Tuff decision, need help

Which Series are the M801's? I'd hold out for the S3's myself.

You might also consider Matrix 802-S3's. They look great in Walnut. Try to get them with the Sound Anchor stands.

I have the PSBs for over a year. I use Van Den Hul cabling, CS-122 and The Source. My source is a Pioneer 563a (i just wasnt willing to spend more). My previuos speaker was a Dynaudio Audience 120.

The speaker has been placed in my room, which is retangular and currently under construction. Now it is in my room, which is very big and tall. In both places, I noticed the bass muddiness and the lack of clarity with the PSBs. I hate the Sunfire subwoofer BTW. My main musical tastes are rock, pop and electronica (house and trance).

Since I realy didn't like any "part" of sound of PSB Golds(BTW not any better than Silver) i.e. mids, highs and bottom and pretty much enjoyed 801's except the price(realy killing!), I would say no matter how old 801's, they're substantially better than new PSBs.

My very humble opinion is like Marakanetz'--to me, your speaker change looks like a sidegrade. Different sound, yes. The PSBs I've heard had OK highs, though, and that makes me wonder about your source.

You don't mention your source. My second humble opinion is, garbage in, garbage out ( no I didn't make that up ). In other words, the things you feel are wrong may be coming from further upstream than you think. I don't mean your source is garbage, I have no idea what it is. But I have seen many systems here with pretty good electronics and speakers, all reproducing (quite well) the sound of an entry-level source.

I feel that, given a $3G budget, for example, if you spend 4 or 5 hundred on the source and the rest downstream you are not heading for great musical satisfaction. Turn that ratio around and now you're talking fun. Further upgrades will just let you hear how fine your source is.

If you already have EMM Labs, Ensemble or a decent Linn at the front end, of course, I didn't say anything.

To me, PSB's have always sounded a little thick in the warmth region and lacking in definition. If you wanted something that had better attack, definition and focus, i could easily see someone moving from PSB's to the B&W sound. Sean
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PS... One of the worst pairings of gear that i've ever heard at an audio show was when a local dealer mated NAD electronics and PSB speakers. Most NAD gear has their typical "house sound" i.e. slightly warm and soft. This did not help with the PSB's elevated mid-bass bloat and lack of definition. Kind of a compounding of problems if you ask me. The sound came across as very thick and indistinct to say the least. Having said that, i think that McCormack electronics would be better suited to the house B&W sound than to the PSB's. That's just my opinion though : )