How do I power my 800D(3)s

Matt,

A lot of good suggestions.  I think it's good to get other perspectives and as you mentioned you want a sales person to be unbiased if that's possible.  Another thing I would suggest is take another audio friend with you that you trust (their ears).  I always do this and we compare notes after we listen.  I have listened to the Linn and Classe electronics with the former B&W line.  They were ok but didn't really knock my socks off.  I wouldn't dismiss the integrated route such as the Ayre, Pass Labs, Rowland or as a wild card the Devialet.  If you go the separate route I would suggest keeping the pre amp and amp from the same manufacture to capture the brand synergy.  In the end just trust your ears no matter what anyone says.  You will know it when you hear it. 

I don’t think anyone here would disagree that one of the criteria for comparing speakers is their ability to create a realistic soundstage. I listen to a lot of live performances ranging from jazz trios to large orchestra and the first thing that catches my attention is the quality of the soundstage instead of quality of the recording, etc. I also admit that I know a number of folks, some with a lot more disposable income than me, that have spent large sums of money on super expensive audio components and had not even noticed or looked for soundstage until I pointed it out to them. They were simply enamored by the exceptional dynamics and detail coming out of speakers. I must think they "felt" the differences among the speakers at the time of purchase but didn’t specifically look for soundstage differences. So bottom line is people spend their money on what makes them happy and may look for different things in the same object. One friend bought a pair of Sonus Fabers - not sure about the model, but paid just under $20K, and he said they looked much nicer than any other speaker he saw - and touched, in that size. To each his own.

Edited: Asked my friend and he has the SF Elipsa model. Forgot to mention the McIntosh MC601/C2500 feeding the beasts. Most beautiful speaker I've personally ever seen close up and the system has an incredible ability to create eerily realistic soundstage, especially on live close miked recordings.