What are your general thoughts of B&W speakers

"You could say the HD800s are tilted upwards towards spacial cues and air. My experience of the MBL."

No doubt, spatial cues and air (when set up properly in the right room, not an easy task with the larger models)a are the main distinguishing characteristic of mbl. Its a subjective love it or hate it kind of thing as is much of home audio.

OHMs are a much better value and more practical for most IMHO. They excel at coherency and delivering weight to the music in an effortless manner along with all the rest, although a fairly hefty amp is still required, at least for the larger models. OHMs are being marketed and distributed in Germany, mbls home turf, these days. I wonder how that is going?

Chadeffect..the defense of B&W that" only the best studios use them "is an argument as old and tired as the brand.Doesnt hold water anymore especially considering Abbeys heyday was 3 decades ago and most of the studios today employ them are doing movie tracks..I agree they were and I repeat were a speaker worth additioning back in the 1980s but there are too many speaker builders today that are far superior in every aspect ,in the same price range and dont out sourcing to China,my opinion only.

No doubt a lot of vendors have been nipping at B&W's heels in recent years, but in defense of B&W, they seem to be holding their own pretty well in regards to popularity, at least in the US with the more mainstream and less esoteric remaining B&M shops, despite there being perhaps more formidable alternatives out there these days than ever.

Both local major remaining local audio/video shops in the Baltimore metro area still carry B&W but also seem to carry more alternate brands, like PSB, Totem, QUAD, Polk, Thiel, Vandersteen, and Monitor Audio. B&W has a very solid brand reputation developed over the years in its corner.

I own 800 Diamonds at the moment. They sound better and better with every small upgrade. Great speakers.

Mapman.I agree with what your saying.IMO its an old brand with an established name.Doesnt mean anything really to me.My closest B&W dealer reps lots of speakers including Magico.In converstaion I asked him about B&W,his comments were customers come in with a madeup mind and buy them,no salesmanship required,nor typically any other additions."I just keep my mouth shut and sell em what they want hence I stock em".