What are your general thoughts of B&W speakers

Thought I'd add my tuppence, there is so much B&W "hate" in this thread, I thought it needed some "love". It's the tall poppy syndrome. People love to hate the successful, and give the small guy a chance! B&W have economies of scale that others can only dream of. I currently own 805 signature and 802 diamonds, and after listening to other systems, never fail to come home and be enthralled by my sound. I have never heard 802D's sounding good with Macintosh or Classe amps (i.e.. at the dealership), but that might be my lazy dealer having permanent in wall wiring to distribution points!! and demonstrating in a compromised space.
My theory is get a good item that you believe in and then tweak with, cables, electronics and isolation etc. until you get the sound to your preference. There is no "best" hi-fi. There is, however, a most expensive, and all to often sound and price are equated. Ultimately you must get a sound that you like, and to hell with what everyone else thinks!!! and that's the hard part, we all want affirmation that we did good! There is also the gee wiz factor of having something no one has heard of or something rare, or expensive!
It's hard to evaluate a speaker in isolation, the sound will depend a great deal on what it is connected to, the room etc.etc. You are listening to the system not just the speakers. Unfortunately it is virtually impossible to have home demo's of all the potential speakers in a price range. I do not believe there are many bad speakers in the 10-30k mark, it really comes down to preference. Also beware of "Demo" music, it's designed to impress, listen to real music that you would normally want to listen to.
I think 802's are amazing value for money, and suite my taste perfectly. I am not limited to "audiophile" music, but can enjoy all genres. (very versatile) I like the B&W "house sound" as much as I like the Lyra's "house sound". In summary don't be intimidated by strongly held "opinions", feel free to choose for yourself. At the price, you won't go wrong with the 8 series.

Well, I must agree that the B&W 800 series is good bang for the buck overall. Best to go to England and buy them there at half the price over here. Are they the ultimate, no, but there's a lot of happy people who think they are. So who cares what we think, Dinster?

I prefer the old 801 Matrix 2 and even the 3. That was a truly great speaker. But it had a crappy crossover and needed the biggest high current amp you could get your mitts on.

Is the op even here anymore? If so, you might want to look at some tyler acoustics speakers also.

Really enjoying some 805D speakers currently. It's a toss up between them and my Gallo 3.5 - can't decide which I like better! The 805D with a Rel Strata is currently hooked up and sounding outstanding. Very textured, high resolution sound that is not fatiguing in the slightest.

I hold B&W speakers in high regard, i own a pair of 802D's and wouldnt trade them for the world, they are well rounded and reproduce voice perfectly. They can be considered sharp & dry which i would say is correct, thats not a bad thing. Consider what someone sounds like singing/ talking to you from 4 metres away then what it might sound like in your ear 200mm away. the dryness comes from the recording not the speaker. all the sharpness from s' and t's when people announce these sounds are sharp and dry beside your ear but smooth when your a certian distance away from them. when recorded the artist is right infront of the mic so all those details will be picked up. The fact your speakers reproduce that back to you is just a testamant of their accurcy and quality. If you dont hear tat in other speakers you not hearing what your supposed to.

Dryness and harshness is accurate representation not a lack of quality a bad trait. You can EQ out what you dont like, dont blame the speaker because its too good.