B&W 800d's or MAGICO V3's?

Your ears.

Your money.

Your decision.

"Magico speakers are really something special. They don't sound like conventional box speakers, more like dipole ESL or planars, with the dynamics of a good box speaker. They take advantge of both worlds."

Never heard Magicos but from this description, they are in a different camp than B&Ws for sure. Sounds like a personal preference choice, not a matter of which is better.

this is what i am wondering. i am looking to say "wow that really sounds great, so this is what i have been missing!". not just to spend $ or change things. i want to be knocked out of my chair and for my wife to finally say "yeh that sounds better, so what". i do not mean an exagerated bottom end but to be real acurate enjoyable fantastic sound!

I had the 800d before and love them and now Avalon Eidolon. If you are looking for speakers that knock you out of your chair, I am afraid the Magico wont be your ticket. You need to shop in the $40K plus range for speakers: Wilson Maxx, Avalon Isis, Sonus Strad., in order to get knocked out!

Firstly you have great speakers so if you never ever changed I would understand as that would probably be the most sensible thing to do. As others have said you are changing for teh sake of changing. However, perhaps you have the 7 year itch.

What can I say about the B&W 800d's if I were to nit pick.

1) They are bass extended with a port at 40 Hz (this will not be quite as tight as a sealed box or a pro design that uses a port for higher efficiency or a subwoofer without port for the bottom octave) On the upside you get fantastic powerful bass - probably ideal for HT - but it may cloud or muddy the lower midrange except in large rooms.

2) The B&W midrange is exceptional - but it has one weakness - it is too large for a midrange and it beams. Therefore you get a weak presentation off axis from about 1 Khz to 3 Khz with most B&W's of this type and the 800d is no exception. When the dome tweeter kicks in around 4 Khz you suddenly get a proper presentation (wide dispersion off axis) and this tends to make for a relative sudden boost at these frequencies (remember you hear the primary direct and the off axis reflected signal which are combined to give an overal audio presentation to your brain - so things will jump out at you a bit more than they should - and this helps sell as it dinstinguishes B&W's and gives them their "detailed" but polite sound). In essence this type design is called the classic "BBC Dip" and although a coloration it is EXTREMELY popular - it is associated with a warm and less harsh sound - seeing as it is used in many of the most susccesful speakers on the planet - again not a real issue and if you like classical this is a great presentation!

Nothing to worry about. The above is in the category of extreme nit picking. (looking for faults when there really aren't any - as this is B&W's best speaker by far)