Bowers and Wilkerson B&W 802 D3: an impolite Brit?

Distortion? No. Sibilance? No. Boomy? No. What kind of crap setups did you audition a speaker like B&W's 800 series in? I've owned Maggie's to Wilson's and have had terrific results with all of them...even though I could always find some moron here who had no clue and would blame the speaker for their scrap cables or gear! Up through the D2's there is exquisite musicality. As for the D3's? I have to audition them, although I am skeptical myself based on the drastically increased bass response...smacks of home theatre!!

remember the Louis Lipnik review of the B&W 801 in Stereophile many years back?
He described them as the audio end of the road. The disclaimer was that if you fed them less-than-pristine sound, then you got poor results due to their accuracy- since they were originally used as studio monitors.
I had a pair of 801's, and the treble was a bit "hashy" and forward. So were Watt-Puppies at the time. along with Thiels, and several other high-end designs. Guess
what? when CD's started sounding better, so did my speakers. the last time i heard them, my friend who i sold them to had Pass Aleph amplifiers (1.2 mono blocks). the speakers now sounded smooth and relaxed, especially listening to Blue Note jazz recordings. I had NEVER heard them sound like that before. Could it be that what Louis L. stated in his review was the key to understanding the sound they were making?
B&W makes GREAT speakers and they try to meet a lot of budget levels.
If the newest versions are set up with the proper electronics in a decent room
they should sound darn good. How many dealers are up to the task of controlling these important variables? If you can get an in-home audition, that's the place to start, especially if you're interested in buying their premier line of speakers.
And, if you don't like them, fine! But I don't think that you're going to love something else better if they are also extremely transparent and revealing. It take an OPEN mind and a lot of comparative listening experience to determine if it's the speakers (even though they are the most important component overall), or something else that's screwing up the sound.

Well, I have not yet heard the 802D3 but did hear the 803D3 recently and came away from the demo so impressed that I am strongly considering trading in my current 803D2 for its big brother the new 802D3.

I would be very curious to hear what gear was used during the demo of the new 802D3 and as a point of reference what speakers are being used today by those who are flaming the sound they hear coming out of the B&W 800 lineup in their tests?

Knowing what gear the flame throwers are using as their reference will help put some perspective around what they think is "proper sound" as compared to what B&W 800 fans think is proper sound.

Personaly I can't say I have experienced any of the issues being mentioned here in this thread when listening to my 803D2's.

My gear used to drive the B&W's I own consists of Classe CP-800 Pre, Meitner MA1 DAC and lots of Hypex NCore amplification per channel.

I think the dealer that had the demo was David Weinhart. He has carried more speakers than carter has pills. I'm really surprised he carries B&W. I have always looked at Bowers and Wilkins to be more of a commercial brand. (Best buy, Magnolia) I know he used to carry Ariel Acoustics, Mbl, Dali and Magico. For some reason he doesn't seem to carry the lines for to long.