Looking for more detail in a speaker

Just took delivery of my B&W 802D3 speakers!! So excited 😆 

Since my last post been doing a little tweaking with gear and such. Finally got around to rerouting my speaker wires which saved me 13’ with each run. In the process I learned one of the speaker wire arrows was pointing the wrong direction, lol. I think those changes made some Audible difference. The greatest benefit was hiding a bunch of unsightly speaker wire. I’m still about 18’ from the speakers and will have to live with that till I get new furniture for my room so I can move my listening chair up to about 10’. I can tell a slight difference in sound staging standing closer to the speakers so I think once I get them dialed in to a new listening position they will sound even better. Of course shortening the speaker wire run even more is important and still thinking how I can make that happen. 

There are some caveats to all this in that I introduced some new gear to my system. I picked up a Rowland 112 amp, an Audible Illusions L3A tube preamp and a pair of B&W 803 D2’s. I’ve been switching out my McIntosh 152 amp with the Rowland and my C48 preamp with Audible Illusions. The B&W’s are not as easy to move as the GE’s so they’ve stayed in the mix with the various amp and preamp combinations. I did a test with the Sympathy 4 Devil song that got me started on this exploration. The guiro percussion at the beginning was more prominent with the 803 D2’s than the GE’s but not like with the 805 D3’s I heard. So, the room, amp, interconnects, setup, etc. where I originally heard Sympathy obviously were a major factor. 
Another thing I noticed is that none of the speakers or equipment I’ve been trying absolutely blows each other away. I can hear differences but really nothing that says I can’t live without this or that component. At this point, I feel the GE’s and B&W’s are pretty close. I do think the B&W’s have a higher ceiling for audio potential with better placement, speaker wire and other tweaks to my system. I also like the musicality of the AI preamp but like the functionally of the C48. Everything is there with the C48 and does a very good job without having to add a DAC or phono stage. I thought I definitely liked the Rowland better but after putting the McIntosh back in, feels like an old friend. Obviously, I still haven’t drawn any firm conclusion other than attention to detail will create the detail one is seeking,  whatever that may be. 

I’ve owned a ton of gear and countless speakers of all designs.  The B&W Diamonds are my favorites because they deliver such inner detail and harmonic texture that it puts me in the venue!  Having extra gear around is fun so you can mix it up a bit if you get bored.

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@bfoura ...For absolutely best sound for the money, I have not heard anything superior to either my Krell Vangaurd Digital or Krell K 300i !  They synergize exceptionally well.  May offer up my Vangaurd soon for a very nice price!