Aerial 10t vs B&W 802

I came down to the 802s and the 10ts for a system. I chose the 10ts because they had great sound at all volume levels. Thew 802s needed higher volumes to sound alive. I can listen all day to the 10ts.

0I am neither an 802 or 10T owner although I have auditioned both speakers. To me, the two speakers sound incredibly different, so, based on your personal taste, I don't think you should have any trouble choosing between the two. I auditioned the 802's with BAT electronics (VK-50 and VK-500). I found them to be bright (typical B&W sound, to me) with a moderately overemphasized midbass and not a lot of bass extension. Also, in this audition, I found them to be kind of lifeless, which may be the fault of the setup rather than the actual fault of the speakers themselves. The 10T was auditioned at a different store, different day. The 10T had better bass extension, no midbass bloat, excellent treble, but had a range of upper midrange brightness that, to my ears, bordered on harshness or stridency. This speaker was auditioned with McCormack DNA 1 and Aragon 8008BB amplifiers. No preamps were used. I didn't end up buying either speaker, and based on my own personal criteria, would not recommend either. I did prefer the Aerial over the B&W. I think you wil be making a mistake to rely on other's opinions since speaker evaluation, more than any audio evaluation, is an extremely subjective exercise. Different rooms, different electronics and cables, even the music which you bring all play huge factors in how any speaker sounds to any individual. Go listen for yourself. But in my opinion, these speakers sound as different as night and day (even the Aerial 7's and the B&W 802's are radically different), so you really should be able to find one which you like better very quickly between those two.

Thanks a lot to all who responded. Anyone also has experience with KEF reference Model 4? Shenzhi

Aeriels by far. I think that you should also consider Meadowlarks. The new Heron i is great, I understand that the Blue Heron will be in the same price range as the Ariels, and if it is better than the Heron i, will be pure heaven. I have owned both Ariels and Meadowlark and the Meadowlarks just have an ease and naturalness about them that make them stand out. While I liked the Aeriels, they just seemed to make make my amp work to drive them, even when I biamped two Classe 151s, at 500 watts each. The Herons just do everything well.

Since I'm an Aerial speaker lover, I've got to chime in. The 10Ts, which I have, are a different animal than B&Ws. I do not like the 801 with any electronics, including Levinson. I've got all Krell amps running my SS system, and I got the 10Ts because I listen to music about 80% of the time. George, the reason that 10Ts are associated with SS is because Aerial makes outstanding speakers for the setup, and the 10T is awesome for stereo. All who say that you need outstanding electronics, and I might add cables, with the 10Ts is because they are such a good transducer. When you look at the size of the bass cabinet, one shouldn't be surprised that the speaker loves a lot of juice. I find the speaker to offer everything I need for the music that I enjoy. But I will always say to go listen to speakers and find what you personally will enjoy. Ideally listen to them at home. I brought home the Aerial 5s, and was extremely pleased. So it wasn't hard for me to imagine how outstanding the somewhat heavier (heh heh) 10Ts would sound at home.