Speakers - Bowers & Wilkins DM 110i

HiFiCollector.com community member, Tony sent in this nice write-up of the B&W DM 110i speakers he owns. Thanks Tony!

If YOU have photos and a story, send them on to: HiFiCollector88 [at] Gmail.com    Thanks!

*** *** ***

Hi Tom;
I noticed your pictures of the B&W 100i bookshelf speakers, and thought you might like to hear about my DM 110i speakers. As you can see from the picture, they are the next size up from the 100's, and also the family resemblance is clear.

I have taken the following information from B&W's own literature;

"DM 110i
Stand-mount/Bookshelf loudspeaker system

1 x 26mm high-frequency driver with dome/coil construction of special polymide material
1 x 200mm nominal piston dia and 26mm high temperature voice coil with critically impregnated composite short fibre cone."

In fact, it looks to me like the "short fibre cone" is made from paper fibres. It has a light but sturdy feel when pressed lightly with the fingertips, the stiffness comes from the impregnation they mention.

This is what used to be called doping, given a fancy new name here by B&W !

The overall impression is of very good build quality of both cabinets and drive units. The tweeter is soft-domed, as opposed to cheap plastic, and the mid/bass unit has a very solid metal frame.

If I remember correctly, the 100 series were designed with the dynamic nature of digital music in mind, and the 110's are certainly a very good speaker.

Bass -  well detailed, no trace of muddiness or boom. I never feel as if I could use more bass.

Midrange - well detailed for what is essentially a budget speaker. Like the bass, I never feel as if anything is missing.

Treble - bright (a B&W characteristic) but not fatiguing. I think the soft dome helps here.

Overall, they are a very well-balanced speaker, they are dynamic and can reproduce drums with a good deal of "whack". They also reveal shortcomings in recorded material, so I'd be prepared to classify them as true monitors, although only at a moderate level and not as top studio quality.

They are hooked up to my computer, via a Terratec sound card, which is far better than the basic sound cards usually supplied with  computers, and this is connected to a Cambridge Audio A500 amplifier, which drives the B&W's. The Terratec is quite old now, so I'd like to replace it with a more up-to-date card.
I have a digital TV/Radio attachment on my computer too, so  I also use it to record music from radio. Computer-based music has become an important part of my listening,  however I am still an analogue person at heart. I have used the 110's to edit music which I have recorded live myself for burning to cd, so this backs up my comments about their qualities as a monitor.

The 110's are described by B&W as Stand-mount or Bookshelf, I have them on stands as you can see, I would think you'd need generously proportioned shelves to use them as bookshelf speakers, as they measure;

Height: 490mm Width: 260mm Depth: 250mm

They are essentially a variation on the 25-litre, ported-box, wife-friendly speakers which I would think everyone has owned at some time.

Finally, the best part of all - I bought them from a colleague at work a few years ago. He was asking £20 for them, he brought them round and they were in mint condition, so I gave him £25! I think they were about £200 when new.
So from the HiFiCollector community point of view, that was very good business indeed.

Best Wishes

Tony