B&W 'New' 800 Series

@dave_b

What were the demo components? Were speakers fully broken-in (at least 500 hours) ? If known ...

Kot...Macintosh mono blocks and pre with Mac music server.  

Fully broken in!

@dave_b 

Glad to hear you enjoyed the demo. IMHO, McIntosh / B&W does offer pretty good synergy. I did notice 800's sounded more natural and fuller compare to the pairing with Classe M600's.  

I own the 802D3 and they are very good speakers.  I don't know what else I would want from a speaker in their price range.  They disappear easily and image like crazy in the right room with the right lateral and vertical smear controlled.  I am very happy with these speakers.  They respond well to cable changes, source changes, preamp changes, and amp changes.  

I run them with Emm labs Dac2x/TSDX transport combo, Cary SLP05 preamp, and Boulder 2060 with Audioquest WEL power cords and speaker cables... only thing I'm weak with is completing the rest of my room treatments (need diffusors) and bass traps, and I need some good XLR...