B&W N800 vs Wilson WP7 vs Revel and others

I have been listening to as many speakers as I can for the last two weeks to include the N800's, WP7, Sophia, Revel Salon & Studio and Amati. They are all great speakers and each of them brings their own special character to life. The difficult thing about auditioning is that they are all connected to different brands of equipment and they are in different rooms. Most of them sound extraordinary but the one that tops the list is the WP 7. The WP7 is an outstanding speaker that gets it right. The sound is full, detailed, smooth, and alive without being bright. I know it is expensive but all the speakers on this list are. It also has the smallet foot print and is aesthetically pleasing. That's not my final answer but the WP7 is what I will be comparing all the others to. Better save my beanies.

Since you already have N802's, you obviously like the "B&W sound" in general. As an owner of S800's (same speaker, fancier cabinet), and as the owner of B&W speakers for the past 20 years (including M802's and M800's), I can state categorically that if your tastes run toward classical music, there is no finer speaker on the market than the N800. They are absolutely holographic. I can't imagine ever owning anything finer.

Dollysowner, I have since sold the 802's and do agree with you about the N800. It is one of the finest speakers I have heard. I have to say that right now it is almost a toss up between the N800's and the WP 7's. They both have their own character and I would be proud and happy to have either one in my system. The WP 7 holds the edge right now only because of it's size, weight and aesthetics. There are other factors that could easily swing the final decision the other way.....such as price and dealer support. Thanks to everyone.

Bill

I wanted to upgrade from my Dynaudio Confidence 5 to something larger and easier to drive. My list of speakers was similar, this is my observation.

Wilson is too lean for home usage even though they might be "accurate" or able to show slight changes in upstream equipments.

B&W can be fatiguing after a while. I will blame it on the metal tweeter even though it's one of the better metal tweeter on the market. Midrange transparency also lacks a little. And the base, they got to lose that base. That's major afterthought.

Revel is similar to Wilson and the driver integration is not optimal. This is based on listening session with Levinson amp which is usually lifeless, so my opinion might not be accurate. But I have heard more musical sound from other speakers of the same price or size.

JM Lab fails to image well and it's easy to understand why, the large face plate. And like any speakers with more than one midrange driver, imaging will suffer.

Dynaudio Temptation or C4 are overall very musical, but lose the quickness of C5 in bass. Top end is probably the best in this price range. Image is somewhat large, probably due to multiple midrange drivers, even though Dynaudio use difference x-over freq for all drivers.

Sonus Faber Amati is the most musical speaker in this list. Accurate? Probably not. But overall the best speaker for classical music and even better than Dynaudio. I have been a Dynaudio fan for years, so it takes a lot for me to make such statement and my local dealer who carries most of the speakers above agrees. Strings and vocal are reproduced with stunning realism and liquidity.

So my vote goes to Amati and that's what I bought.

Wvick,
If you get a chance, try to hear the Shahinian Diapasons. I arrived at them after listening to the Watt/Puppies, Wilson Grand Slams, B&W 800's, Soundlabs and Thiels. You can get a brand new pair for $12,000. A lot of money but compared to others a real deal. Gordon Holt compared them favorably to the Wilson Wamms. These loudspeakers make no compromises in the reproduction of live music at live levels!! There are no U.S. dealers that I know of yet they have been in business a long time. For the money you will save on the speakers, fly out to New York and hear what I believe is the best speaker in the world.