B&W Nautilus 803 or B&W 702 S2?

Hi  chief4425, I ended up holding off on speakers for the time being and decided to put my efforts into upgrading the amp.  I went with a used McIntosh Mc205, got it in May.  It sounds amazing and couldn't be happier.  I still have the old Paradigm 60 v3 - have had them for 15-16 years.  I can't believe how great they sound and can only imagine what a properly chosen speaker(s) will be like.  We will be going to the RMAF (Rocky Mountain Audio Fest) this weekend and will be looking at several speakers.  Anyone have any suggestions on speakers other than B&W, Focal (I plan on those already, along Zu Audio, and Tekton)  Any suggestions appreciated.

If you want musical sounding speakers I would look for something else other than B&W. Something from DeVore Fidelity, Sonus Faber (at least Olympica line or higher), Harbeth, Roger, Spendor, ATC, ProAc, Accoustical Engineering, Vienna Acoustics, Wilson Audio, Wilson Benesch, Magico, Raidho, Vandersteen.

B&W 800 series D3 is great for home theater and is one of my favorite high end home theater speaker system but not for 2ch music. If it's for 2ch music your money isn't wisely spent on B&W.
There are countless other cheaper options than B&W that are better for music. 

@caphill - what is it about the B&W D3 that you don't like for music?

The B&W 800 series D3 aren’t bad for music but my point was that there are other speakers that cost less than the B&W that are more engaging with music and are more musical overall with richer timber and tonal color and possess more natural organic relaxed presentation and fuller sound than the B&W. When used for music to me B&W musical presentations sounded somewhat processed lacking natural organic sound especially with vocals and string acoustic instruments lacking midrange bloom and image depths and possess very forward presentation that I found them can be somewhat unpleasant at times for music especially with standard resolution digital recordings such as that of bad CD recordings. To me B&W fails to convey that lush emotional expressions of the artists and players.
I think I am not the only one who feels that way.

However, when it comes to details, clarity & resolutions B&W is top notch but that isn’t the only crucial elements that I’ll be looking for in order to achieve musical enjoyment from a system. Details, resolution, attacks, speed are important for movies (home theater), especially with those lossless HD surround sound formats eg DTS HD MA, Dolby True-HD, Dolby Atmos, DTS-X, which makes movie watching experience very exciting. That’s what B&W 800 series D3 are good at IMO.

I have to admit that the 800 D3 models are quite a bit better than their predecessors D2, D1, etc etc. I just couldn’t stand the previous B&W 800 series D2 models. The D3 are indeed better more realistic sounding than their previous D2/D1 models. B&W finally realized and moved away from using kevlar material for their midrange drivers.

But again it all comes down to personal preferences and tastes when it comes to speaker choices. You and others don’t have to agree with me.

B&W is perfect for home theater application IMO and is my to go choice for home theater.
I’m not bashing B&W as I am a B&W owner myself strictly used for my home theater room. I do own the latest B&W 800 D3 speakers for front with the matching HTML1 D3 center speaker and all custom theater in-wall B&W 800 series D3. I love them. They are spectacular.

Huh, that's interesting.  I am a B&W owner and had the D2 and now own all D3s.  I have the complete opposite experience from you, caphill.  My B&W D3 are extremely engaging for music and are very rich and full sounding.  It at all, I would say the midrange is slightly laid back when compared to other more forward speakers, such as Monitor Audio and such.  I think it may be a synergy with your amplifiers / cables.