B&W JM Labs or Paradigm Signature S8.....Help?

Without knowing or being able to control all of the variables - the most important being our hearing vs. yours - it's going to be hard to do more than offer encouragement to A/B as many of these as you can. Any input you get is really just personal opinion and based on situations and stuff that's not like yours. Some will really like B&W over the others, some really dislike B&W vs. Sigs or VS or JM Labs or whatever. Those are all really personal opinions and personal preferences. Our opinions are just that - they're ours. You need to form yours.

We all differ physiologically and our wiring and experiences aren't all the exact same - bottom line is we all hear and perceive a little differently. Objective reviews with meaningful measurements can get you part of the way, but there is absolutely no substitute for your going out and auditioning (and hopefully A/B'ing) your choices. You're talking about a little more than chump change here, so my suggestion is that you invest that time so you'll have a chance to be as thrilled with your choice as folks like Mattblueg35 are with theirs. Good luck!

I would go for the Von Schweikert over all speakers listed above.

Rob

You can check Dynaudio's Contour S3.4 ($5,000) or S5.4 ($8,000). Of course it depends on your personal preferences. Dynaudio's are known for very tight, extended bass and smooth silky highs. Their first order crossovers are best suited when controlled vertical dispersion is needed (this helps to tame hardwood floor reflections). I've owned the Contour 3.4s for over 2 years and compared them with B&W's 802, Paradigms S8's and Thiel's 2.4. I prefer the Dyns for their smooth, unfatiguing and uncompressed sound and great dynamic range. Build quality is also first rate.

B&W and Paradigm use metal domes, which ring and cause fatigue over longer listening periods. I haven't had a chance to check the new B&W diamond speakers, however.
I did listen to the new Paradigm S8 and I was very unimpressed. The bass was very loose and the highs and mids muddled.

Regardless of which speaker you get, however, be sure to place a rug or something on the floor to tame the harsh sound caused by a hardwood floor.

I owned B&W (forget about them), Jmlab Electra 926 and now Dynaudio 3.4. Jmlab were exellent speakers for the price, more neutral, smoother and much more musical than B&W. They have much better tweeter, extended detailed and without that metalic glare. They are fast, play with authority, convey spatial information. Bass is not too deep.
Dynaudio 3.4 are even better. Deeper bass with exellent control, midrange to die for and smooth, natural simply excellent highs. Dynamic as good as Jmlab's and uncompressed (better in this respect than Jmlab). You can listen for tham for hours, Jmlabs were not bad either in this department, B&W pretty tiring.
Hope this helps.

I auditioned the Paradigm Signature S8's and they were good, but not substantially better than my Paradigm Studio 60's, so I could never justify the price. Very similar speakers. I like B&W speakers, unlike some of the others who've responded, but I also agree with the others that the Von Schweikert's are hard to beat by anybody at the $4k price point. They are just wonderful. I will be replacing my Studio 60's in about 18 months, and I will likely opt for the Von Schweikert's unless I decide to go into heavy debt for Wilson Sophia's ($12k).

In your price range, you might also consider an Audition of the Aerial Acoustics Model 8B ($6k), Dali Helicon 800 ($6k), Sonus Faber Grand Piano ($3.5k) or Cremona's ($8k), or, as said before, the Dynaudio's.

My reference system (the Studio 60's are in my HT system) has the Sonus Faber Grand Piano Home speakers. I would NEVER replace these with the Paradigm S8's. Now, compare the prices! I think you could love these over the long haul, too. I've never gotten anything but joy from them for 4 years now. Mine are in a similar sized room (slightly larger), also with wood floors.

Cheers.