B&W DM-70.

[nat8808]

The Grass is never Greener on the other side.

That's the whole upgrade industry doomed ..

[nat8808]

Wasn't too long ago that someone on Wam had difficulty selling a pair with purple car paint finish for about £350 or may have ended up taking offers.

[mjkelshaw]

Ooo - yuk, the old fashioned 'radiogram look'. I hate that! Give me the smooth curves of the Continental lass every time!

The Continentals were more 'domestically acceptable' being smaller . However the veneer on the 'standard' DM70's had less tendency to part company with the carcass whereas the the top edges of the curved front panel of the Continents were very susceptible to cracking and shedding pieces of the veneer. The pair that recently sold on e-bay had similar damage to the veneer.
Perhaps stripping the veneer off and re-finishing with painted surface would be a better long term solution where the veneer is badly chipped or missing. It would also mean that one would have a wider colour choice, I think the Continentals were only originally offered with a choice of Teak veneer or a 'White' finish. I shall have to look for the handbooks.
The Continentals I owned could also be switched between European and American mains voltage. When I left for Canada, I purchased a pair of American spec. transformers from B & W with the intention of substituting them once I had 'settled', but as I never actually unpacked the 'Standard' ones they were never used, and I re-discovered them when I was 'packing' to move house last year. I also have a complete 'power pack' in my garage which I had forgotten I had removed from one of my speakers.

Regards

Mike Kelshaw

[Barry]

I've always prefered the look of the 'Radiogram' DM-70s to those having the 'Continental' styling. Apart from the styling, I also liked the idea of the non-captive mains lead and the use of a 2-pin Bulgin connector for the speaker audio connection.

However 'Continental' or not, both versions suffered the usual problems of trying to integrate the dipole nature of the electrostatic tweeter with the monopole (cardoid) polar pattern of the bass unit.

[The Barbarian]

I've always prefered the look of the 'Radiogram' DM-70s to those having the 'Continental' styling.

Trouble with people is that Modern styling always takes preference.. ''o god that looks old fashioned, lookslike a radiogram'' type of mentality.. However i guess it works both ways where i would turn my nose up regarding modern styling.

[Marco]

Depends on your sensibilities and tastes in aesthetics, dude...

I'm with you though on the looks of the 'radiogram' ones being best. Very rarely is the original of anything, which was fundamentally 'sorted' to start with, genuinely improved upon.

The Continentals were more 'domestically acceptable' being smaller...

"Domestically acceptable" for whom - some manipulative and controlling, image-obsessed BWFH? Only pant-wetting weeny-boys worry about such guff!!!

Marco.

[mjkelshaw]

"Domestically acceptable" for whom - some manipulative and controlling, image-obsessed BWFH? Only pant-wetting weeny-boys worry about such guff!!!

Marco.

I intended the term 'domestically acceptable' to indicate that the 'Continental' being smaller would more easily fit into the sort of 'small' house that sadly appears to be the 'norm' these days.
My first pair of 'Standard' DM-70's resided in a house built in the early part of the of 20th century, which had high ceilings and proportionally much larger rooms, and in which there was probaly enough timber in the doors, skirtings & panelling to construct a whole 'estate' of moderm 'dwellings'.
With regard to anything being acceptable in 'taste or stye' - I wouldn't care to comment - that's entirely a personal and very subjective judgement.

Regards

Mike Kelshaw

[istari_knight]

When it comes down to it I would be happy to own either !

[Marco]

I intended the term 'domestically acceptable' to indicate that the 'Continental' being smaller would more easily fit into the sort of 'small' house that sadly appears to be the 'norm' these days.
My first pair of 'Standard' DM-70's resided in a house built in the early part of the of 20th century, which had high ceilings and proportionally much larger rooms, and in which there was probaly enough timber in the doors, skirtings & panelling to construct a whole 'estate' of moderm 'dwellings'.
With regard to anything being acceptable in 'taste or stye' - I wouldn't care to comment - that's entirely a personal and very subjective judgement.

No worries, Mike. Thanks for the clarification, although you needn't have worried, as my post was very much tongue-in-cheek

Like you say, "modern dwellings" are part of the problem. Thankfully I don't live in one, and indeed have no intention of ever doing so!

Marco.

[agk]

The dude who may have a lead on these is not of the hurrying nature so I shall wait and see.

With my Sony fetish and the need to complete my lineup I shall keep my eye out for the SS-GB variant now.