Room size & choosing speakers

In all probability if your goal is to recreate the magic you heard at the dealer you will fail by a significant margin. The room and its interaction with the loudspeaker is the single most important aspect of getting great sound. Most dealers have spent more than $100k exclusive of equipment just to get the room right. As a non-professional user you don't have to go to that extreme, but a basic understanding of room acoustics and the use of products and techniques to address common problems is very important.

The magic of hearing well reproduced music is not primarily a function of equipment. Instead it is more about correctly setting up and matching equipment. For less than half the cost of the system you heard at the dealer there are knowledgeable audiophiles who could assemble and set up an equally magical system. B&W and McIntosh are both very good companies, but there are other brands that offer better value. This plus the knowledge of how to properly setup equipment, particularly loudspeakers, can save a consumer money.

I have no opinion about the B&W loudspeakers you mention. Tboooe has extensive experience with that brand and I believe he has given you some good advice.

Great sounding but overkill...
The 805's should be the place to start with no sub-that can always come later. The C50 is great. The 302 should sound exactly the same but is only 300 watts. That is more than enough power. Honestly, 40 watts with those speakers in a room that size will suffice. Yes, I do understand since I'm using a mac at home.

In the past I sold often monitors with a subwoofer in smaller rooms. The end results were a lot better than bigger speakers. These days I use Audyssey pro and even with lower level Audyssey and I can use even big speakers in smaller rooms. This is a new world with more freedom.

Thank-you - all of this feedback is so, so helpful. I have been obsessing and scouring this website and the internet trying to sort this out, and getting direct feedback is very helpful. My system will be confined to my 10' x 12' office and plan to be here for many years & hoping to get a system that will last.

I bought a system 15 yrs ago with cj amp/pre-amp (pv-14 & MF-2500) and Aerial 7B loudspeakers & have had so many hours of amazing music out of it, but when I moved it this house I could never get it to sound right in my livingrooom. I brought a pair of B & W pm-1 for my home office and ended up pairing them with my cj amp/pre-amp and have been very impressed with the B & W PM-1's - the sound staging delights and boggles me, and gives me the bug to step up.

I have listened to the McIntosh/B & W Diamond combination at a local audio store and am deeply moved by what they create. I loved the fullness/overtones of the 803D's over the 805D's, but given everybody's advice will let go of the 803D's. I have listened to the Dynaudio C1 & the Sonus Farber Cremona Monitor Audio at other stores (with less expensive amp/pre-amp combinations) and neither sounded close to the B & W 805, 803, 802.

My goal is to first figure out the speakers, and then sort out the amp/pre-amp/source issues - it is all very confusing, so any ideas are very welcome. I worry about spending so much more on electronics than speakers, and the McIntosh/B & W combination sounded so much better than others I have tried so far. One dealer suggested that I come in and try the audio physic virgo 25.

All help is greatly appreciated,

The limitation of B&W is still there crossovers. You never wil get the deep and wide stage as only in the best highend. For the absolute sound this is a pre. I did not go for the 800D I was irritated by the stage. Listening to your music with a stage which is 5 metres behind your speakers and more than 1 metre beside is superior to any small stage imaging. You never will get this level of excitment. I owned the best B&W for years and I know were I am talking about. Audio Physic has the same problem. I sold it for over 8 years.