Focal 1037b /Dynaudio 5.4/B&W 803d

For me, I would not agree with that last post at all. I have beene extensively auditioning speakers and I did not care for the 1037's at all. I found them to be very lacking in the midrange to have some problems in the upper treble. I found human voices to sound very un-natural.

Sounds like you were auditioning them with a problematic front end; I've heard them sound horrible with Parasound electronics and Audioquest silver cables (which Dynaudio sounded pretty good with). They are very neutral; put something not up to par in front of them and you'll hear it.

i think the older Contour series is better than the new one fwiw. i do not like the tweeter placement on the 5.4 at all.

have not heard the 1037s, but have heard the Altos numerous times and never thought they were as good as the wilsons, etc.

I currently own 1037BE, and I'm very happy with them. This is my fourth speakers with metal dome speakers (strictly speaking BE tweeter is inverted dome), and the only one that does NOT exhibit harsh metallic zing from the tweeter. It's as if the tweeter has disappeared. Very impressively done. I'd say this speaker is for someone who doesn't like metal dome tweeter, but wants fast, airy, and accurate treble. Plus they are very easy to set up in my room, and easy to make them disappear. I used to own Nautilus 804, which I like the midrange and ease of set up. I had problem with front firing port in my room and room hump that I couldn't get rid of. When I was upgrading from 804 I briefly considered 802D with down firing port, but then decided to try Focal, and I'm happy with my choice.

Not heard the 802D but I have compared Focal 926 with Dynaudio C2 and prefer Focal. Just more refined sounding with better imaging and more in your room effect except C2 bass goes a bit deeper.