AaronMK

Boston Accoutics CR85 vs. Cambridge SoundWorks Newton M80

My brother has narrowed it down to these two speakers for his two front mains.

Boston Accoustics CR85
Cambridge SoundWorks Newton M80

He has listened to and liked the CR85's, and is only willing to do risk mail order (ie return shipping) with the M80's because he remembers likeing what he heard at the Cambridge SoundWorks store when his was living in Boston a couple of years ago.

The M80's with 8" woofers makes them a bit more appealing to him. He lives in an apartment and, while he hasn't ruled out buying a powered sub, doesn't know if he would be able to take enough advantage of one to make it worth the purchase. However, if the CR85's are better in other areas, even if they don't go to quite as low frequencies, that would also be a big factor in his decision.

Any thoughts?

Tony Genovese

I'd go with the M80s.

DaveThomas

I have the M80s, and I also own older Boston A40s. The M80s seem to have better midrange maybe because of the 3-way design. I can say that in my apt, I don't need a subwoofer with the M80s. I run them as large and send all the LFE/small channel bass to them. A subwoofer would definitely make an improvement, but the CSWs get low enough for my neighbors I'm sure. They get as low as 35Hz in my living room. But they were picky about room placement - they needed to be be far out from the rear wall to avoid boominess. I use the CSW MC500 as a center, but wish I'd gotten a smaller one, it sounds very nice but is really big.

I like my old Boston speakers also (small 2-way design), can't seem to part with them. I think they image better than the M80s. I think your brother has a tough choice. Try to listen to both at home, if that's not possible, maybe take the M80s to the Boston dealer and compare.

The biggest difference would be the finishes. The M80s have a very nice cabinet design and look great. I'm guessing the Bostons probably have a vinyl finish. More or less a WAF thing.