B&W 800 D series vs Magico, Avalon, Wilson, Focal

Bo, you are a piece of work.

Other then the Avalon I have compared them to the others, and more, on your list.

IMO they all have great depth and width. At this level they ALL preform at a very high standard.

It is the subtleties that distinguish between each of them.
Balance of tone, base control, attack, etc.

They are all great speakers and it is more a matter of taste. As much as I love my B&W 802D I would be just as happy with another on that list.

Troll on bomeister.......

I have a pair of B&W 802D's and they image fantastically. Took a lot of time moving them back and forth along with toe-in to achieve this. There is much air around the images to create a really good illusion. This includes WIDTH and DEPTH. Had to totally change all wiring from my other speakers to help get this type of sound. Yes, I compared them to the Wilson Sophia. And I preferred the B&W. I also think that width and depth is a perception. Which is at the mercy of the recording engineer on just about any recording. How do you know how far musicians or instruments are from front to back or side to side in a recording? How do you measure this? Bobby, you cannot. As other posters have said there are a lot more variables to consider than just width and depth or 3-D as you call it.

Let me tell you Bo, the Avalons, Wilsons, Magicos all sounded very 3 dimensional but when I heard Up,Up and Away and Wedding Bell Blues on a pair of B&W 800D's, I truly heard music of the 5th Dimension.

crickets...

"but when I heard Up,Up and Away and Wedding Bell Blues on a pair of B&W 800D's, I truly heard music of the 5th Dimension."

LMAO

I had thoughts about buying the 800D after I owned the 802N and 800S. The depth was not as other speakers could give. So I did not choose them. I heard the latest 800 series only at shows. This is often not the best way to Judge a speaker. These demo's were not that good. In 1999 I bought the 802N cause of the stunning palpable sharp focus of instruments and voices. Because other speakers which had more depth could not give the extreme palpable individual focus. I loved the sound for classical misic as well. Later I bought the 800S. When audio is your part of living you have the option to compare so many stuff you hear sometimes new magic things. These you want to create in your own system. Sometimes a brand cannot give what you really want. So you choose for another option.