B&W Signature 805s v. Merlin TSM-Ms ?

No half decent speaker should be treated to table tops! The two you mention are a considerable degree more capable. Too bad your wife isnt more understanding, but if you are inflicting your "hobby" on a public area of your home then it is only right to consider and respect her thoughts on the matter. Prpixel may have the closest suggestion to the right sort of compromise.Maybe you could bribe her into allowing for a proper set up?

Jamesw20. While I haven't heard the sig 805s, I have a hard time believing they outperform the Nautilus 801s, and I felt the merlins handily outperformed the 801s. Take that for what it's worth, but the choice for me was easy. I think the best advice would be for the original poster to listen to BOTH speakers. If this is done, I'm sure the answer, whichever he prefers, will be obvious.

Jason

Couldn't agree more Jwells, as my original post states. Unfortunately, it sounds like he cannot demo the two side by side. My suggestion was that if he likes the sig. and can't demo the two together then why not go with the sigs? Better to have what you like than buy the unknown.

JWH

If the spouse who won't allow speaker stands gets a vote, she'll probably like the Merlins much better than the "eyeball" tweeter array on the B&Ws.
I'm sure if Mgoldmd posted an "Any Merlin owners near X" post, he'd find a place to check them out pretty easily...
Cheers, Spencer

I have not heard Merlin speakers, so my input may not directly help the posters question, but I wanted to address one response. Someone said that the S805's don't do old rock and roll and have no real PRaT, I take issue with both these statements. I have no problems with PRaT nor would I expect a company like B&W to send out a speaker, especially from their Signature line, to lack this, just my opinion.

It has been awhile since I have spun some old rock and roll, with exeption to Segar and Elvis a couple times when checking things. This led me to dig out the few r&r cd's I still have and I actually have to thank the poster for making the comments because I heard these better than I have before. Being R&R, would it be more 'fun' with some bigger woofers? Yes, but what it did it did better than I've heard these CD's before, not that these recordings are anything to write home about.

All that said, if B&W speakers aren't for you, so be it, they are for me. Just remember that the more juice you give them, the happier they are.