Sonus Faber Concertino or B&W 805 or else

I write this from the standpoint of someone who just went through a similar process and ended up with the Sonus Faber Concertino Domus. What tipped the scales was when I put on some live recordings from solo acoustic shows I pulled from arhive.org. These suffice as my anti-reference that I bring along to audio shops just for argument sakes. The Concertinos made those fun to listen to.

30 minutes later with some respectable source material it was case closed and out came the checkbook.

Out of couriosity - what if a fair price for new Concertinos?

I have auditioned both. I was never a fan of B&W but now I can say that the 805S are very fine speakers.

The SF are very nice speakers as well, but if you want a truer sound to the source, B&W805s are a better choice. Yes, they can sound more analytical but not because of the speakers themselves but the associated equipment. The 805S are more neutral than the SF, and are also more revealing, so if you give them anaytical equipment, that's how they will sound. If you give them high quality musical components, they will deliver the music.

Goatwuss is right, SF will make your worse recordings sound better, more pleasant, what you and many others may prefer in the end over the B&Ws. But the 805S can really shine with great equipment and good recordings.

Jov