I also use classic threes in my set up powered by a rotel 1075 amp (125w x5) and a new Marantz receiver as a control unit. I too think the speakers sound fantastic, although I don't know how they would compare to the CDM 1NTs. I can tell you the classic threes compare very favorably to any other speaker I have ever owned; klipsch, AR, and yamaha. The one thing I noticed about the threes is that in a smaller room, the speakers produce pretty impressive bass to go along with it's mids and highs. I will add that I use the nht u2 sub system for the low end. Hope this helps.