Revel Ultima Salon 2's vs B&W 802d's

Good suggestions - thanks. I've listened to several of these since you made 'em. While not all are my cup 'o tea I like several of them and appreciate the listening suggestions (the only one I have on CD is Clapton). For me it's helpful to be listening for a particular phrase in a piece of music when demoing speakers etc.

I like all kinds of music (though metal and hard rock are not really my style), but gravitate to stuff that's really engineered well (Brian Culbertson, Craig Chaquico, Keb 'Mo, Aaron Neville's "Warm Your Hear") and I tend toward smooth jazz (Grusin, Benoit, Lorber, Peter White).

I'm not really good at expressing sound with words but, when it comes to speakers I really like "dimension"/depth in the music and delicacy (i.e. being able to hear a guys fingernails or pick on the strings of a guitar).

Nab2,

I own some Keb 'Mo but all the other you listed are new to me. I did demo all the music you listed in itunes.

I think with your taste in music both of the speakers you have chosen will sound very nice. I think the balance of the revels will allow you to pick apart the music better and find the details in the music you like (with better timbre too). I have always thought B&Ws are a bit of a rocker brand (strong bass, strong highs, forward mids) where the revels seem to run a center line and seem to get out of their own way better.

Enjoy the music

OK, I also own the B&W 802d's and the three most important points to getting the best from them are: 1. The amp, 2. The amp, and 3. The amp.

So which amps have you tried and which do you suggest? I currently have a couple on hand: CJ 2500A and Bryston 4bSST2 - which would be better?

Either one bad for the 802ds?

What's the central issue(s) for good vs bad amp for the 802's?

The 802 impedance is all over the place and needs an amp that can handle the swings even though they are 90db efficient. Lots of speakers are like this though. Basically they need lots of current and with lots of current comes lots of power. It goes back to Ohm's Law (I=V/R) as the resistance drops the current goes up (voltage is constant in the home). Of course this is a very simple explanation and the capacitors in the crossovers will complicate things. There are lots of designers on audiogon that could explain it better... electrical was never my strong suit in school.

"I estimated the B&W 802D's voltage sensitivity as 89dB(B)/2.83V/m, within experimental error of the specified 90dB figure and usefully higher than the average of the more than 500 speakers I have measured in the past 16 years. The B&W's impedance plot (fig.1) reveals the speaker to be moderately difficult to drive, with a magnitude that drops to 3 ohms throughout the upper bass and an awkward combination of 4 ohms and –50° electrical phase angle at 60Hz. In addition, the very high peak between 2 and 3kHz, resulting from the tweeter/midrange crossover, will give a somewhat forward tonal balance with amplifiers having a significant source impedance; say, tube models."

look at the first graph.
http://www.stereophile.com/content/bw-802d-loudspeaker-measurements