Budt says:
"I would say the 802D would score a 6 and the 800 Diamonds a 9"
My question for Bud, is why would you buy a ~$15k speaker that only is a '6'? :-)
Most of the rest of the comments seem to be saying that they are all in all pretty similar speakers, albeit with a couple of minor improvements.
For me, the type of feedback that I was looking for was best captured by Mr_m:
"I listened to the older 802D and the new Diamond version at length, same room, same electronics, same music same levels"
... Anything less than this and it's a "system comparison" and not a "speaker comparison." Audio, as Kal mentions, it's tricky to compare what one is hearing now, to what one heard a long time ago under different circumstances. Audio memory is pretty fickly and easy to be influenced in my experience. Anyway, Mr_m goes on:
"...and the differences at best were minimal. Even the salesperson thought they sounded almost identical. As far as the comparison between the 802D and the 800 Diamond, I would tend to think a 24k speaker system should be an improvement over a 14k loudspeaker."
This is interesting to me, and basically what I am trying to figure out. Based on John Atkinson's notes, I don't think these results would surprise him.
Of course, there are two big possible failings in Mr_m's findings:
1. The system and/or room where he did the A/B test was not of high enough resolution, or otherwise not transparent or capable enough to show the differences between these two similar speakers
2. Mr_m and his dealer don't have enough experience or capability to hear the differences
What I'm looking to uncover are the major, WOW, differences when swapping the 800 Diamond in over the older, smaller 802D.
JA implied the differences are subtle based on his detailed measurements.
Kal - if you don't mind my asking, taking money out of the picture, what more would have the 800 Diamond needed to have brought to the table to make you want to trade in your trusty 802Ds?
