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Considering moving on from B&W...

Hi all, I have ben a B&W speaker owner ever since I bought a par of ny first "real" speakers while i college back in 2001, the CDM7SE and a Marantz SR14 to power it. Over the years, I moved up the Nautilus line by cashing my scholarship checks each year (which my parens didn't find out until years later thankfully lol) and went from 804 to 803 to 802. During that time I also got ito McIntosh amps. Anyway, when I finished with my Masters, I had those 802's and an MC352 powering them. I kept those 802's until 2018 when I traded them in for the new 802 D3's and HTM1D3. 

I have found myself losing interest in the B&W house sound. I am looking to move away from the super forward and highly analytical sound they bring to something much more musical. I  have a dealer close to me that is willing to do a straight trade...my 802 D3's for a pair of Magico A3's. Wanted to see what the board thought of that deal and their thoughts on the A3. I have not had a chance to hear them yet,

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jof OP
19 posts
 

I would love to, but being in Alabama can make it really hard to audition speakers. Funny thing happened, When I posted this topic, it was while my new preamp and processor were in route. I have had the McIntosh C2700 for about week now the D3's sound like totally different speakers. I am going to wait a while and see how the C2700 and the new Anthem processor play wit the D3's.

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jof OP
19 posts
 

It might have been helpful to mention what's in front of them:

:Surround Proessor : AVM90

Preamp: McIntosh C2700 Tube

MC452

MC207

MC205

SACD: McIntosh MCD301

blu ray: Oppo -203
 

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jof OP
19 posts
 

So a funny thing happened when I sold my MX122 and C2500 and replaced them with the Anthem AVM 90 and McIntosh C2700.....the 802's sound like completely different speakers. I must have listened to 20 hours of music either through the 2700 or multichannel through the Anthem and it's the B&W I remember falling in love with back in 2000. 

I think my next move is to remove the SCMS that are mounted way too high up the wall and replace with something from the new 7 series or an older 8 series. The tweeter is about 6 feet above my head. I wanted to see what the difference would be if I put some towers there instead, so I brought my Focal Aria 926's up and hooked them up instead. Sooo much better with Atmos, etc music wise. 

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