System upgrade advice

You might want to try a 'tube buffer'. Musical Fidelity makes an inexpensive one that has helped a lot of systems tone down the upper octaves.

The S tweeter is also outdated compared to the lastest tweeters. I would never go for that one. This is being said by a person who owned the B&W 800 S, with the same tweeter!

I would think a good 2nd hand pair of Infinity Renaissance 90's would sound better than the 804's. You could pick up a pair for around $1600, then use the $700 spare change to upgrade the crossover & internal wiring. Wonderfully transparent, fast, detailed & has great off-axis response. Also deep bass if paired with something like a Classe CA-2200 or similar 200 watt amp.

A few of things to look for with these vintage speakers; 1. Check for rotting foam in the transmission line midrange which can be checked from the exposed foam on the rear. 2. Try to buy no more than a 2nd owner pair with consecutive s/n's. 3. Ensure the grills are in good nick (including the pegs) & that the grills connect solidly to the speakers as they are critical to the sound of the speakers & are now unobtanium & 4. Request lots of photos, including close ups of the Emit & Emim ribbon drivers. If you can get over that hurdle, they are a terrific bargain.

The Infinity have very poor crossovers. The 804 has also not great crossovers. But those of the Infinity are really poor. I owned them in the past!!

Just remember, that when you go to demo speakers in a store, to ask the representative to connect them to electronics that are the same as or very close to your electronics.

Also, if you are allowed to take the demo speakers home to test, so much the better.

The worst thing is to listen to something in the store on equipment nowhere close to yours, in a room totally different than yours, purchase it, take it home and it is not right. Sounds totally different in your home with your electronics than it did in the store.

take your time and try to match the equipment in the store demo if possible.

enjoy