What are your general thoughts of B&W speakers

Cool, as long as you're happy. There's many happy users of the 802Ds. It's a good speaker, for all intense purposes. It not flawless, but what speaker is...

B&W was recently sold to a Silicon Valley startup, Eva Automation, and the company has undergone some big changes this year. Classe was shut down and Eva fired long-time B&W President John Henderson which, as rumor has it, ticked off a lot of dealers. I'm not sure where the company is heading at this point.

I ran B&W DM1800 speakers (with integral stands) as my main speakers for years.  They were great, and I didn't feel the need to upgrade for the longest of times.  B&W peaked with the Series III and pretty much went downhill since then.  Modern B&W are overpriced, don't do bass anything like as well as they should commensurate with price, and are finicky with amplification.  There are so many other alternatives out there, they are, frankly, irrelevant.  They are only front-and-center in so many people's consciousness because of the huge dealer network that they established years ago.  If they had the same number of stores in the US as do Spendor, Proac, PMC or ATC, no one would be talking about them.

Owned B&W’s over the years from Matrix series to 802 N & 802 D2. Sold them on a retail level for the D2 and D3 era paired with all kinds of different gear. My overall assessment is MEH but they do sound good. I’ve tried my best to hold them high regard but there is such a long list of competitors I’d choose over them. They look damn nice though and sell very well to newcomers in this hobby.

If they are bought out and management fired then it is the beginning of the end for B&W. Like Thiel they will become a lauded name from their past achievements rather than current ones.