B&W 800 vs McIntosh xls 360 vs Dyn Audio S5.4

Those are the very speakers I was auditioning several years ago when I was replacing a Definitive Tech system. I ulimatley went with the DYN's but if I had it to over again I would have bought the Mac's. For home theater the D.T. I had would blow away the Dynaudio and for most rock do the same, although for jazz and classical the Dyn's win hands down. The Mcintosh speakers rocked pretty good also.
More expensive isn't always better when it comes to audio.

Klipsch Cornwalls-not on your list, but worth a demo. Klipsch and McIntosh go very well together. Check out AudioKarma .org for the McIntosh forum. Five Cornwalls and two ten inch subs could be bought for less than a pair of 802D's and will have no problem filling your room with quality sound for music or movies.

Buy a combination of the active Adam Audio Tensor series. This will save you from purchasing the amps and allow you to equalise in your less than perfect space(they have in built parametric EQs). Besides none of the above brands come close in performance in HT as well as music. If you really want to spice it up some more, please add their professional 21" studio subwoofer.

I have happily owned the Contour 5.4's for about three years now in a 5.1 system. Even though the surrounds and center are not Dynaudio, it has been a thouroughly enjoyable system. If you had all Contour speakers, it would really be sweet. I have a large room, 34X17 with cathedral ceilings, and the Dyns fill it well, all by themselves. They don't mind occaisional abuse, I run 300 watts through them, 500 watts @4ohms, which is what the Dyns are rated at. I have had a mishap or two, where they have gotten an unplanned burst of nearly full power, and besides scareing hell out of me, they didn't seem to mind at all.

Do an audition, if you can. My experience with them is entirely positive.

Good luck, and enjoy,

Dan