B+W 801D

I currently own the N801S, but I have also heard the 801D's several times and it is a better speaker than mine. I believe a large part of the difference is not with the diamond tweeter, but with the Mundorf caps in the crossover as my friends have experimented with the caps and have achieved significant gains in performance. As to those who don't like their sound well to each there own! I will say that I have owned a large number of speakers and the B&W's are up with there with the best, but they require very careful room placement to get all that they are capable of. Is this due to the very low difraction of the midrange/tweeter head? I know that they took a long time to get them to sound their best though they always sounded very good from the beginnning in my room. The virtual systems that I see them in they are almost always placed too close to the back wall which will make them sound very congested. If your room is larger than 16x21 you should have no problems getting excellent sound with proper placement and good enough electronics.

The OP rightly asks for comments from those with first-hand experience but that can come in many ways. For example, one can hear speakers in a showroom which may or may not be familiar and which may or may not be representative of the room in which they will be used. This can lead to great variances in opinion (on top of personal biases) having only a bit to do with the speaker. Another example would be from the group that has chosen the speaker for their systems but that is likely to be populated people with a similar (and predictable) opinion.

As someone who has had 800 Sigs and now 802Ds, I know that every criticism mentioned so far has some basis in fact but that, to a large degree, those observations are related to the context of room, setup and ancillary equipment. Am I telling the OP to buy the 801Ds? Nope. I am telling him that unless he hears them himself and has a large suitable room for them, he might be better off sticking with less-demanding speakers that he can assess for himself.

Kal

Thanks for your insightful input.
However,is it possible to get top shelf sound out of these with proper system matching or do they have weaknesses that simply can't be overcome? Are there better obvious choices in your opinion? ie tannoy cantebury,wilson w/p 8,vandersteen 5a etc

Budt...after that uncalled for name calling, I don't know why I should care at all, however, I am now using Vandersteen 5A's with all Ayre electronics. I have never been so pleased with a system, or have heard anything that gets as much right as the 5A's. I might add, that they (like all speakers) have to be set up properly, and even though Richard himself doesn't think so, I think that the use of better power cords can make the speaker even better, at least in my setup. I urge you to hear them at a Vandersteen dealer. My goal as a musician and an audiophile is to disseminate the joy of music.

I have heard a number of people who really seem to love those 5a's.Infact I can't really recall any real hostility towards the line. I will definitely make it a point of hearing them.