What are your general thoughts of B&W speakers

They can be nice with the right amp and setup but often that is not the case when you hear them. In general, I tend to prefer PSB, Focal and Totem when I hear them these days.

I owned B&W P6s for about 10 years which were a good value in their day.

"B&W has a "sound" but as to any of the speakers you mention blowing them away, including the phasey or defuse MBL I find hard to believe."

mbls phasey? Hmm, not sure about that. The large holographic presentation might resemble how some recordings made that way sound on more conventional setups, but do mbl speakers or eletronics really introduce phase issues otherwise?

Maybe relatively diffuse sounding compared to others, particularly more directional designs like horns, if not set up well or if the extremely wide and deep soundstage mbls set up right are capable of producing is described as diffused compared to the norm.

Chad,

Ag trios (high efficiency horns) and omni low efficiency mbl are of course
as different as can be, so hard to compare. The sound radiation pattern
of an omni is diffuse pretty much by defnition, but i would say the sound
Set up right is not. I have heard other full range horns but not ag and
compared. Not
nearly as much diffence in sound necessarily as design might lead one to
expect, all things considered.

I heard mbl 111e once set up optimally. I heard weight differences from
rtr, vinyl and digital, but not a lack overall. Specific recording quality of
the
material played seemed to be the main factor, but sohrce device in the
system used anoher to some degree.

No doubt, omnis seem to require lots of power compared to others to
perform best. I have observed that over time with my ohms. Having lots
of "meat on the bones" is one of my favorite terms to describe
them these days using 500 w/ch icepower amps. Larger higher end B&W
speakers i have heard are similar in regards to having good meat on the
bone, at least with the right amps, as mentioned.

"You could say the HD800s are tilted upwards towards spacial cues and air. My experience of the MBL."

No doubt, spatial cues and air (when set up properly in the right room, not an easy task with the larger models)a are the main distinguishing characteristic of mbl. Its a subjective love it or hate it kind of thing as is much of home audio.

OHMs are a much better value and more practical for most IMHO. They excel at coherency and delivering weight to the music in an effortless manner along with all the rest, although a fairly hefty amp is still required, at least for the larger models. OHMs are being marketed and distributed in Germany, mbls home turf, these days. I wonder how that is going?

No doubt a lot of vendors have been nipping at B&W's heels in recent years, but in defense of B&W, they seem to be holding their own pretty well in regards to popularity, at least in the US with the more mainstream and less esoteric remaining B&M shops, despite there being perhaps more formidable alternatives out there these days than ever.

Both local major remaining local audio/video shops in the Baltimore metro area still carry B&W but also seem to carry more alternate brands, like PSB, Totem, QUAD, Polk, Thiel, Vandersteen, and Monitor Audio. B&W has a very solid brand reputation developed over the years in its corner.