B&W 'New' 800 Series

I think the changes look great and I want to hear them. I wish they would have gotten away from the FTS midrange. I know they changed the material but a more traditional driver would interest me more. I found the 802 Di to be a little fatiguing and blamed the upper mids.

I tend to agree James, although I don't know anything about the new unit/material. I find all other changes to be intelligently conceived; not genius, but the genius outcome from consistent application of basics. Hopefully this driver is similar. That said, I don't think one can argue with beryllium; but that might have meant rethinking the diamond tweeter. I think the cabinet design is definitely as good as if not better than any other I've seen. I find YG and Magico crude-and of course they don't really address the issue of the large speakers on reflections. It surprises me that they both basically use boxes; so old fashioned. B&W's Nautilus is an epitome of good design in a number of ways I find.

The midrange only sounds aggressive with poor equipment or cable matching. I have heard the B&W 's sound really bad and out of this world beautiful! So much can go wrong before the speakers get their shot!

The speaker is not fatiguing, it is monitor revealing...

Wire, wire, wire...PERIOD

Use inferior wire in Wilson WATTS and your ears will bleed.

I love the looks as well. The implementation of the bass drivers clear of the cabinet plus the taper at the cabinet front edge is certainly different. The aluminum spine follows some other manufacturers like Sonus Faber but makes sense for structure and rigidity.
I'd love an audition but there are no dealers in AZ. The price is beyond what I'd like to spend, but then again!
I use the original N802 for my summer speakers and don't find them bright with a matching amp and cable install. I use both solid state and tube amps with this speaker. Right now it's the VAC tube amp using the 4 ohm tap.