[bsheldon]

I have had the pleasure of hearing both the B&W 802's and the awe inspiring 801's. I have heard the 801's and 802's powered by all classe equipment and at another location, I heard the 802's powered by levinson with a rotel player. All three of those listening expereinces are firmly etched into my brain--especially the very first time I heard the 802's. I checked back regularly to see when the 801's would take their place. Not a night and day difference, but there was more authority on the real low stuff on a couple of real demanding recordings. I would have to rank that as the best I have heard. With that being said those weren't the most expensive I have heard and actually maybe not the best "sounding" that I have heard, but I didn't get to spend much time with the Dynaudio evidence Masters--truly a sight to behold--I forget what they were powered by,(probably either Rega or dynavector, may have been Krell, but I doubt it) but it had to be 100k worth of seperates complete with the $30,000 transparent speaker cables. I only got to listen to 2 jazz songs in a rather undersized room for those monsters. It was amazing just hear what about $200,000 worth of audio equipment can produce. As I stated I wasn't just absolutely floored like I was when I listened to the B&W's. I obviously was totally ignorant as to what "high-end" sound was supposed to sound like before I heard the b&W's--that played a huge role in it as it truly was an epiphany. i was hearing things on my test CD that I had never heard before. My cd of choice is the city of angles soundtrack--it has a little of everything: classical, blues, rock, pop, ranging from the haunting vocals of sarah Mclaughlin's Angel to Jimi Hendrix, to my favorite Peter Gabriel's "I Greive"--this song has some serious transitions and really tests a speakers ability to articulate between background and up front imaging, also it has a thunderous bass lines and some "hidden" low notes that will test even the greatest subs on earth--really low stuff, a couple different layers one around 20 hz and another that really doesn't make any sound at probably around 10hz. I told the sales guy when it was going to happen in the 8+ minute song and told him to watch the 4 10" drivers on the pair of 801's. I saw them start to flex and then looked at his face--I am sure that was the most excursion they had ever gone through in their existence. They didn't even flinch and kept on going without a hitch. Even those mighty speakers couldn't fully produce the depth and power that is on that recording. I don't know if they mixed it in as a curiosity or what, but it is definately there. I had heard the song dozens of times before I ever discovered that those notes were even there. I have a 10" sub in my truck and played it all the time and it only hints at some of it--handling the bulk of the powerful bass line nicely though. It hinted at some passages and got me curious. My old HT sub couldn't touch it either, but it did let me know somehting was down there. I really never discovered what really lies beneath that sound until I got my svs pb12+/2 and tuned it to 16hz. It gets the one layer fully and it really, really shakes things up, but the other is out of even its mighty reach into the nether regions. I would love to hear this song on the Evidence masters--as they are supposed to be able to produce over 125db's all the way down to a full 20hz, but that is for another day and it will never be in my home as $90,000 for a pair of speakers is only about $88,000 over my budget. Perhaps someone with a monstrous IB set ups that have response down into the single digits can chime in about this song. I still have 2 friends that both have the archaic "flagship" Bose 901's and they both swear by them. The one has fully changed his opinion and I almost feel bad for opening his eyes or should I say ears. After just hearing my modest system with my "temporary" speakers he began to hear things his bose could never deliver. He now hates his old speakers. The other has yet to come to my new house to hear for himself. Like everything else in the audio realm--to each his own.