Pushing the envelope on B&W 802 series3

Avnut got it right. Play with the low-tech for now. try multiple positioning (move the speakers around a bit.)

Relax. enjoy. Good stuff.

Negotiating now with a friend for a pair of B&K M200 monoblocks, Im sure those will help. Also funds permitting would like to send out to Musical Concepts for modifications. Either the Signature or the Platinum mod if I could afford it. That should do wonders for sound staging. Stay tuned.

Okay, Sold my B&K EX442, right here on Audiogon and upgraded to an older Classe DR-25,250/wpc, much more transparent and greater imaging and impact.

Have a Sumiko-trained technician properly place the speakers in your room. This'll give you more improvement than any equipment change you can make.

Dave

unfortunately, your speakers, especially the kevlar midranges, are still considered to be one of the fastest, most accurate drivers on the planet (unless you have the ears of a martian).
this means the sky is the limit on what amp and preamp you could use, and that goes for your source as well. i had 801's and i upgraded endlessly to get more, always much more music out of them. the last time i heard them my friend, who bought my pair, was driving them with pass aleph equipment (the 1.2 monoblocks were $14k a pair) and once again they were completely transformed into "something else". listening to small jazz groups on them at that point was something you do NOT want to hear until you are ready to clean out your bank account.