B&W 805D alternatives

B&W is a brand you love or hate. When I owned the B&W 802N and 800S even B&W haters said often at my home; This is the best demo I ever heard from a B&W.

You need to understand the properties first of a speaker before you can use them the right way.

I drive my 804S with a 275, a Lamm LL2, and a heavily optimized computer front end, plus two Rythmik subwoofers. I'm pretty happy with the setup, especially after I implemented an active crossover to avoid the 275 and 804S from going down deep.

Even though I'm happy, I sometimes think about upgrading speakers. Some I would look at would be Reference 3a Grand Veenas, Daedalus Audio Athena (might be too large for your room). And I would be intrigued by the Emminent Technology LFT-8b that was recently discussed on an Absolute Sound mailing/issue.

Let us know what you end up doing and how it works for you.
Good luck!

I agree with James633 for the Vivid v1.5 I have them...have had many dynamic and planar speakers....combine best of both with natural, unboxy, detailed but coherent sound...best speakers I have had...have had them for 3 years ...I would only upgrade in Vivid line if I had a larger space...also the v1.5s are so good you really can play them up and pair with very high end electronics, sources, cables....

I would find a speaker that you love the sound of and then build your system around those rather than trying to match your current gear. Lots of great options in your price range just get out and demo as many as possible.

About two years ago my main speakers were a pair of B&W CM5's, the third pair of B&W's in a row (I have a Velodyne sub woofer as well). I had the hots to upgrade, listened to the PM1 (which was a step up from the CM5's), but had my heart set on the 805D's...until I was invited to an event opening my eyes to the Totem Element Fire monitors.

I returned to the showroom, stack of CDs in hand on a slow day and spent nearly three hours doing some careful comparisons and ended up ordering a set of Totem Element Fire's.

The Fire's are in a 13.5' x 22' living room, close to the back wall, driven by a 200wpc McIntosh solid state amp (and they sound fantastic). I don't listen to music at ear-splitting levels, but when I'm listening to them loud, the needles on the McIntosh hover around 2 watts. I suspect your MC275 would drive them beautifully!