Revel F208s vs Cremona M vs B&W 803/804 D


5.1 setup
Marantz AV 7005 preamp
Parasound A51 amp (5x250)
Room: 15' x 30', hardwood floors with rug

I am debating between the F208s versus others. Revel dealers in my area claim that the F208s are a superb value for the money, $5,000. My favorite speaker out of these is the BMW 803 diamond - but it may be a bit much for my space and costs $10k. The 804 diamond may be good enough, but it still goes for around $7.5k. The Cremona Ms are hard to find in Graphite and would run $6k used. It's hard to find the B&Ws used on audiogon as they are tie till relatively new.

What do you guys think? The F208s are a great value, but have dull looks and I can't get over the fact that they are assembled in Indonesia.

Any input or advice would be helpful.

Thanks guys.
aman4kr4
You say you're looking for "musical." Have you auditioned some Sonus Faber Olympicas or Cremona Ms?
I liked the Cremonas and Olympicas as we'll. Beautiful sounding and looking speakers indeed. The Olympicas are apparently a LOT better, but way out of my budget.

Re: the F208s, when doing an ABA comparison using two separate set ups, both the Linn and B&Ws had a broader and more dynamic mid range and upper range. Guitars, female vocals, etc sounded alive in these speakers compared to the F208s. The F208s seemed to color the music - one guitar demo played like the guitar was playing backseat to the bass and drums. And the vocals sounded machine-like and not real.

The F208s excelled in bass response and quickness. I think they would beat most speakers for high impact home theater sound effects.

But again, for my purpose, for listening to music, instruments, and soundstage, the F208s didn't get me there.

Although they are excellent speakers, for a $5k sticker price, I'd rather by the $3k Linn majiks or a used pair of B&Ws.

Just my personal opinion.
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