Speaker Selection: B&W 805S or Revel M22 w/Sli-80

I have only owned the B&W 805S (current model) and the Revel M20. From experience with the two, I would pick the B&W, hands down. But, I have not heard the M22, and they may have made drastic improvements over the M20, which is an excellent speaker in it's used price range.

Had the M20's,prefered them over the Nautilus 805's.Upgraded to Merlin VSM-MMs.A completely different league ...
I would suggest the Merlin TSM-MM or MX.Will go extremely well with your Cary tube amp,since the Merlins are well damped in design...

Have owned both brands, like the guy above have not heard the new 22's, but after long term listening, the B&W was my choice, no question. Easy to drive, refined, detailed, neutral, and non-fatiguing. Initially liked the Revels a lot, but over time... the B&W just got better and better and won me over. Returned the Revels, kept the B&W!
Good luck!
James

Thanks guys, unfortunately, we don't have a local dealer where we can demo the merlin tsm. we will demo the sig805 or the 805sb and with the m22 in the next couple days. In terms of the integ.amp, I also read alot of the primaluna prologue II, wondering which is better for the long run. Sli-80 sig. or the prologue II?

Again, thanks for your comments.

Auditioned the M22's at home and wound up liking Spendor S3e's better...check out "What Hi-Fi" (August I think or thereabouts) they reviewd the M22, 805's, S3e and several others.... It might be a good second opinion from reviewers that had them all in one room. I liked the M22's a lot and it was close, but for female vocals and whatnot the Spendors won outright.

I agree with the Merlin recommendation. If you don't have a dealer (I don't either), Bobby at Merlin can hook you up with an owner in your area who will let you have an in-their-home demo. I did this a couple weeks back, and had a great time, while hearing some superb speakers too. I planned on staying 30 minutes, but was there 3 hours. :-)

---Dave

Just demo the M22 with the dealer recommended pathos classic MK II, (hybrid intg.) sound wonderful, full soundstage, extended bass, just wondering if anyone else have experienced with this combo? open to other hybrid integ. amp suggestions as well.

Thanks,

I powered my Revel M20's with a Pathos Logos.Excellent combination.Pathos manufacture fine amps.
I would suggest to go for Merlin TSM-MM speakers with the Pathos Classic One Mk II.This will be a better combo compared to the Pathos/M22's.I would also suggest to go for some nice Siemens or Amperex NOS 6DJ8/6922/ECC88 tubes for the Classic Mk II.Very easy to do tube rolling on the Pathos amps,tubes are open ,so dont have to open up the unit,no biasing to be done.

Pathos Classic One Mk II and the Merlin TSM-MMs should be fantastic... !

"I liked the M20s but them the company was purchased by a bigger outfit and the plant in New England was closed with no warning to the employees. The production was moved who knows where..."

The production was moved to a better facitily in New England, Bedford MA to be exact. Just to be clear, the are not using offshore production, they are still a US-based firm.