Personally I'm very concerned about what direction B&W is going in. They were just acquired by a two year old Silicon Valley tech company this week and it could be a boon for the high end, or it could hurt it as they are the largest and most well known (main stream) speaker company.
Room is the most important part of the listening equation. What I love about the Vandersteen Quatro on up is that they have a built in sub woofer/amp system where you can fine tune your speakers from 100hz down to your room. It works and works great. That way you can place your speakers in the best spot to do what you want them to do, or you can put them right up against a wall and still get great sound. I just put a large plant right next to the speakers and I have a quilt on the side walls do I don't get that first reflection. I also have a stack of albums on the rear wall to diffract the sound waves. The Vandersteens use a couple of technologies to eliminate the rear sound wave from the drivers so you don't get smearing of the sound wave from rear reflections that you get in many other speakers. The rear firing tweeter in their 5 and 7 are ONLY there to make some happy with 'ambient' sound. It's not for serious listening at all. He has to sell speakers, so he has the ability to turn it on ONLY if you think you need it.
Room is the most important part of the listening equation. What I love about the Vandersteen Quatro on up is that they have a built in sub woofer/amp system where you can fine tune your speakers from 100hz down to your room. It works and works great. That way you can place your speakers in the best spot to do what you want them to do, or you can put them right up against a wall and still get great sound. I just put a large plant right next to the speakers and I have a quilt on the side walls do I don't get that first reflection. I also have a stack of albums on the rear wall to diffract the sound waves. The Vandersteens use a couple of technologies to eliminate the rear sound wave from the drivers so you don't get smearing of the sound wave from rear reflections that you get in many other speakers. The rear firing tweeter in their 5 and 7 are ONLY there to make some happy with 'ambient' sound. It's not for serious listening at all. He has to sell speakers, so he has the ability to turn it on ONLY if you think you need it.