Spent 4 hours with the Sophias and 802D's today at a great audiophile store. Brought and used my own electronics for the demos, which included a Classe CA200 power amp, Classe CA-50 and a high-end Sony ES CD player. MIT interconnects and speaker wire. These are old electronics, but are still fine.
For me, the B&W's were the clear winners. I played mostly rock (melodic acoustic and guitar rock), some blues, jazz, piano and big orchestral music.
To me, the highs on the B&W were more beautiful with more sparkle, without loss of detail. I found both speakers to be very close in openness and sense of air, until we listened to this sensational jazz track (salesman had me put it in), which revealed to me that the B&W's won out in this category also for my ears (and his).
For some tracks, it was harder to tell which one I liked better.
I could not say which clearly had a better soundstage & imaging. Both were great and it varied.
As far as heavy guitar rock, the Wilsons did not sound as well rounded, balanced and punchy as the B&W's. But the Wilsons sounded great.
I don't know if you would call it slight colorization or complete accuracy, but whatever you call it, it was really clear to me that the B&W's were better for my taste. The best way to describe what made the B&W's better for me was that is sounded "more musical" to my ears.
It sounds like I did not like the Wilsons, which is not at all the case, they were great. But compared to the B&W's, it was clear which one worked best for my taste and electronics. So I bought them (ouch!!)
No matter which speaker you pick, it's a win/win situation except for your bank account. :-)
Dave
