KEF Reference 5 vs. B&W 802 D3 speakers - which one better? your knowledges & opinions

kentrent: you need to chill out!  This is supposed to be fun. You should be happy that you made a decision and also got a big discount. The euro price, assuming it was for a European purchase, is irrelevant to you since you would have to pay shipping and customs, and probably wouldn’t get a US warranty. Be excited about getting some of the best speakers available and looki forward to many years of enjoyment. 

@fast, you are absolutely right. This is suppose to be fun and enjoyable. So im getting a lot of good feedbacks for Kef Reference 5 over the B&W 802D3. Many people said Kef technologies way surpasses B&W.  They said Ref5 sounds a lot better than the 802D3.  I cant wait to get it. I will share with you my experience setting it up and how it sounds with my McIntosh. Thanks for your encouragement.

@fast someone selling the Ref 5 for $6000 but one of the bass driver got indentation.  I was about to buy that but Someone told me not to because the Reference series each pair of speakers are built by one engineer from beginning to end which yield better sounds and avoiding the errors from multiple people like a assembly line.  Because of this, even though replacing new bass driver will not make the speaker back to normal and up to the original performance.  What do you think??  I bought brand new for that peace of mind. :)) 

What I think is that it’s irrelevant because you’re past that point. You have ordered some excellent speakers, brand new and with a warranty. Now you need to look ahead and stop looking back. 

Kentrent:  while it’s true that the R900 is a very good speaker and its tonal balance is similar to the Ref 5, there is indeed a significant difference between the two.  I have heard the Ref 3s against the R900s (they didn’t have the Ref 5s but it stands to reason the 3 and 5s are similar tonally and in resolution).  While they Reference and R series have a similar “voice”, the Reference offered significant improvements in resolution (detail), and clarity that was very easy to hear in comparison.

Speaking with a KEF representative and reading some of their literature on the Reference series, it would appear that some of the improvement in clarity is due to a significantly better coincident driver and crossover for the midrange and tweeter, and some is due to better (non resonant) cabinet construction. KEF are thoughtfully engineered speakers - you get what you pay for at each price point. 

I would actually suggest the gap is much wider in performance between the Reference series and the R series than it is between the Blade and the reference. I have done this exact comparison.  The Blade is 2x the reference in price.  As in all things - diminishing returns as you move up.  

Make sure you let them break in.  If you don’t love them after a few hundred hours, then you can consider what next.  But, I’d politely suggest it won’t be the speakers that will be your weak link.  

My $.02.
mgrif