Quote Originally Posted by frenchmon View Post
Well..I've heard all the speakers on your list. And I've heard the Golden Ear the most. You really have to dial them in with the powered sub and remember they have a version of the Heil folded ribbon tweeter.
Well, I listened at the dealer and he had a two week lead time to dial the system in before I got there, so I would hope that it was optimized as well as it could have been. I went into that audition check-in-hand based on reviews I'd read, but came away supremely disappointed. It wasn't that the bass was overwhelming, it was the veiled presentation, shallow soundstage, and muddled mids. The clarity was so lacking that it completely obscured certain ques that I look for with my reference music. The front end was Anthem, but the dealer had his choice of Levinson, Classe, or Rotel and chose that based on synergy.

But the advice I would give to you...Each speaker will give a different idea of how it will interpret music due to the system it is in. So youd be best served by system matching the speakers to your rig. Example......if you have all silver interconnect and speaker wire and you amp is already tilted up in the higher frequencies....chances are its not neutral. So you'd be better served with a warmer speaker and ditch the silver cable in favor of copper. To may cats fail to understand system synergy and don't know the sound signature of gear.

My two cents.
Thanks for the feedback. I couldn't agree more regarding system synergy, which is one of the reasons I'm keen to locate some 802's. I've built the rig over the years to best match the voicing of my current B&W's. This is not to say the I'll buy them just because they are the big brother of what I have now, I've heard enough speakers to recognize both the advantages and limitations of B&W's. However, if the 802's essentially sound like my modest speakers, just more-so, I'd probably be a pretty happy camper without thought of upgrading for another 10-15 years.

Just out of curiosity, does anybody find auditioning equipment to be counterproductive to enjoying music sometimes? I find myself focusing so much on critical listening, marking cues, and microdynamics that sometimes I forget to simply enjoy the music. The 'ol "Can't see the forest through the trees" syndrome.