B&W Signature 805 vs Wilson Benesch ARC

What types of music do you listen to?
I listen to Jazz and Classical mostly. I understand that they may lack of bass, so I plan to get a subwoofer later too.

What associated equipment do you use?
Right now, I have a Marantz PM17 integrateds amp, which give 80W per channel. And I also have a Marantz SA14v2 SACD player. For the speaker cable, I use Zu Wax.

How big is your room?
My room is around 12x10 feet.

What kind of stands do you use?
I will use 805Stand for Signature 805 and come with stand for ARC

Are you concrened with resale?
YES!!! I believe both of them have pretty good resale value.

Since I live in a small town in Canada, so it is impossible to listen to it by myself.

Thanks for suggestion!!!

both are nice, but i would also consider the homegrown totem ones and the stirling ls3/5. the jazz and classical, each of these are stunning for less money. a good investment as well. the marantz matches perfectly.

I own the Signature 805's. I have no experience with
the WB ARC but I'm sure its a fine speaker. I will say
that the Sig 805's do seem to sound there best when
paired with high-current solid state amps. My room size
is about the same as yours and the B&W's seem to fit
pretty well without overloading the room.

Good luck
Cmach

I have audiotoned the two as a possible move back into 2 channel setup.

I used a burmester 001 direct to power amp via nordost spm reference IC's

I found to my ears that the in this sceanrio the Wilson was the better match with the burmester. It not the B&W's were bad, far from it. But it didn;t seem to convey a soundstage width as wide as the WB's. It sounded very constricted.

The B&W's sounded very very forward in that it placed you right up to the front of the performance. Which proved for me anyway somewhat fatiguing. I found that the B&W didn;t dissappear as well as the WB.

Having said that and while it comes looking across as the B&W didn;t perform very well I think it just didn;t like my source. Had I used my Mark Levinson I am sure that it would perform on a more even keel, as I like the Mark Levinson and B&W sound.

But in the context of using my burmy then I would of chosen the Wilson benesch speakers instead. Although I have read that some people might find it clinical.

My buddy has ARCs and they are stunning. Pretty good bass as well.

I would however suggest Spendor 3/5se. I have a room just a little larger than yours and they work well. You would save almost enough money for a sub.