Can cables of any cost and quality provide bass response missing in my B&W speakers?

Polarity is a good one. But first you need to verify the system is in correct polarity then try to find a source that’s also in correct polarity. If the source is CD it ain’t that easy to find one that’s correct. Most of them aren’t. Cable directionality is a 50/50 thing, Polarity of CDs is not, it’s worse.

@compass_rose - If you look at the spec of this speaker it would appear that they only provide a low frequency of 38 Hz

I would ask how low do you want to go? 

Unfortunately, no cable will assist in getting lower than 38Hz - you will need a subwoofer for that.

These speakers are approaching the limit of what a 6.5" woofer can deliver. Changing to a speaker with 8" woofer could get you down to around 28 Hz and a 10" woofer even lower.

I have Tannoy speakers with a 6.5" woofer (delivering low of 32Hz)  on my A/V system and they lack the bass of the speakers in my Audio system which has an 8" woofer - with a low of 28Hz

Having said that, one speaker cable that does perform exceptionally well and will allow your speaker to perform at their optimal level is the gZero6 from KLE Innovations.

I highly recommend them and have reviewed them at length - see...
http://image99.net/blog/files/228f7609149d575dd8dd8d956511e7c2-57.html

There are other models of cable, but the gZero6 offers the best bang for the buck for your speakers.

If you would like a speaker cable more reasonably priced - try the gZero2. It outperformed my Van den Hul d352 10 gauge cable - providing a more detailed, faster and deeper bass.

See...
http://image99.net/blog/files/fac35e44c003d559714cdd73d86febf9-51.html

Also, If you do order either cable - ask for their Classic Bananas to be installed. It will probably be the last speaker cable you buy

Regards - Steve

Hi Willie,

I don't think the specification is the whole story. 38 Hz is fine for a -3dB point but it is the rest of the frequency response that determines the balance.

WIlson's, Focal's and others have a bass bump (which is quite musical) in the bass, and everything else is below that. These B&Ws are curious in that the mid and treble are above the bass, making these speakers curiously lean, unless they are going to be used with a sub. These choices may have been done to improve the sensitivity.

Take a look at the first chart here:

https://www.soundandvision.com/content/bw-cm-series-surround-speaker-system-measurements

Placement matters, of course, so close to a wall these speakers may greatly improve. Definitely not speakers to leave far from the walls.

Best,

Erik

Thank you all for your considered responses.  A few points to address: (1) Polarity of speaker leads rigourously maintained...checked and double-checked to be sure; (2) Speakers each back into a wall, and positioned ca. 12-18in. away; (3) Actually tried affecting bass response by dusting off a retired Carver C1 preamp with tone controls, and with bass fully engaged, a discernible gain in oomph noted...however, using same setting with aforementioned a/d/s towers, the pressure waves would crack drywall!; (4) Original query concerned music playback mainly...I have a sub which I utilise for DVDs/film streaming to capture LFE, but found it too boomy for music listening.
So, "sounds" like I'm bass-limited if I want to stick with the CM-4s, though they do offer superb resolution and articulation compared to the 1090s.  But, being an empiricist at heart, and with a relatively low-cost outlay (raw cable, bare-wire termination), I can order up lengths of speaker cable of varying properties, and just run simple listening tests to see if any improvement in bass response can be achieved; however, I do share the opinion of "stereo5" that cables can't provide what speakers apparently lack, full stop.