B&W Speakers

A good friend has B&W N803's in an 11x14.5 room similar to yours. His are about 2 ft from the front wall and about 6 1/2 ft a part. Things were not sounding so good till he spent about 3K in room treatments. At this point now its one of the best sounding systems Ive heard with a Plinius 102, AI L2 pre, Kimber Select cables, Nottingham TT. and a Marantz S11S2 CD.

You would likely do well with the S804, but definitely plan to treat your room heavily to avoid echo and coincident reflections as well as bass boom. Also look into the dedicated sound anchor stands for them. Made a big difference for my friends 803.

If you dont mind as much bass, then the 805 monitor is the obvious safe bet...but I'd still make sure the room was treated accordingly. Best to you.

Before you set your mind specifically on B&W's, open your search to other manufacturers as well. Personally, I find B&W's overpriced and underperforming.

i fully agree w stringreen. if i had 5k to spend, i wouldn't be looking at b&w.

I've had a pair of 603's as my first pair of speakers and then the 703's. Either one sounded too bright to me, though I don't doubt that they are good speakers. Guess the 800 series might be better but if you do a search on here you'll find that I'm not the only one who found them to be a bit forward sounding, though I believe people found that to be the case with the aluminum dome tweeters, yet not with the diamond ones.

I agree with Stringreen that there are many other brands out there that are just as good or better. Personally I currently have a pair of Living Voice Avatars and like them a lot better. My girlfriend, who isn't really into this hobby immediately said that the Avatars are more musical and easier to listen to.

Guess try to find some dealers and audition whatever you can to at least hear something different as well.