You could buy the 801 or 2 but I don't know why you'd want'em. The Biro L/1's at $1,600 new will outperform them in every category minus the deepest bass and highest spl. But if you want it louder and boomier and not as accurate/musical go for it. If you do get the 801's, talk to avahifi.com anyway and see what they did to correct the crossover mistake the B&W engineers made in the original design. I know northcreekmusic.com also has a crossover upgrade for the 801, but at over $1,000 (I believe) its a little steep to salvage an otherwise aging speaker (I get the impression the ava correction/mod is cheap and easily done, probably the cost of one to two crossover parts and a little soldering on your part). I'll admit off hand I don't know the specific difference between the series and if the upgrade apply to which ones. They were good speakers in their day, but not that great compared to what's out there now.
Now I can't tell you what's out there and better for the money since I've been happily married to my system for several years now (is that good or bad-I don't know), hopefully, someone else around here may have some experience listening to the 801 next to another, but I was never to impressed with'em when I heard'em a couple years back. If you're a kind of serious and willing to go the "next level" (of psychosis) I feel more comfortable telling you too look for a nice kit/diy speaker design and walk away with something better for the money and/or cheaper, and possibly get a nicer piece of engineering. With kit projects the crossover parts and cabinet construction can as good as you want them-since there's no production considerations/limitations. You can even opt for non-parallel side walls, something a production designer would cringe at, to deal with internal standing waves better (although cabinet geometry as such is kind of secondary to the effects good internal stuffing). And have fun with it. I remember one individual posted here awhile back thought the zalytron.com Jupiter kit bettered the Wilson WATT/puppy's (Haven't heard those, his claim seemed accurate, and thier X-1 series 1 certainly sucked if that's any indication of Wilson engineering excellence (I do undertand they are a Rolls-Royce type brand and you're paying for more than just performance, but.....(it was that bad). Now you could always get the L/1's and with your change build a sub on your own: its basically the cost of a driver and an amp. Sorry I can't give you any more definitive advice other than: you can do better and if you do purchase your mentioned choices-look into the crossover problems/limitations.
Now I can't tell you what's out there and better for the money since I've been happily married to my system for several years now (is that good or bad-I don't know), hopefully, someone else around here may have some experience listening to the 801 next to another, but I was never to impressed with'em when I heard'em a couple years back. If you're a kind of serious and willing to go the "next level" (of psychosis) I feel more comfortable telling you too look for a nice kit/diy speaker design and walk away with something better for the money and/or cheaper, and possibly get a nicer piece of engineering. With kit projects the crossover parts and cabinet construction can as good as you want them-since there's no production considerations/limitations. You can even opt for non-parallel side walls, something a production designer would cringe at, to deal with internal standing waves better (although cabinet geometry as such is kind of secondary to the effects good internal stuffing). And have fun with it. I remember one individual posted here awhile back thought the zalytron.com Jupiter kit bettered the Wilson WATT/puppy's (Haven't heard those, his claim seemed accurate, and thier X-1 series 1 certainly sucked if that's any indication of Wilson engineering excellence (I do undertand they are a Rolls-Royce type brand and you're paying for more than just performance, but.....(it was that bad). Now you could always get the L/1's and with your change build a sub on your own: its basically the cost of a driver and an amp. Sorry I can't give you any more definitive advice other than: you can do better and if you do purchase your mentioned choices-look into the crossover problems/limitations.