B W monitors too bright?

B&W speaker are definitely on the revealing side. The brightness is the electronics used, not the speakers. I actually see this comment alot in Audioreview.com When the person leaving the comments list their full system, usually it the clear that that the source is outclassed by the speakers. Two reviews that come to mind was someone who hated the Nautilus 804. It was so bright he had to turn the bass all the way up on his "Yamaha Receiver". Another one was going to trade-in their P5s fpr the same reason for some Cerwin Vega's which are "far superior". There is also a dealer I know (who will remain nameless) that demos the Nautilus in the store hooked up to the lower-end (not the best) Adcom Amps. So they sound thin.

I don't find them bright. More like flabby to my ears and in my system (N801). Speaker/Amp combination is a major determinant of the character of a system and most speakers can sound great once the right amp has been found to partner with it. For example the relatively bright Thiels sound wonderful with the Plinius SA250 Mk IV. I am sure it is possible to find an amp that will make the N801 sound bright, but that could be said of any speaker.

My first impression of the N801 and N802 was that they were a bit harsh at the top end. That dealer's system with all Krell front end, but even after listening to them a while there that day, I didn't notice it as much. When talking to other dealers, they all seemed to know the reputation of the bright/harsh sounding B&W setup at that particular dealer. They blamed it on the equipment and the Straight Wire speaker cables. When listening at two other dealers, one with Rotel equipment, and the other with Mark Levinson, I dind't find them harsh at all. Now that I have the N802's at home, I do find them to be revealing, but never harsh. I've heard them with Transparent Ultra, MIT, Kimber BiFocal, Kimber 8TC (which I have at home) and Nordost speaker cables, and the Nordost seemed to make them a bit brigher than I liked, and I guess the same for the Straight Wire, but other than that, I wouldn't say that its a problem for the B&W's.

I also own the 802N and they are neutral from top to bottom. I would not characterize them as bright or flabby at all.

Paired with a Plinius 8150 integrated I found them just a tiny bit bright. I've also heard them with lesser electronics and then they do sound bright, as mentioned in other posts....or it could be me. I like speakers like Vandersteen and Vienna Acoustics which tend to sound darker.