B&W Signature 805 vs Wilson Benesch ARC

My buddy has ARCs and they are stunning. Pretty good bass as well.

I would however suggest Spendor 3/5se. I have a room just a little larger than yours and they work well. You would save almost enough money for a sub.

I have audiotoned the two as a possible move back into 2 channel setup.

I used a burmester 001 direct to power amp via nordost spm reference IC's

I found to my ears that the in this sceanrio the Wilson was the better match with the burmester. It not the B&W's were bad, far from it. But it didn;t seem to convey a soundstage width as wide as the WB's. It sounded very constricted.

The B&W's sounded very very forward in that it placed you right up to the front of the performance. Which proved for me anyway somewhat fatiguing. I found that the B&W didn;t dissappear as well as the WB.

Having said that and while it comes looking across as the B&W didn;t perform very well I think it just didn;t like my source. Had I used my Mark Levinson I am sure that it would perform on a more even keel, as I like the Mark Levinson and B&W sound.

But in the context of using my burmy then I would of chosen the Wilson benesch speakers instead. Although I have read that some people might find it clinical.

I own the Signature 805's. I have no experience with
the WB ARC but I'm sure its a fine speaker. I will say
that the Sig 805's do seem to sound there best when
paired with high-current solid state amps. My room size
is about the same as yours and the B&W's seem to fit
pretty well without overloading the room.

Good luck
Cmach

both are nice, but i would also consider the homegrown totem ones and the stirling ls3/5. the jazz and classical, each of these are stunning for less money. a good investment as well. the marantz matches perfectly.

What types of music do you listen to?
I listen to Jazz and Classical mostly. I understand that they may lack of bass, so I plan to get a subwoofer later too.

What associated equipment do you use?
Right now, I have a Marantz PM17 integrateds amp, which give 80W per channel. And I also have a Marantz SA14v2 SACD player. For the speaker cable, I use Zu Wax.

How big is your room?
My room is around 12x10 feet.

What kind of stands do you use?
I will use 805Stand for Signature 805 and come with stand for ARC

Are you concrened with resale?
YES!!! I believe both of them have pretty good resale value.

Since I live in a small town in Canada, so it is impossible to listen to it by myself.

Thanks for suggestion!!!

What types of music do you listen to? What associated equipment do you use? How big is your room? What kind of stands do you use? Are you concerned with resale?

These need to be answered before anyone can give any real advice. On top of that, if you have it narrowed down, you really should listen for yourself, if possible.