Well, I've bitten the bullet and finally bought the BMW 802's III. Got a pair of demo's at a good price, and was anxious to compare them to my Paradigm Studio 100's that I've had for over a year. Hooked them up to my Bryston 4B, and Lexicon DC-1. Popped in a favorite cd, and did a straight comparison of the two.My opinion was that the BMW's were better than the Paradigm's in the mid to upper region, not by much though. My wife who has a better ear than me, (she picks out differences instantly that takes me days to notice), did notice an improvement in the top and mid range with the BMW's without hesitation, and I switched speakers twice, and didn't tell her which she was listening to.
I should mention though that the BMW's were better, but I'd be hard pressed to say there worth two and a half times more than the Paradigm Studio's; (5K to 2K). This isn't a critisism to BMW, but a compliment to Paradigm. I guess I've finally hit the diminishing return rule.
You might have noticed I havn't mentioned about the low end. The Studio 100's win hands down in this area. When I was playing a dvd movie's, I quickly realized I had to turn down the bass because of over excursion of the bass drivers. The Studio's handled this level never without a hint of strain.
I also own Paradigm's Servo 15 sub, and was seriously concidering selling it, because with the Studio 100's, they could dish out all the bass I wanted without fail. The BMW's now have me using the sub.
It's a give and take with these two speakers. For audio, the BMW's are more 'musical', but for home theatre, the Studio's are King.
Give the BMW's a four star concidering price and it's inferiority in the bass dept. compared to the Studio 100's that are 2 1/2 times less money.

I,ve had a pair of 802 Series III in my system for 7 months and love them. To supplement the bottom octave, I,m using an 800 ASW sub with the volume set between 1 and 2. Electronics are Krell and Lexicon.

Great overall speakers that do nothing wrong. They have excellent performance over the entire spectrum other than very low bass (<27 Hz.). They are excellent at imaging and delineating a soundstage and will disappear if set up properly.The bass is tight,fast and accurate. Midrange is very detailed. Highs are smoothand extended. Build quality is excellent. I owned a pair for about 5 years and was always happy with them. A very capable performer in this price range.

I love this speaker for everything it does not do. It does not exaggerate the highs to get detail, boom the bass to get bass or present a false overly warm presentation that I have never heard from live music. They are fast , neutral, light a foot and very open sounding with a noticable lack of box sound. At no time do I ever feel like I am not involved in the music. In short instruments sound like instruments and I do not find myself concentrating on particular parts of the frequency spectrum but on instruments in stead. I find them very natural and telling of the source material and equipment up the chain. They deal with all types of music in a fair and even matter. I listen to Classical, Jazz to all types of blues, Folk , Rock, and some country and I have found very few other speaker that present all these forms of music in a convincing musical way that just sounds right. If you are using this speaker with anything but the finest electronics you might not like what they are telling you. The only other thing I have to note is that they do not go down to the nether regions but are fabulous down to 30 hz. They also need room to breathe. give them a good size room and they will shine. As a last but not least note because of their very neutral qualities I find that they work extremely well in a home theatre system to. Add 805's and a centre channel and you have a good combination. I give them a rating of five stars if you take price into account.
Transport - Theta Basic 2
DAC - Theta Gen 5a
Preamp - Pass Aelpha Labs P
Power Amp - Mark Levinson 332
Tuner - Magnum Dynalab Etude
Cables - XLO signature 3.1 Balanced all and XLO Signature 5.1 biwire spker cable
LD player - Kenwood something or other
Speakers 802 Series 3

I owned the 802 Series 2 for about three years, which is a long time for any piece of equipment to stay in my stereo system. It was an excellent performer. A MAJOR upgrade is to bypass the protection circuitry (blue relays). Simply unsolder one end of all diodes on the circuit board, and short the relay contacts. I also upgraded the capacitors and resistors, but these mods made only a very small overall improvement (and cost a lot, too).
They work well with a wide range of amps. I used a Rowland 1, Classe CA300, and a BEL 1001 mk.2, all with good results. The Series 2's sound better than the early Series 3's. Their only deficiency is the lack of low bass. Unfortunately, the 802's are too transparent to use many of the bass alignment filters available without causing a very detrimental loss of transparency in the midrange and lower treble.

My only regret is that I do not still have them to try with my Atma-sphere M60 mk.2 amplifiers. My guess is they would easily be 5 star speakers.

These speakers are a terrific bargain at their current used prices (<$2K).

Very good sound!A big improvement over my bose speakers.

Clarity

Low bass output

I bought a pair of the 802 Series II's when they first came out 12 years ago, after in-home comparison against Thiele's and extensive in-store comparison with a half-dozen other speakers. I've been an audiophile for 25 years and have never had any component in my system as long as I've had the 802's. Prior to owning these, I never thought I would live with a speaker for more than a few years. Their only weakness is ultra low bass output; I solved this problem by crossing them over at a low 45 hertz to a pair of Hsu Research subs using an Audio Control crossover. I have my cake and eat it too -- super clarity from 45 hz on up through the 802's and room-shaking bass flat to below 20 hz when it's present in the recording. I've had a variety of electronics driving them and do not think they are as sensitive to electronics as others seem to believe. Buy them used if you can find them, but mine won't be for sale anytime soon.

Well spent research to produce this product

I'll be fair, 801's are better!

802 series II, yes it's already 10 years old but it doesnt show its age, trust me if you only take good care of it! just lucky to own a pair because back then when it used to be authenthic, Made in England (for real!)That's what I mean by authentic B&W's. I can't afford the 801's! Nakamichi PA-7II made my 802 at home while biwired with MIT cables (this is an expensive hobby dont you think?!)I love to listen to cuts from Sheffield Labs!

Similar Products Used:

quit a number of them, let's put it that way!

Bought 802s after comparing with Thiels C22 and PSB Stratus Gold in my appartment with the listening room from hell (its a rental with
minimal carpeting and furniture, wooden floor resonates like a grand piano).

Thiels had the best highs and upper midrange but gave me a lot of distortion
in the bass regardless of positioning in the room. PSBs had plenty of bass
but too warm for classical and jazz and my neighbors would not like
the thump. Also, imaging was average. 802s did the best for all kinds
of music. Highs not as good as Thiels but great overall sound, excellent imaging, and tight bass.

The system:
Sony DVD
Conrad-Jonhnson PFR preamp
Classe CAP200 amp
MIT and Transparent Cables

Man these thing blow my Aiwa mini system away. My sony amp/receiver really puts out clean power. John from Florida was right!!!! They are much better than the Bose at Circuit City. They may be a bit under powered though.