Side-grading from B&W N805, need advice!

[koven]

i've actually had some brief experience with the ML Vantage

when i went to pick up my 805's from a fellow Audiogon'er, he actually had the vantage as an upgrade to the 805's... however, the funny thing is, he thought the 805's sounded better. he bought the vantages after auditioning in stores, only to find out that they didn't sound nearly as good in his room, i don't think electronics were his problem because he had a whole mcintosh rack w/ mono amps which had to be at least $10k all together

his problem was, his wife would not let him keep throwing around money on switching speakers so he was stuck w/ the ML's and his wife was forcing him to sell his old speakers (805's). we did some short a/b comparisons between the 805 and ML and there was no doubt in both of our minds that the 805's sounded more life-like/smoother. of course the ML's put out more bass, which is expected. something about it just didn't sound as natural or dynamic as the 805's.

anyway, i'm pretty sure that can be attributed to his less than ideal listening room, as i've heard planar/esl are very sensitive to room. but in this situation, the ML's did not sound good and since it was a first impression for me, i never looked into it further


on a side note, i did go listen to magnepans and like i've mentioned earlier in this thread, i did not fall in love w/ their sound.. i can totally see why someone would, but i don't think it's for me to be honest.... it sounded a bit soft, somewhat lacking in energy and dynamics especially compared to the proac and carbon 7's


but despite these two experiences, i would still love to have either a magenpan or ML in my room so i can see for myself... i will try to contact some local dealers for a home demo.. however, if they do not allow it, i probably wont go through the effort of buying a used planar/esl for demo'ing... because my first two experiences didn't go well, and also because i dont think my room and electronics would bring them to full potential