitely not talking to an audiophile point of view and may well be flamed for his words if he were to tell this to a true audiophile.

I'm surprised that you've sold off your B&W's so quickly.