B W monitors too bright?

My first impression of the N801 and N802 was that they were a bit harsh at the top end. That dealer's system with all Krell front end, but even after listening to them a while there that day, I didn't notice it as much. When talking to other dealers, they all seemed to know the reputation of the bright/harsh sounding B&W setup at that particular dealer. They blamed it on the equipment and the Straight Wire speaker cables. When listening at two other dealers, one with Rotel equipment, and the other with Mark Levinson, I dind't find them harsh at all. Now that I have the N802's at home, I do find them to be revealing, but never harsh. I've heard them with Transparent Ultra, MIT, Kimber BiFocal, Kimber 8TC (which I have at home) and Nordost speaker cables, and the Nordost seemed to make them a bit brigher than I liked, and I guess the same for the Straight Wire, but other than that, I wouldn't say that its a problem for the B&W's.

I also own the 802N and they are neutral from top to bottom. I would not characterize them as bright or flabby at all.

Paired with a Plinius 8150 integrated I found them just a tiny bit bright. I've also heard them with lesser electronics and then they do sound bright, as mentioned in other posts....or it could be me. I like speakers like Vandersteen and Vienna Acoustics which tend to sound darker.

I would second sugarbrie's comments. I have found the cdm series to be both revealing but highly listenable. The overall balance is often a derivative of upstream electronics, and with reasonably high quality-not excessively expensive-the B&W's are very rewarding imho.

I've auditioned the N805s with a Sony ES receiver (don't recall model) followed by Rotel amp (RMB985) preamp (RSP976)setup. The Sony made the 805s sound thin and somewhat on the bright side. The Rotel setup was completely different....big soundstage, decent imaging, solid bass, not bright at all.....overall warm sounding. I've also auditioned the 802s with an all McIntosh front end. The sound was not bright at all. In fact, the bass was too forward for my taste. I'd consider changes in your front end. Good luck.